After relieving junior Steele Jantz early in the first quarter of Saturday’s homecoming loss against Texas A&M, redshirt freshman Jared Barnett will have another homecoming of sorts as the starting signal caller for the Cyclones in Lubbock, Texas, against Texas Tech on Saturday.

Lubbock is 360 miles west of Barnett’s hometown of Garland, Texas, but he’ll have plenty of family and friends in attendance at Jones AT&T Stadium, that is if he can find some tickets.

“I have asked maybe five guys for extra tickets and it’s just Monday so it will be a lot more later on in the week,” Barnett said.

A big challenge lies ahead for Barnett, who will be called on to help revive an offense that has averaged only 18.5 points per game in its last four games, all losses.

“We have not played productively as an offensive football team and a good part of that is your quarterback play,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads at a press conference on Monday. “Steele has not played at a level that we would see him continuing on as a starter in this game based on especially what Jared did coming off the bench versus Texas A&M and Missouri for that part. It’s a relatively easy decision for me to see the need for a change and put Jared in that position.”

Rhoads lauded Barnett for his decision-making during the Cyclones’ 33-17 loss to Texas A&M, but the offense sputtered at times, especially on third down where they only converted on six of eighteen chances.

“It was just one or two plays that we were away from really opening up that game, it’s been like that all season,” Barnett said. “Just one or two plays here and there, and we’ve had these turnovers. We’re really close.”

Although the Cyclones came out on the losing side of the game against the Aggies, one of the more striking statistics for Barnett was a zero in the turnover column. On the flip side, Jantz had turned the ball over at least once in each of the seven games this season including an interception on the first play from scrimmage on Saturday.

“He certainly made more good decisions than he did bad decisions over the course of that football game,” Rhoads said of Barnett. “The fact that he’s so inexperienced and remained so calm I think is a little bit surprising to myself as well as our staff.”

The first quarterback recruit to commit to Iowa State during Rhoads’ tenure, Barnett was ranked 27th nationally among dual-threat quarterbacks by Rivals.com as a senior in high school.

“Plain and simple, I have to get the ball to my playmakers,” Barnett said. “We have a lot of them on the field. It’s just about finding them and getting it to them on time in space so that they can make plays.”

Although he has appeared calm on the field and with the media, Barnett admitted that he has had some jitters in his three appearances this season. Barnett’s composure will be tested this weekend as the Cyclones prepare to face a Texas Tech team that upset No. 3 Oklahoma 41-38 on Saturday.

“It’s easy to be the relief pitcher or the second team quarterback coming in and get that spark and be able to take advantage of it. Now he has to do it as the starting quarterback,” Rhoads said.