The ISU Spring Game left Cyclone Nation with more questions than answers Saturday.

Sure, it was fun to see football again, and it’s always interesting to get a sense of what lies ahead for the team in the fall. But going into the game, people, the press box included, were expecting and even hoping for someone to make his mark on the team and the game.

“It’s always never as good or as bad as it seems until you get the film watched,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads. “When you go against yourself, there’s always good and bad with that within the program.”

Apart from junior college transfer Aaron Horne, who caught a total of eight passes for 124 yards in split time between the Cardinal and Gold squads, players at key positions didn’t necessarily assert themselves as “the guy.”

Probably the biggest and most notable position everyone in attendance was watching for was the quarterback, for obvious reasons. Junior college transfer Steele Jantz, who played with Horne at San Fransisco City College, made his debut, splitting time with redshirt junior Jerome Tiller.

Alongside Jantz and Tiller, redshirt freshman Jared Barnett and redshirt sophomore James Capello are vying for the starting role for the Cyclones. All four quarterbacks saw significant time Saturday, and all four had their ups and downs.

If you gave the starting job based strictly off of stats, then Tiller is your guy right now. The two-year backup to Austen Arnaud went 12-18 for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

But aside from a few big plays, including a 45-yard bomb to Darius Reynolds on the first play from scrimmage, Tiller didn’t awe anyone.

Compare that to Jantz, who kept several plays alive with his feet and had a beautiful 50-yard pass into a brisk wind that landed perfectly in the hands of Horne for a touchdown. Jantz may have made some excitable plays and shown flashes of what people have said he could do, but he also made a few notable mistakes.

There was the fumble, and then the interception that sailed over the head of his receiver and into the hands of defensive back Earl Brooks. Those hands-covering-your-face moments took away from the big plays he made, no question.

As for Capello and Barnett, both seemed more eager to run than throw, and when they did it was for minimal gains. While Rhoads insists it’s still a four-horse race for the starting job, one has to think that both Capello and Barnett needed to impress through the air as much as on the ground.

Thus, it seems as though Jantz and Tiller are the ones to watch. For Horne and running back Shontrelle Johnson, it doesn’t appear to matter to them who it is.

“They’re both our quarterbacks,” Horne said, when asked if the offense had any different kind of feel with the different quarterbacks in the game. “We look up to both of them to lead the team, so there’s not really a difference between the both of them. We look up to both of them the same.”

Johnson said he doesn’t really pay much attention to who’s under center, and thinks both can handle the load.

“The both play different, but they both got drive in them,” Johnson said. “They both take control of the offense … so I feel no difference at all.”

If the Cyclones are going to succeed come fall, that prospect is daunting considering they play a round-robin Big 12 schedule, either Jantz or Tiller has to make their teammates see a difference.

Quarterback by committee simply does not work like it can for running backs, so one needs to assert himself as “the guy” if the offense and team want to succeed.

The team also needs a leader on the offense. Arnaud and Alexander Robinson will no longer be around to lead the group, so someone has to step up in the locker room as well as on the field.

The frustrating part for Cyclone fans is that they’ll have to hurry up and wait to see just who that is.