Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of articles focusing on the different football positions up for grabs.

A defense is only as good as the defensive line allows it to be.

Last season, the ISU football team found out just how hard it is to compete when the line is struggling.

All season the Cyclones failed to put pressure on their opponents’ quarterbacks or stop their running game. A combination of youth, inexperience and injuries doomed the men in the ISU trenches.

Kurtis Taylor was lost to a knee injury before the season started.

True freshman Rashawn Parker started strong but hit a wall midway through the season, and was essentially a non-factor through the conference part of the schedule.

Senior star Brent Curvey was double-teamed constantly, limiting his productivity.

Freshman Nate Frere was forced into the starting lineup, performing well in his first year at the college level.

With so much youth and uncertainty around the position, all the ISU coaches want is to see improvement as spring practice goes along.

“The guys are working really hard and they’re trying to do everything we’ve asked them to do,” defensive line coach Mike Pelton said. “I’ve been pleased with their effort. Right now we’ve improved since we started [spring practice] and that’s always a positive.”

Pelton stresses work ethic with his players, reminding them to always be working hard.

“I talk to them all about a lunch pail,” Pelton said. “In the country when I grew up you put a bologna sandwich, an apple and some juice in a bag and went to work. That’s what I’m talking about every day, going to work.”

So far his players are buying into Pelton’s message, working hard to get to where the coach wants them to be.

Although each player has made contributions, Pelton said, they can all improve.

“I can say good things about them all; I can say bad things about them all,” Pelton said. “Somebody has to step up and lead the group and we’re still searching for one, but I think they understand somebody has to do that.”

The defensive end position is the main question mark for the ISU line.

Taylor was slated to start last season, before injuring his knee just days before the 2006 season was set to begin.

“He hasn’t shown any effects of [the surgery],” Pelton said. “He’s one of those guys who have come to work every day and we haven’t seen any effects of the knee.”

Parker had a huge start to the 2006 season, recording two sacks in his first collegiate game and another in game two. Those were his only sacks of the season as he struggled as they year went on.

“He understands he started out strong,” Pelton said. “He knows he has to be more consistent [throughout the season].”

The Cyclones also signed five defensive linemen, including three junior college players who will be look to for an immediate impact.

To better prepare the players for the season, Chizik has taken great pains to make sure there isn’t a situation in the football game that the defense isn’t ready for.

“We’re trying to teach them the game and that’s what Coach Chizik is doing by putting them in all kinds of situations,” Pelton said. “Hopefully when we get in a game there is no situation they get in where they don’t know what to do.”

This article is part of a series. This is the previous story.