Peterson: Iowa State football’s Matt Campbell intentionally made this the toughest spring

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AMES – Adversity − and the ability to overcome it − has been one of Matt Campbell’s talking points since starting the process of making Iowa State football relevant back in 2016.

Just how does that pertain to a team that concludes spring workouts with Saturday’s 11 a.m. open scrimmage, aka spring game, at Jack Trice Stadium?

With starters and key backups returning at darn near every position from a team that became pretty good, adversity is not a word that fits – other than the ACL injury that will sideline backup linebacker Carson Willich for the 2024 season. He had 25 tackles while playing in all 13 games last season.

“Carson tore his ACL beginning of spring practice,” Campbell told reporters Monday. “He will be out for the year. He’s played good football for us. He’s already had surgery; he’s already on the mend.”

More: Peterson: Nine springs later, Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell says best is yet to come

Campbell said Monday that the injury is about adverse as it gets for the Cyclones as they near the conclusion of this 15-practice spring endeavor.

Campbell and his staff have intentionally made this off-season a tough challenge for their players.

“We’ve tried to make spring ball the hardest it’s been since we’ve been here,” Campbell said. “We tried to make it the hardest winter we’ve had since we’ve been here.”

That’s understandable, given the experience this team has returning from a team whose 7-6 record in 2023 included 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference.

Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said he’s made this the toughest spring of his nine-year tenure in Ames.

“I want to put adversity into these guys,” the coach went on. “I want to see failure happen, and I want to see how they respond to it.

“We had a 125-play scrimmage (last) Saturday, and it was unbelievable. The…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/peterson-iowa-state-footballs-matt-195140664.html

Author : The Des Moines Register

Publish date : 2024-04-15 19:51:40

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