4 Iowa State football questions as spring practice begins

AMES − And now spring football, which this time has some relevance for an Iowa State offense that’s in transition.

There’s a new coordinator of a unit needing an infusion of new ideas. A new offensive line coach. A new running backs coach. A new receivers coach.

An honest-to-goodness quarterback competition for a change? It certainly could end up that way.

Who’s the No. 1 running back? (Hint: Whoever is healthy).

Will the offensive line finally be consistently good?

Will play-calling be less predictable and more imaginative?

Who’s the field-goal kicker?

Nothing will be determined during the 15 official practices that started Thursday and end with some version of a spring game on April 22. No jobs will be won or lost. The 2023 season is only in the formative stage.

“By the time you get to August, I really don’t know if you’ll know what this team really looks like, and who’s stepping on the field early in the season until we get midway through fall camp,” coach Matt Campbell told reporters Thursday. “That’s the exciting part.”

What happens during the next month will be a primer of what’s to follow during unofficial summer workouts, and then official fall ball, leading up to the Sept. 2 opener against Northern Iowa at Jack Trice Stadium.

“We’re very confident in where we are, and what our program is about,” Campbell said. “I felt we were a little off culturally in 2021; I didn’t love where we were in '21.

“Man, I loved where we were in '22 from a cultural standpoint – how our kids did what they did – how they practiced, how they came to work every day, how they didn’t quit and played to the end of the game.

“That starts with the head football coach.”

Let’s throw out some thoughts, concerns and questions about Iowa State football, as Campbell enters his eighth season as the coach.

Who gets the first snap at Iowa State quarterback?

It’s not like Hunter Dekkers can just go through the motions, secure that he’ll be the opening-game starter for the second season in a row.

I’ve heard redshirt freshman Rocco Becht has that “it” factor, and I suspect freshman J.J. Kohl didn’t come in at the semester just to learn the finer points of holding a sideline clipboard.

“Everybody is pushed right now,” Campbell said. “The head coach is being pushed, our coaches are being pushed, our players are being pushed. Anytime you don’t reach the results that you would want − I think there’s a deep dive into everybody’s accountability.”

Dekkers showed flashes of good in his first season as the starter, and there were flashes of not-as-good. He must cut down on his league-leading 11 interceptions, and he must work on being a team leader.

“You saw a team last year that was high and low and lacked consistency in some moments,” Campbell said of a 4-8 season that included 1-8 in the Big 12. “When you’re young, that is part of the growing process.

“We’ll be our best team across the board if we have great consistency. The guys that is handling the ball the most – consistency has to start at the quarterback position.”

Campbell can’t roll with an experienced junior making first-time starter mistakes. That grace period is over, especially if the Cyclones don’t look good during the first quarter of the season – in which at least three wins would appear do-able.

Who gets the first handoff?

That decision could take a while. Last season starter Jirehl Brock played most of 2022 nursing one injury after another. Cartevious Norton showed some good, but is he an every-down back?

How much has Eli Sanders improved, and will transfer Arlen Harris find success at Iowa State that he couldn’t find at Stanford?

Those two will have plenty of opportunities in the spring; injury recovery will limit Brock and Norton.

“We have a firm confidence in what Jirehl can do,” Campbell said. “We feel confident in what Cartevious has the ability to do.”

Is Jaylin Noel the next Xavier Hutchinson?

Someone must step up for the guy who caught nearly a third of Iowa State’s completed passes last season.

Hutchinson caught 107 passes for 1,171 yards and six touchdowns in 2022, and will be in next month’s NFL Draft. Noel was the No. 2 receiver with 60 catches for 572 yards. The third-leading receiver had 33 receptions. You can see just how much Dekkers relied on one receiver.

“The next step in his football game is consistency,” Campbell said. “There were times last year that Jaylin wanted to make the play so much that he might have been a hair off on some plays. He’s a grown man. He knows how to play the game. He practices like a pro. Now, it’s a matter of putting it all together.”

What’s shaking at the Cyclones' place-kicker position?

It’s no secret that Iowa State lost three games in a row by between one and three points. It’s no secret Jace Gilbert was 4-for-7 in the field goal department in those games.

“One thing that I have firm belief in is Jace Gilbert,” Campbell said. “What we asked Jace to do a year ago was probably a little bit of coaching. Jace was the punter. Jace was the kickoff guy. Jace was the field-goal kicker. We asked a lot from him a year ago, instead of singular focus early on letting him just be the point scorer.

"Jace is uberly talented. I think a little of us asking so much of him early probably created some inconsistencies and some of that is on us. Jace has all the talent in the world to be an elite kicker.”

Four bullet-point observations

• Campbell mentioned the inconsistency of last season's team repeatedly. Obviously, that's a focus this spring.
• Easton Dean and DeShawn Hanika, not necessarily in that order, are the tight end headliners. "Easton battled through injury almost the entire (2022) season," Campbell said. "He was never healthy. DeShawn kept getting better as the season went on. You’re really excited about that."
• Big things are expected for defensive end Joey Petersen.
• The off-season "deep dive" into the program included self-reflection: "It's rare in this profession to be at one place going into our eighth football season," Campbell said. "There’s been a lot of great things that have occurred here. There’s also been opportunities where you feel you could have been better than the result that occurred looked like. I’ve got to be a better head football coach."

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 51st year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected], and on Twitter @RandyPete