Playing Experience:
A native of Massillon, Ohio, Kempt came to Iowa State as a walk-on in 2016. He saw action in two games and entered the 2017 campaign deep on the Cyclone depth chart at quarterback. In the fifth game of the season, however, Kempt became an overnight sensation, leading the Cyclones to a 38-31 victory over No. 3 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., in his first career start. He threw for 343 yards (18-of-24) and three touchdowns in one of the greatest wins in school history. He went on to tally a 5-3 record as a starter, leading the team to a national ranking, an 8-5 record and a victory in the Liberty Bowl. Kempt threw for 1,787 yards, tossed 15 touchdown passes and completed 66.3 percent of his passes, the third-best clip in school history. He is the only quarterback in Cyclone history to lead his team to a pair of wins over top-five opponents. Kempt received a sixth season of eligibility in 2018 and was named a team co-captain prior to the season. Unfortunately, a severe knee injury in the first game of the season derailed his last year on the team. Kempt graduated from Iowa State in 2018 with a pair of degrees in computer science and liberal arts. In 2022, he earned his master's degree in family and consumer sciences - youth development.
Coaching Experience:
Former Iowa State All-Big 12 quarterback Kyle Kempt spent six seasons on the Iowa State football staff (2019-24). Kempt was a quality control assistant in 2019, switched to graduate assistant for the offense prior to the 2020 season before returning to his quality control role for the 2023 season. In 2024 he served as quality control for the offensive pass game. In his six seasons, the Cyclones produced four of the most prolific offenses in the history of Cyclone football while appearing in five bowl games and two Big 12 Championship games. Iowa State broke the school record for total offense (444.3) and had the third-best scoring offense (32.2) in school history in 2019 and followed it up with the second-best scoring offense (32.9) and third-best total offense (436.3) totals in Cyclone history in 2020. During Kempt's time on staff, Iowa State posted a 45-32 record and recorded five of the school's eight winning league seasons in the 29-year history of the Big 12 Conference.
