Going into the ISU football spring game, ISU coach Paul Rhoads thought using a limited playbook would favor the offense, but that wasn’t necessarily how it panned out.

Iowa State’s sack happy defense finished the day with 11 sacks between six players and also had two interceptions in the second half after failing to force any turnovers in the first half. Regarding the defense’s performance, Rhoads said it was the best they have looked all spring.

“They really leveraged the ball well, they took care of the up field shoulder, they tackled well and part of tackling well is gang tackling, and I thought they did that well,” Rhoads said. “They brought a decent bit of pressure today, in a variety of five- and six-man blitzes, and it paid off for them.”

This spring has proved to be a tough one for the defensive line as both David Irving and Rodney Coe were dismissed from the team. Losing their experience might hurt the play of the defensive unit in the fall, but there were no signs of that April 12.

Corey Morrisey and Mitchell Meyers both stepped up for the defense by notching 3.5 sacks apiece with nine total tackles for Morrisey and six for Meyers.

While the spring game was a confidence booster for the defense, Meyers said he is more focused on what he needs to improve.

“I don’t think I played great,” Meyers said. “I was inconsistent. I had some good plays, but then again, I had some bad plays.”

April 12 tests Netten’s leg strength

Cole Netten, a redshirt sophomore from Ankeny, Iowa, has impressed Rhoads with his leg strength during spring practice, which prompted Rhoads to line Netten up for several lengthy field goal attempts.

In the first quarter, Netten lined up and connected on a 29 yard try to score the first points of the game. Later on, Rhoads sent the sophomore out to really test his leg.

Netten stared down the goal posts from 62-yards away and went for it, but came up just short as the ball did not come off his foot the way he hoped. That miss did not keep Rhoads from sending Netten back out for a 56-yard try in the third quarter, which Netten sent through the uprights.

“I just started kicking him longer this past week, and he was excited about that and quickly responded to that challenge and asked for more on a daily basis,” Rhoads said. “From 40 [yards and] in, he has been very consistent all spring long. The second one [from 56 yards], I was glad that he got that opportunity after not being able to hit the first one [from 62 yards].”

After missing from 62 yards, Netten said he expected Rhoads to put him back out on the field for the 56-yard attempt.

“I was expecting him to put me out there because in warm-ups, I had a couple from 55 and some good hits,” Netten said. “I was confident in myself, and Coach is confident in me as well, so having both of us be confident in me is huge.”