Rams' Season Opener Promises To Be An Iowa State Reunion

Before he came to the Rams, Scheelhaase was a coach for the Iowa State Cyclones from 2018-2023, and once week one comes around, Scheelhaase will be standing on the opposite sideline from Houston Texans' receivers Xavier Hutchinson, Jaylen Higgins, and Jaylin Noel, playmakers from Iowa State that Scheelhaase helped send to the NFL.

Noel recently sat down with Sports Illustrated to answer some questions about Iowa State and his journey to the NFL.

Noel spoke about the Iowa State program, a program taken to new heights by head coach Matt Campbell and assisted by Scheelhaase.

"He’s really just creating men, not only on the field, but off the field," said Noel. "He’s teaching us how to go about our process, how to take care of ourselves, honestly. He does a great job of that, and he’s a player’s coach. Everybody wants to play for him and he connects with people. He’s done a great job with that program at Iowa State. He’s creating something, for sure."

Noel was then asked about joining Higgins in Houston, revealing the pass-catching duo had a moment similar to Jared Verse's phone call with Braden Fiske on day two of the 2024 NFL Draft.

"Yeah, for sure. When I seen they took him, it was crazy. For them to call me, it was [GM] Nick Caserio with the Texans, my mind was just blown because I was like, ‘I’m going to team up with my guy again.’ It was a super cool moment."

"Yeah, it actually was. He called me pretty soon after that. We were just very excited to be able to team up with each other again. With the bond we grew at Iowa State for the two years that we did play together, and to be able to continue that, it’s going to be very cool."

When the Rams host the Texans, it will be a full circle moment for those Cyclones as they all made it to the league.