After successful seasons on the high school and practice fields, backup quarterback Austen Arnaud needs only one more thing – experience.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 222-pound redshirt freshman from Ames has spent the majority of his Cyclone career on the sidelines.

“He needs to get more snaps out there in good situations where all kinds of things are happening, and he hasn’t had that yet,” said quarterback coach Tony Petersen. “So most of his learning is coming from Bret’s [Meyer] game time experience right now.”

For now, his game day experience has been limited to brief stints against Northern Iowa and Texas.

Arnaud made his collegiate debut on Sept. 8, when he took over for one series at quarterback for Meyer. During the series, he completed 2-of-4 passes for 15 yards and one first down. Against the Longhorns, he appeared again, late in the Cyclones’ 53-3 loss, completing 1 of 3 passes for 3 yards.

“It was great just being able to get on the field,” Arnaud said. “You’ve just got to be able to control the tempo of the game and be able to slow it down for yourself.”

So Arnaud has hit the practice field, working on the tempo, his reads, and getting to know his receivers. It’s there that he’s impressed his coaches.

“I think he’s got big size, he’s athletic, he’s got a strong arm, and he’s a smart kid,” Petersen said. “He’s got everything. He brings everything to the table.”

It’s that type of assessment that has had many Cyclone fans wondering when the redshirt freshman will take over for more snaps. A Gatorade Iowa High School Football Player of the Year as a senior, Arnaud finished his high school career at Ames passing for 3,691 yards and 30 touchdowns. After Meyer led the Cyclones to an 0-2 start with four interceptions, the spotlight turned to Arnaud, who stayed on the bench, watching the senior.

“It’s nice to have a guy around that’s played for three years now and in his fourth year that he can talk to and try to get as much of the experience as he can without being on the field,” Petersen said.

Despite not making it on the field much at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturdays, Petersen said he thinks Arnaud has progressed well so far. Even with his success outside of the stadium, Petersen said he won’t know how successful Arnaud can be until he gets more game experience.

“As a quarterback, sometimes you see guys that look like they’re going to be the best players and they don’t work out and sometimes just the opposite,” he said. “We’re just excited about whenever he gets in there to see how he does.”

Petersen said although coaches have hoped to get Arnaud more playing time the last couple of games, an injured toe has kept that from happening. Now that he’s been cleared, Arnaud hopes to get more time on the field.

“I think it’s very necessary,” Arnaud said. “It’s not how bad I want to, obviously I want to play every snap if I could, but it’s what the coaches have planned for me and I trust them and they have a lot of trust in me.”

Even with the injury, Chizik said he’s seen improvement from his backup quarterback.

“He’s coming along and again with his health, he’s making a lot of progress in the last two weeks,” Chizik said.

With only three games remaining on the Cyclones’ season, Aranud said no matter how much more playing time he gets, he’s more prepared for next season.

“It was definitely a good experience,” Arnaud said of his two games. “So that’s just going to propel me to be a better player next year – just my experience that I’ve had so far this year.”

Where he ends up next year also remains a question.

“We definitely feel like he has the opportunity to do it and could do it (win the job),” Petersen said. “We’ll just have to wait to see what happens.”