Six years has not been long enough for Patrick Neal.

The senior defensive end — who is the last recruit on the team by former coach Dan McCarney — will be playing his final game at home on Friday as Iowa State hosts No. 2 Oklahoma State at 7 p.m.

“Patrick committed to this season as his last because he was disappointed with what happened in 2010, both individually and collectively with our football team,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads at his weekly news conference Monday.

Neal was a grayshirt recruit of McCarney coming out of Valley High School in West Des Moines in 2006, meaning he did not join the program until after the 2006-07 season had concluded. Now weighing in at 250 pounds, Neal said he was about 210 pounds when he arrived on campus as a freshman.

After redshirting the 2007 season under then-new coach Gene Chizik, Neal played fullback, catching one touchdown pass in a loss to Missouri.

“The way I’ve always looked at it, you’ve just got to do what the coaches ask you and do it to the best of your ability,” Neal said. “Wherever I was needed, I was more than willing to play.” 

Neal officially made the switch to defensive end in Rhoads’ first season as coach of the Cyclones in 2009, where he has played ever since.

“If you have a guy like that, it inspires everybody else around you,” said junior linebacker Jake Knott. “A guy that’s been going this hard for that many years, it’s really a big positive to have on your team. His work ethic is second-to-none.”

Neal accumulated 27 tackles and one sack in nine starts in 2009 and totalling just two more tackles the following season in all 12 games last season.

This season, however, Neal has 32 tackles through nine games with 3.5 tackles for loss and a team-high 2.5 sacks.

“I think he’s played really well this season, been a bright spot on the defensive front,” Rhoads said of Neal. “I would expect him to continue to do that over the course of the last three regular season games.”

As for preparing for his final game at Jack Trice Stadium, Neal said it has yet to hit him.

“I really haven’t thought about [Senior Night],” Neal said. “It just feels like a normal week to me.”

Burris healthy; Tuftee, Leo expected to return

Right tackle Brayden Burris is back to practicing with the team but is not expected to be able to play on Friday, Rhoads said Monday.

Burris sustained a fracture in his leg on Oct. 1 in the Cyclones’ 37-14 loss to Texas, and had surgery shortly afterwards. Carter Bykowski and Kyle Lichtenberg have both rotated in at right tackle in Burris’ absence since.

Rhoads said even though Burris will probably not play on Friday, he expects him to be back by the end of the season.

Rhoads also said left guard Ethan Tuftee and running back Tyler Leo both underwent scopes on their knees last week. Both are hopeful to be back and active on Friday.

Cyclones utilize bye week

A week removed from its 13-10 win against Kansas on Nov. 5, Iowa State (5-4, 2-4 Big 12) spent the past week preparing for what, Rhoads said, is one of the biggest matchups in Jack Trice Stadium history.

“We’ve got a lot of work,” Rhoads said of the bye week. “We practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week, got some early exposure to Oklahoma State, which allowed us to go into [Monday] as a regular Tuesday practice ahead of where we normally would be.”

The Cyclones’ matchup against No. 2 Oklahoma State (10-0, 7-0) will be the first game televised on a Friday night game on ESPN in school history, which Rhoads said will be great exposure for his program.

“It’s a great experience to play against the No. 2 team in the nation,” said running back James White. “Obviously, they’re going to get their best shot every week against anyone they play, so it’ll be a good experience for us.”

When asked about Oklahoma State’s 66-6 pounding of Texas Tech last Saturday, however, Rhoads said he could not watch it in its entirety.

“I watched the first touchdown of that Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game, and then my boys and I went out and got on the four-wheelers and the dirt bikes, I didn’t want anymore a part of that football game,” Rhoads said. “It makes me shiver just as I think about it.”