Domonique Orange to the Packers.
Big Citrus fits what the Chiefs need.
Will Orange be the Vikings’ new purple?

Headlines like this showed up on various websites during the weekend. Draft speculation is rampant these days about the former Iowa State defensive tackle’s NFL destination.

Bears looking toward Iowa State defensive lineman.
Domonique Orange could be exactly what the Saints need.
Are Seahawks looking for some Big Citrus?

Dig deep enough into the interweb, and you find almost anything — accuracy be damned, but this is fact:

Domonique Orange will become the Cyclones’ 16th Matt Campbell-coached player selected in the NFL Draft.

From David Montgomery and Hakeem Butler in 2019 to wherever “Big Citrus” lands in the 2026 draft that starts Thursday, Iowa State will have had its best NFL Draft run in school history.

Already, Iowa State’s previous 15 picks in those seven drafts are as many Cyclones selections. Combined, that’s over the 17 drafts before Campbell and his staff impressively amped up recruiting and player development.

Brock Purdy. Breece Hall. Charlie Kolar. Will McDonald. Jaylin Noel. Darien Porter. T.J. Tampa. Jayden Higgins. Jalen Travis. Xavier Hutchinson. Anthony Johnson. Enyi Uwazurike. Kene Nwangwu.

You know who they are.

The 15 (and counting) Iowa State picks under Campbell are two more than the school’s entire total throughout the 1990s.

And Dom Orange, who turned down more money at multiple places to stay with the program and coach that recruited him, is a sure bet to be next.

The 6-foot-2, 322-pound Orange could have taken money that poaching would have brought at various SEC schools. Instead, he stayed loyal to Campbell, Iowa State, himself — and to the social media college announcement he made back in December 2021.

“Going to the next level … I just want to thank everyone, honestly,” Orange said during his announcement at Kansas City North High School. “With that being said, for the next four to five years, I’ll be taking my talents to (Iowa State).”

A social media promise is one thing. Following through on that pledge is completely another in today’s transfer portal openness.

I even wonder just how many more stars like Orange, like Tamin Lipsey and Arianna Jackson, will graduate after four or five years from the same school at which they started.

That’s not being judgey. That’s being factual. Loyalty to the school from which you received your first college scholarship — it’s not as much a thing in today’s open-portal, chase-the-money world as it once was.

**

Mock drafts are all over the place with Orange. While one predicts a late second-round selection, another forecasts the seventh and final round. There are as many fourth-round guesses as there are fifth-round ones.

Believe what suits your narrative, but also know this:

Former Iowa State star receiver Allen Lazard was a draft expert’s bet to be picked no lower than the mid-fourth round in the 2018 draft — and you know the rest:

He wasn’t picked.

“What ended up happening was something I never predicted and never contemplated,” Lazard told me in reflection a couple of years ago. “Maybe it was me being naïve. Maybe that was it, but to this day, I still don’t know what happened.”

In seven NFL seasons, Lazard has more than $30 million in career earnings, according to the reputable Spotrac website.

What’s ahead for Big Citrus?

Stay tuned.

(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)

The post PETERSON: Domonique Orange — Iowa State loyal through and through appeared first on Cyclone Fanatic.