Cael Sanderson maintained a quiet confidence throughout his college career, letting his work on the mat speak for him during four years of unprecedented success.

He won four NCAA titles and achieved a 159-0 record from 1999-2002, doing it all in an ISU singlet. Entering his first season as the ISU wrestling team’s head coach, Sanderson made clear his plans for his first year.

“We expect to win. We expect to win everything,” he said. “That’s our mindset; that’s what we are training for.”

On a team that will be composed largely of first-year starters, one redshirt freshman is already making a bold prediction.

Cyler Sanderson, the youngest of the Sanderson brothers, is already planning to do something even Cael never did: Help the Cyclones to a national championship.

“We are going to be national champions this year,” Cyler said. “That’s all I’ve got to say – we are going to win it.”

So what is different this time?

The rankings aren’t dissimilar to those of years past. The USA Today NWCA/InterMat Division I preseason poll has Iowa State at sixth, while The Wrestling Mall has the Cyclones as fourth-best team in the nation. But in the ISU wrestling room and among Cyclone fans, there is as much excitement as there has been in years, starting with the new coach and the new wave of talent that will compete this season.

After long-time coach Bobby Douglas retired last spring, Sanderson was announced as his successor. The 26-year-old Utah native said his coaching philosophy is the same as the his philosophy as a competitor: “Total effort, results will take care of themselves.”

“This team is good enough to win it,” Sanderson said. “The freshmen have to keep coming along and continue to improve throughout the season. And that will be our job [as a coaching staff], that’s where we’ve to got step in there and make sure that is the reality. But this team can win.

“We have three seniors that are all expecting to be national champions, and I know we’ve got some freshmen that are expecting to be national champions. With that attitude – if we come together as a team and we are all giving a total effort – coaches, every athlete on this program, the sky is the limit. And things are only going to get better from here on out.”

Iowa State’s core is composed of three returning seniors – the Paulson brothers, Trent and Travis, and Kurt Backes – while six freshmen are expected to start and make an immediate impact.

Two years ago, Nick Fanthorpe (125), Nick Gallick (133), Mitch Mueller (141), Cyler Sanderson (149), Jake Varner (184) and David Zabriskie (HWT) made up what was the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation. Many are ranked, and all are talented.

With all the tournaments they have competed in, Sanderson said they are prepared for the transition. Travis Paulson (165), who placed sixth at 165 pounds last season, has no problem relying on an untested group.

The first Cyclone dual is Nov. 10 against Buena Vista in the Ames High School Gym.

“I’ve been here five years. This year, I’ve had the most confidence in the team going into the season,” Travis said. “Sure, we have six freshmen, but these aren’t normal freshmen . you go up and down the lineup – we really don’t have a hole. We are going to be solid throughout, and that’s something that we haven’t had in the past.”

Trent Paulson (157) is the highest-ranked Cyclone coming into the season, listed second in two polls and first by Amateur Wrestling News. He was ranked first going into last year’s NCAA Tournament, but was upset by University of Iowa’s Joe Johnston.

He said hasn’t taken a break from training after leaving the tournament with a fourth-place finish.

“That loss in the NCAAs gave me a bad feeling in my stomach,” Trent said. “I’m not satisfied until I get that title, no matter what.”

Both Backes and Travis had different stories but similar dissatisfaction with their seasons.

Up 4-2 with less than a minute left in the NCAA semifinals, Travis gave up a four-point move to Michigan’s Ryan Churella, the eventual runner-up, and lost the match.

Backes’ junior tournament was hampered by a high ankle sprain he suffered in the team’s final dual. He moved up a weight, which not only made room for Varner, but solves a problem he had last season.

“I was more worried about cutting weight and worried about making that weight the next morning than wrestling,” Backes said. “Instead, let everyone else do the weight cut, why bother?”

The remaining varsity spot (174) looks again to be David Bertolino’s. The junior will need to get past senior Grant Turner, who beat Bertolino at wrestle-offs last year.

Bertolino was usually competitive but only sometimes victorious, finishing with a 15-15 record. Weight-cutting was a major problem for him last season, but he began managing his diet during the summer to ease him into the season. He said that, along with his offseason training and focus, are going to help him turn the corner.

“I come in here and wrestle and feel good and wrestle 100 percent, but if I can’t do that at 174, then you know I’m going out there wounded already,” Bertolino said.

“We have a schedule now [for managing weight] . I think last year I was a step, an inch away, a second away from winning those matches. I think this year those are going to go my way.”

Fanthorpe and Zabriskie have to beat out returning starters – junior Ben Hanisch and senior Richard Schopf, respectively – but are expected to do so. Cyler Sanderson will have to unseat last year’s starter, Jason Knipp, a winning wrestler who was close to qualifying for the NCAA tournament.