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

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.”

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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.

“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 offense started out great, and the defense had to respond. They respond back, and you had to have a drive at the end to win it.

“We’ve really tried to amp it up and tried to make it the hardest, most challenging, mentally and physically, that we could. I think it’s benefitted this group.”

He didn’t say it, but Campbell knows his ninth Cyclones team can be good.

“Last year, as we were trying to reset ourselves, I felt like we were off a little,” Campbell said. “Now, it’s understanding that if you want to be great − if you want to be uncommon in football − then your best has to become the standard every day. That’s really been our theme.”

Adversity didn’t set in last season until after spring ball. That’d be the state's gambling investigation that impacted five potential starters.

Adversity last season included the loss at Ohio – a wake-up moment after which the Cyclones gradually opened up the offense.

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“Probably the greatest gift to this team is they had to deal with so many things last year,” Campbell said.

Deal with – and overcome.

“There’s still so much competition right now,” Campbell said. “The only way to know where your gaps are, and know where you need to continue to work to move yourself forward, is to go through really hard things and work through challenging times. We’ve tried to create that more so than in the past.”

Rocco and the quarterbacks room

We know 2023 freshman All-American Rocco Becht will be the starter in the season-opening game against North Dakota on Aug. 31 at Jack Trice Stadium. We're pretty sure J.J. Kohl will be the backup and spring enrollee true freshman Connor Moberly, of Southeast Polk, will be No. 3.

“I love what our quarterback room looks like,” Campbell said. “Rocco’s had an elite spring. He’s had the growth you would hope he’d make. His last six or seven practices have been nothing short of exceptional.”

Becht started all 13 games last season. Highlights included throwing a touchdown in 12 of 13 games and breaking school freshman records for touchdown passes (23) and passing yards (3,120) − records that were held by Brock Purdy.

Becht holds the Cyclones’ freshman record for completions (231), and he’s just the 10th freshman in Big 12 history to reach 200 completions.

The battle, therefore, is for No. 2.

“There’s a lot of competition in that room. J.J. has grown," Campbell said about the 6-foot-7, 250-pounder. “He’s had a really good spring.

“Connor Moberly has flashed. For a young football player, he’s got confidence and maturity.

“It’ll be fun to watch those guys on Saturday, to be quite honest with you ... handling the offense in front of a crowd.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 52nd year writing sports for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, on X @RandyPete, and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State's Matt Campbell says Carson Willich will miss 2024 season