ISU quarterback Sam Richardson may not have the best running form for a ball carrier in the eyes of offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham, but there is no denying what he has been able to do running the ball this spring.

In the April 13, 2013 scrimmage, Richardson busted loose for a 41-yard touchdown and finished the practice with eight carries for 81 yards. ISU coach Paul Rhoads said Richardson has matured in his decision-making in regard to when to slide to avoid contact, but isn’t shy from hits either.

“I think you saw in the West Virginia game he dropped his shoulder one time late in the game, moving the ball to the red zone and got demonstrative after,” Rhoads said. “He’s capable of dropping his shoulder and getting physical but you need those guys to be smart and stay healthy and stay on the field.”

With the Iowa State’s spread offense using a zone read and the recently implemented pistol formations, Richardson said he has begun to recognize situations and when to pull the ball away from a handoff to get the yards that are needed.

Even though Richardson claimed he may not be the most athletic runner on the team, it has seemed to work just fine for him so far.

“Maybe it’s not going to be the huge 60-yarder you’d like to see every time but I think it will be a pretty big gain each time we get that opportunity,” Richardson said.

The redshirt sophomore started the last three games of 2012 for the Cyclones, including the Liberty Bowl, completing 46 of 79 passes at 58.2 percent for eight touchdowns and one interception. The light did not seem to come on until this spring in Rhoads’ mind, however, when Richardson has begun to command the offense.

“As much as you try to get a guy to come along earlier, sometimes it just doesn’t work that way,” Rhoads said. “Sam had an opportunity last year to be the guy. Sam had an opportunity no different than Steele [Jantz] or Jared [Barnett] to take the ball in the first offense and run with it and never stepped forward to do that. It was too easy for him to sit behind a couple veteran guys and wait for his time. Sam has now made those steps and I see him more commanding in his presence of the offense, in his level of play. He’s making good choices.”

‘Shark Week’ in minds of linebackers

Senior Jeremiah George and juniors Jared Brackens and Jevohn Miller all have something in common as the prospective starting linebackers for this fall. Each player has seemed to have that instinctive light come on for them going into their junior seasons for the ISU football team, much like Richardson has this spring.

“I think that’s the coincidence piece of it, that for those three particular guys, it’s all been going into their junior season because the light goes on at different times for different players,” Rhoads said. “One thing I know I’m happy about is the light has gone on. We’ve got three first-team linebackers that are having good springs and really playing productively both on normal practice days and scrimmage days.”

George is the lone starter returning for the linebacking group and finished with 84 tackles in 2012. The senior has also tried to establish early the attitude of a linebacker that he learned when he first joined the Cyclones. George described it as something known as “Shark Week.”

“I think it was before the TCU game, I said the only thing on the mind of a shark is eat,” George said. “The whole mentality of a shark is, we have all these things we have to think about during the play, look at the formation and think about what we might get.

“But at the end of the day, when the ball is snapped we have to go tackle the ball carrier so we refer to that as eating. So it’s time to eat.”