Another year, another quarterback battle.

The 2012 spring season for the ISU football team started Tuesday with its first indoor practice, where two veterans and one newcomer took snaps under center in early contention for the starting spot at quarterback.

“I won’t change anything as far as the criteria that I’m looking for in who’s going to be our starter,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “It starts with decision-making; all of them have got to become smarter as leaders of this football team.”

Jared Barnett said he felt as though he lost the starting quarterback job and would have to win it once again after the Cyclones’ 27-13 loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl last December.

“It’s good to have this competition again,” Barnett said. “I feel like I didn’t play well enough to be the starter and I understand why coach Rhoads took me out. It’s just another challenge for me to come out and be better.”

The frontrunner for taking the starting job from both Barnett and Steele Jantz is redshirt freshman Sam Richardson, who was described as the “smartest true freshman quarterback” by former offensive coordinator Tom Herman last fall.

“As a group, we feel like we definitely have to play better to excel our team to get more wins to get to that championship point,” Richardson said. “They obviously have the experience, but it’s always been a competition.”

While Richardson currently sits at the No. 3 spot on the depth chart, Rhoads said it might be a little too early to include him in the conversation for the starting spot at quarterback.

“He’s certainly not in striking distance today,” Rhoads said of Richardson. “He’s not at the level of reps and mental understanding at this point. Is he capable? Certainly. He has that kind of potential.”

For Jantz, who played three quarters in the Pinstripe Bowl loss, this year’s competition with Barnett for the starting spot is different than last season.

“Last year, I was coming in just trying to memorize everything, trying to catch up,” Jantz said. “Now, I’m not trying to catch up, I’m just trying to perfect everything and worry about the offense as a whole, not just me learning the plays.”

Learning the plays won’t be as much of a burden for the trio with the arrival of Courtney Messingham as offensive coordinator, who implemented a smaller playbook with hopes of increasing efficiency and decreasing confusion.

“Generally speaking, if you spend your time doing less and concentrate on it and rep it, you’re going to be better at it,” Rhoads said of the new offensive approach. “That’s a major focus for us.”

While excitement might be high for a Cyclone team that pulled off the biggest upset in program history last season, moving forward first comes with the 14 remaining practices on the spring slate.

For Richardson, those 14 practices are critical if he wants to be in striking distance of having his number called on Saturdays.

“Getting out there for these 15 practices is probably the most important thing for me,” Richardson said. “[It’s] just to get in the mixture, get in the speed with everyone and feel myself in the position that I’m in.”