When the ISU football team runs on the field at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, it will wrap up its four-week spring season.

The scrimmage will also provide fans the first glimpse at the 2013 team to take the field next fall. Since the team’s loss in the Liberty Bowl last December, there have been numerous departures and additions along with some new strategies inside the team’s playbook.

Some of that will be evident in the 2 p.m. scrimmage Saturday.

Offense: Look for the pistol offense

When Iowa State hired new offensive line coach Chris Klenakis in the off-season, it brought in a coach that heavily featured the “pistol” scheme as an offensive coordinator in his time at Nevada.

More focus has been given to the offense in the Cyclones’ playbook, and it will be one key difference next season.

“The majority of our plays are out of the pistol now, so that’s obviously one distinction you’ll see,” said quarterback Sam Richardson. “The pistol has helped us with our speed, maybe, and really just taking advantage of catching defenses off-guard.”

With the pistol offense, Richardson will line up 4 yards behind the center instead of 7, and the running back will line up behind him rather than beside him. The formation is thought to make it harder for the defense to read.

“What [fans are] going to see is a lot of downhill running, but that downhill running is going to set up play-action passes, it’s going to set up outside runs,” said running back Jeff Woody. “When you’re in pistol, there’s no one set thing that the linebackers or safeties can key on, so it keeps everyone on their toes.”

Defense: A new set of linebackers

With the loss of linebackers A.J. Klein and Jake Knott, who accounted for a combined 196 tackles in 2012, the defense will take on a different look next season.

While linebacker Jeremiah George started in nine of the team’s 13 games last season, the team’s other two starting linebackers will be getting their first real action when the team opens the season against Northern Iowa in August.

Juniors Jared Brackens and Jevohn Miller will join George in the middle of the defense. Beyond the starters, the team is even younger and more inexperienced.

“The first three are improving, they’re getting better,” said defensive coordinator Wally Burnham. “Beyond that, it’s a struggle. You’ve got young kids that are seeing something new every day. I think our first three are playing pretty good at times for the most part and seem to be making plays.”

Special teams: Who will take on kicking duties?

When all was said and done last pre-season, Edwin Arceo came away with the kicking job by beating out then-freshman Cole Netten to earn the duties.

The battle for the job next season is already underway with Netten having used his redshirt and Arceo having a season of Division I play under his belt.

Last season, Arceo went 12-of-18 on field goal, 37-of-40 on extra points and he had 23 touchbacks on 63 total kickoffs. When Arceo takes the field Saturday with Netten, he’ll do so in a tight race.

“I would call it a dead-heat, I think that’s accurate,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “I think both have had good days and I think they’ve had off days.”

Rhoads said he didn’t anticipate the effect of breaking in a new holder this spring. Replacing Brett Bueker from last season so far has been wide receiver Justin Coleman, and punter Kirby Van Der Kamp is also currently a candidate.