Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht meets with the media to preview the 2025 season
When his hometown St. Louis Rams left for Los Angeles in 2016, Josh Popoola hadn't yet broken up with a serious girlfriend, but he guessed that was exactly how it felt.
"So this was (my) first bitter, I can't believe you've done this experience," Popoola said.
After professional football turned its back on St. Louis, Popoola couldn't root for the relocated Los Angeles Rams because if they won a Super Bowl, he reasoned, they wouldn't be doing any celebrating in St. Louis.
Popoola filled his fandom void by enrolling at Iowa State University and rooting for the Cyclones along with another relocated NFL team, the Los Angeles Chargers. But the hometown void remained unfilled.
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And then, in 2020, along came the St. Louis Battlehawks, a team with more connections to him than he thought possible.
The Battlehawks, first in the XFL Conference with a 6-2 record this season, are home to four former Cyclones: Receiver Hakeem Butler, tight end Chase Allen, linebacker Mike Rose and linebacker Willie Harvey. Head coach Anthony Becht is the father of junior ISU quarterback Rocco Becht. Former Cyclone quarterback Seneca Wallace is the Battlehawks' quarterbacks coach.
It couldn't have worked out any better for Popoola, the heartbroken teenager who gained a professional team of his own.
"It connects that old football fandom being a St. Louis kid and watching the Rams leave and the Cyclones take their place in my heart," Popoola said. "And that just gets extended and connected with those guys getting back to St. Louis. It's really special."
'Loyal sons forever true'
The four Cyclones on the Battlehawks roster are so impactful some fans online refer to the team as the "St. Louis Battleclones."
Butler earned the 2024 UFL Offensive Player of the Year honor after leading the league in receiving yards and yards per catch. Butler missed most of the first four games this season with a hamstring injury. His return made waves after he caught a 67-yard touchdown and 57-yard touchdown and dropped an f-bomb on the UFL's mic'd up broadcast. This season, Harvey leads St. Louis with 38 tackles and Rose is third with 32.
Butler said he gains a comfortability from playing with his former teammates. Harvey said it "just feels right."
"Man, it feels like the old days, the glory days," Harvey said. "It's always an amazing thing when you can play with guys you have a camaraderie with, especially on the field and off the field as well."
Battlehawks coach Anthony Becht recruits Cyclones not just because his son goes to the school or because of his relationships with ISU's coaching staff. He wants them because he thinks they should all be in NFL training camps.
"I know what I'm getting (with former Cyclones)," Becht said "Accountable players that already understand team culture, that can help me with my team culture and they are good players."
Harvey said ISU players have carried Cyclone culture into the Battlehawks' locker room. They relive stories from games in Jack Trice Stadium and wear reminders of their shared history -- like the black ISU football shirt Harvey often puts on for team workouts and the ISU gloves Butler sports in practice.
ISU football culture, all stemming from head coach Matt Campbell, has propelled the Cyclones in their professional journeys.
"We were for a long time labeled as the Big 12 team with the less-talented guys, you know, not the five star players," Harvey said. "So we kind of carried that throughout our careers, and that kind of motivated us to go with that grit and to have that chip on our shoulder as we play football."
ISU and Battlehawk culture continues to mix. It's common to see current Cyclones on the Battlehawks' sideline before games. Butler joked he's tired of seeing Rocco around so much, but at the same time loves him because Rocco is someone who will talk smack to him.
Butler said the Cyclones of his era are "Wade made." Former ISU strength and conditioning coach Rudy Wade worked at ISU from 2015-19 and coached all four Cyclones on the Battlehawks' roster.
"Coach Wade put the batter in our back to be unbreakable and I think that's why most of the guys on this team and still going -- pros are built by that hard-nosed toughness," Butler said.
Because of everything ISU has given Butler, he likes to give back.
He said Cyclone fans have seen his good, bad and ugly so it means a lot when they show up to Battlehawks games wearing cardinal and gold. A piece of ISU remains with him, including a snippet of the fight song.
"I go out of my way to sign stuff for Cyclone fans because 'Loyal sons forever true', you know," Butler said.
Cyclone Mom proud
Joy Popoola, mother of Josh, is a day-one Battlehawks fan who has lived in St. Louis since 2005. She adopted the Cyclones as her favorite college team when Josh enrolled in 2015.
She has spent cold mornings in St. Louis tailgating outside of Battlehawks games and cold nights at ISU watching Cyclone games. The first ISU game she attended was in 2018 when ISU beat Kansas State 42-38 after Rose returned a fumble 28 yards for a touchdown to help complete a 17-point fourth quarter comeback.
Now, Rose is playing for her Battlehawks.
"I screamed when I learned about the Battlehawks connection," Joy said. "I was so happy. Willie Harvey, Mike Rose, Rocco Becht's dad. I was so Cyclone Mom proud to see players that you saw on a cold Iowa night (play again)."
Turn on a Battlehawks game, and there's a decent chance of seeing her standing in the front row of the stands leading a cheer. She knows her favorite players' birthdays (May 16 for Butler and January 9 for Harvey). Joy shares Battlehawk stats on social media, gives out awards on her podcast.
Joy's Battlehawks fandom is in part because of her connections to ISU. And she's not alone. She she sees other Cyclone fans rallying around the Battlehawks because of the bridges between the programs.
These "Battleclone" fans are noticed and appreciated.
"So those fans are very loyal, and they come down all the time," Anthony Becht said. "I see them in the stands, players, current players."
Josh, who remains in Ames after graduating from ISU in 2019, has noticed the fans as well. His favorite part is seeing someone in a Battlehawks shirt at the grocery store and knowing that person will get just as excited as he does to talk about Butler and the other heroes of his college years.
It's enough to help him get over the pain of his first heartbreak.
"Losing (my football team) for eight years ... and then getting it back now this time with friends, this time in a city that I chose, this time with players that I would root for like they're my family, it's so cool," Josh said.
Ben Hutchens is an Iowa State University beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at [email protected].
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