Iowa State players Tyson Smith (left) and Ellis Hobbs (right) hold the Independence Bowl trophy after their 2004 win. Hobbs, currently a Philadelphia Eagle cornerback, returned to ISU and was awarded his dipoma on Saturday /AP Photo, Charles Smith

AMES — What Ellis Hobbs accomplished in earning his degree from Iowa State is just the kind of thing the loud and proud Texan has preached his whole life.

“It’s about finishing,” Hobbs told a crowd of reporters Saturday outside a Hilton Coliseum buzzing with graduates and their families. “It shows what your character is. When you start something, you should finish it.”

The former Cyclone football star and current Philadelphia Eagle was one of the thousands in the building waiting to walk across the stage. Hobbs hadn’t been back to campus in years and didn’t need much time to get nostalgic in the place he used to call home.

“Every time I see something it reminds me of something,” he said. “The smell in the air, the way the wind is blowing. You remember everything. It’s funny how the mind works.”

Hobbs left ISU in 2004 following an all-Big 12 senior season and was a third-round NFL draft pick. His football career was taking off, but Hobbs was seven credits short of a B.A. in art and design when he left Ames.

Five years later, the degree he told his mother, Nettie, he’d one day hold is officially his.

She didn’t mind ironing Ellis’ cap and gown.

“It was a good feeling,” she said. “Ellis always keeps his promises. He’s a good kid.”

Hobbs, a week shy of his 26th birthday, has fame, fortune, family . . . why lose sleep over a piece of paper when you’ve got a job making millions?

Because mom wanted him to. Hobbs is the first in his family to own a college degree.

“Getting a college education is very important,” Nettie Hobbs said. “If you leave the NFL tomorrow you can always go into graphic design and say you have a degree from Iowa State.”

This day would have occurred years ago, Hobbs said, had rehabbing from surgeries not dominated his off-seasons the last two years. Hobbs took a speech class at a junior college and completed his degree requirements with an internship at Kraft Sports Productions, which is owned by New England Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft.

His wife, three-month-old son Ellis IV, and other immediate family members alongside, Hobbs was all smiles and well-dressed, sporting a cardinal and gold-colored ensemble.

“It’s a good moment right now,” he said.

His next feat is completing his transition from New England to Philadelphia.

Hobbs was traded last month after four successful seasons with the Patriots that includes a Super Bowl victory. He started every game the last two years and has totaled 198 tackles and nine interceptions during his career.

He also has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.

Now Hobbs will be with a contender in the NFC in the Eagles.

“It’s a great thing. I couldn’t be more pleased,” he said. “It was time in New England where it was time for me to go, business and personal-wise. (The NFL) is a business.”