Iowa State football's Caleb Bacon ready for leadership role after Gerry Vaughn's departure

Weekends should be a bit easier for Angie and Doug Bacon this year.

The parents of Iowa State football linebacker Caleb Bacon were accustomed to making the nearly two-hour trip from Lake Mills to Ames in 2023 to watch their son suit up for the Cyclones in what became their oldest’s breakout season.

But those trips to Jack Trice Stadium often came after a late night at the Lake Mills High School football field, where the Bacons watched their younger son, Logan, lead the Bulldogs with 76 total tackles in his senior season.

The turnaround from a late-night high school game to late-morning or early-afternoon college game won’t be a problem this season, though.

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Logan followed in Caleb’s footsteps, joining the Iowa State squad as a walk-on defensive back. It’s too early to tell, but the younger Bacon brother could follow a similar path in Ames.

“I think it’s cool,” Caleb Bacon told the Register. “He’ll start his career as a walk-on, too, just like I did, so he’ll have that same chip on his shoulder. And hopefully he chases it like I did, too.”

Bacon attracted a lot of attention last season. He finished with 60 tackles – second-most on the team – in 13 games as a reserve linebacker, and his production caused Iowa State fans to wonder when the walk-on star might earn a scholarship.

A fan favorite on the field, he picked up more exposure off the field. In September, he entered an NIL (name, image, likeness) deal with Iowa Pork – alongside Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore and Tommy Hamann – using his brand-appropriate last name to for a “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” campaign.

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Everything came together in December when Bacon earned the promotion from walk-on to scholarship player. Coaches told him during a team meeting before Iowa State’s bowl game against Memphis.

Bacon loved being a part of the Iowa Pork promotion, and he was pleased with his redshirt sophomore season. He knew that, with time and hard work, a scholarship was on the table. He just needed to tune everything else out.

“It really wasn’t super hard,” Bacon said about blocking out the hype and the occasional hate. “Don’t pay attention to what people are saying on social media. Block it out, don’t look at it. Play football, simple as that.”

Playing football might be the easy part this season.

Iowa State’s linebackers room features four true freshmen, two redshirt freshmen, two sophomores, four redshirt sophomores, four juniors (including three redshirts), and no seniors.

Even with the talent pool spread out across the classes, the Cyclones graduated one of their biggest leadership pieces both in the linebackers group and in general: Gerry Vaughn.

Bacon acknowledged that it will be difficult for anyone to fill the gap left by Vaughn. His intelligence and work ethic made him a better player, and he encouraged those around him to follow suit. There were a lot of lessons that Bacon took from Vaughn, and Bacon hopes to emulate some of those as he steps into a larger leadership role.

“We’re a pretty young group,” Bacon said. “So I felt like I needed to take a step forward in that role. We’ve come together in the linebacker room in general. Everyone’s kind of taken on different leadership roles. But yeah, I’m excited to see what this group can do.”

Part of being a leader is identifying which of those younger players might have a breakout year in this coming season.

Bacon identified at least one up-and-coming athlete who could make an impact: Kooper Ebel.

“Kooper is definitely having a good spring,” Bacon said. “He’s put on a lot of weight from where he was last year. His knowledge of the game and he’s grown into his role more. I think he’ll definitely be one to watch this year.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football's Caleb Bacon ready for leadership role after Gerry Vaughn's departure