WILLIAMS: Pre-spring depth chart musings

AMES — Paul Rhoads held his pre-spring press conference on Monday morning and with that, a fresh depth chart was released.

CLICK HERE to view the depth chart. 

Below are the need-to-know notes from the new depth chart, the depth chart itself and other position changes to be aware of. Of course, I give my thoughts on the moves as well. 

INJURY NOTES

The following Cyclones are not participating in spring drills because of injury…

·      Dondre Daley, Jr. WR

·      Mitchell Meyers, Jr. DE

·      Daniel Burton, Jr. OL

·      Jacob Dunning, Jr. OL

·      Sam Seonbuchner, Fr. LB

·      Matt Swoyer, Jr. DB

·      Levi Peters, Jr. LB

·      Quan West, Jr. WR

·      Robby Garcia, So. DT

The following Cyclones will participate in drills but will not be involved in contact…

·      Quenton Bundrage, Sr. WR

·      Luke Knott, Jr. LB

·      Brock Dagel, Sr. OL

·      Ryan Glenn, So. OL

POSITION CHANGES

Qujuan Floyd: The 6-foot, 202-pound senior played free safety last season but has been moved to strong safety for the spring. Originally, the plan was to play Floyd at nickel but with T.J. Mutcherson being dismissed from the team in the offseason, replacing him with Floyd was a natural move. He and sophomore Kamari Cotton-Moya should be a nice little back end for the Iowa State D. 

Darius Lee-Campbell: Iowa State’s lone quarterback in the 2014 class has been moved to wide receiver. According to the depth chart, Lee-Campbell is currently listed at 6-foot-2, 214-pounds.

Cole Anderson: This 6-foot-4, 275-pound redshirt freshman has been moved from the offensive line to tight end. With Alex Leslie leaving the program in the offseason, Iowa State’s situation at tight end is a bit hairy heading into the offseason so wanting to bolster numbers here makes sense. Anderson will clearly be used more as a blocker than receiver at the position.

DEPTH CHART JOTTINGS

JUCO NO. 1 AT CENTER: I guess the biggest surprise of the day for me was seeing Patrick Scoggins listed at No. 1 center for the Cyclones. Don’t get me wrong…If this eventually happens, that will be a very good thing for Iowa State and that’s nothing against his current backup, sophomore Nick Severs. It all comes down to the fact that you don’t bring in mid-year JUCO prospects to ride the pine and the fact that Rhoads put Scoggins here from the beginning is a promising sign. 

OFFENSIVE LINE: Take Iowa State’s entire depth chart on the offensive line as a grain of salt. It’s very notable that Daniel Burton (guard) and Jacob Dunning (tackle) were left off of it due to injury. Dunning is still a question coming off of a bad knee injury last season, but should be the backup right tackle come fall camp. Having said that, don’t be surprised if sophomore Shawn Curtis mans the backup spot at both tackle positions when games are played in September.

DEFENSIVE LINE: I suspect we will see quite of bit of change here from now until the end of fall camp. I have a hard time believing that Vernell Trent actually beats out Demond Tucker at nose guard, although it’s hard telling with JUCO’s. Defensive end is interesting. Dale Pierson showed potential at the end of last season and was rewarded with the starting spot at left end. The fact that Trent Taylor is listed as a backup there and not the starter on the right side was a bit of a surprise. Following the progress of Terry Ayeni and Gabe Luna throughout the spring will be something I have an eye on. Both men were forced to redshirt last season because of injury but according to Rhoads, will participate in full spring drills over the next few weeks. 

LINEBACKER: Kane Seeley has probably earned the pre-spring nod over Jordan Harris at middle linebacker but I’ll be surprised if he is the man come week one vs. Northern Iowa.

STAY TUNED

We will have a lot more coverage of spring football for you guys in the coming days.