Corey Suttle is easy to spot on the football field.
The Jefferson City senior defensive end stands 6-foot-4 and is listed at 245 pounds. It was easy for his coaches to see the potential when he got to the high school level.
Quite a bit of time passed before Suttle finally saw what others had told him.
"All of my coaches my freshman year told me I could go big," Suttle said following his signing ceremony Wednesday. "I didn't believe it. I was thinking I was an average player. Then junior year is when I took off. Coach (Ted) LePage, love that man, he helped me a lot. He knew what my true potential was."
The Iowa State coaching staff saw the same thing and offered Suttle following his junior season.
Other offers followed from South Dakota, South Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Indiana State, Missouri State and Wyoming.
But Iowa State was always first in line for Suttle.
"I feel comfortable like I've known them my whole life," Suttle, the 10th-ranked player in Missouri by 247sports.com, said.
Suttle is one of 20 players, three from Missouri, that took advantage of the early signing period to ink with Iowa State.
The signing class is ranked 35th nationally and fourth in the Big 12 by 247sports.com.
Lee's Summit West defensive back Vonzell Kelley, who is the 100th-ranked safety by 247sports.com, and John Burroughs defensive back D.J. Miller, who earned Class 3 first-team all-state honors this past season, are the other players from Missouri heading to Ames, Iowa.
The Cyclones won a combined 11 games between 2013-2016, but they went 8-5 last season and are 8-4 heading into next week's Alamo Bowl against Washington State.
Those results led to Matt Campbell being named the Big 12 Coach of the Year the past two years.
"They are most definitely on the rise," Suttle said. "Coach Campbell, he does incredible things. I love the coaching staff. I love each and every one of them."
Suttle said he wants to make an impact on the team as a freshman, but there will be plenty of work to be done with sophomore defensive end JaQuan Bailey to compete against. Bailey was named second-team All-Big 12 this season.
"That will be a good battle," Suttle said. "I'm going to like that. I feel like that will push me even further to levels I've never been."
And he's aiming big for team goals as well.
"Big 12 championship for sure," Suttle said. "That's the one goal, Big 12."