Paul Rhoads’ voice emotes fall. The intensity immediately brings to mind football, the mass of tailgaters, the crunching of dead leaves and the unmistakable clacking of pads and helmets.

Fortunately for football fans, Rhoads and his staff speak about their team with the same passion, regardless of the season.

It may not be mid-October, but just four days from Iowa State’s annual Spring Game, the coach and his players seem intense and ready to go. It couldn’t be any other way.

“Our objective for 2010 and for the spring is continuous improvement. A lot of teams take their foot off the gas right now. We can’t do that,” said Rhoads at Monday’s news conference. “If we are going to improve in everything that we’re doing, this last week has to be better than our first three weeks if we’re going to head in the right direction.”

Improvement begins on the exterior of anything, and the keys to the Cyclone car haven’t changed hands.

Quarterback Austen Arnaud will be a redshirt senior when Iowa State takes on Northern Illinois on Sept. 2, and coming off of a 2,015-yard passing season with 22 touchdowns, the Ames native will be held even more accountable for the team’s results.

“Austen Arnaud has been playing much better,” Rhoads said.

“I think his technique has improved, his fundamentals are improved and his command of the offense has improved as well. If anybody has really shined and you could give a most-improved type of award, it would be Austen. That needed to happen and should be happening in year two of an offense.”

Suiting up for all but the team’s historic Nebraska win in 2009, and sitting fourth on Iowa State’s all-time touchdown passes list, Arnaud’s teammates are still noticing his growth in practice.

“From my standpoint, he looks more comfortable with what he needs to do as a senior. He has stepped up, and he’s doing a lot of good things,” said sophomore cornerback Jeremy Reeves.

The secondary Reeves is a part of is getting praise from the coaching staff, much like the “consistent” offensive line, and the unit is returning plenty of experience.

“I believe we have the capability to press the corners up and challenge the receivers a little more, because I think we have four cornerbacks that can play. In my opinion, it’s our strongest position on the defensive side of the field,” Rhoads said.

Safety David Sims was named the 2009 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Ter’Ran Benton is healthy after an up-and-down season, Leonard Johnson is high motivation for this season, and veteran Mike O’Connell will move into James Smith’s old starting spot at free safety.

“Spring has been good so far, and I’m learning a lot, especially from coach [Bobby] Elliott — we’ve got a lot of fast guys out there, and every day the game has been fun,” Reeves said.

Alexander Robinson should be the starter on day one at running back after rushing for nearly 1,200 yards at more than 5 yards per carry, and nine total touchdowns.

The Minneapolis-raised back will be supported by Beau Blankenship in the spring game, and two freshmen, James White and Jeff Woody.

Woody, a Southeast Polk grad from Runnels, has the attention of local writers and the coaching staff, and Rhoads describes him as a possible H-back-type player in offensive coordinator Tom Herman’s system.

“That A-Rob guy, he’s alright,” Woody joked.

“We get graded and coached, and we have to take that coaching and apply it to what we’re doing on the field. I need to show continuous improvement in what I do on the field and off.”

Rhoads listed the young linebacker corps as a concern Monday, but added that they had been making great strides and showing promise from scrimmage to scrimmage.

Improvement is still the buzzword at the Jacobson Building, even though duplicating last year’s success will be an uphill fight.

Eight of Iowa State’s 12 games in 2010 are against teams that played in bowl games last year. Don’t count on this coaching staff getting discouraged though. It is only April.

“We thought we’d be improved this spring. We may be more improved than I have given us credit for,” Rhoads said.