Strong safety will be absent for first games

Redshirt freshman safety James Smith broke his ankle and will miss the opening part of the football season.

Smith was listed as the Cyclones No. 1 strong safety before the injury. He had surgery Aug. 9 to fix the break.

“The surgery was successful and we are excited that James should be back with us by midseason,” said coach Dan McCarney.

Junior Caleb Berg moved up to take Smith’s spot in the secondary.

Davis hopeful about recovery

When Jon Davis went down with a knee injury during spring football practice, the possibility of the senior receiver missing much of his final season was very real.

But with less than two weeks before Iowa State opens its season against Toledo, Davis appears to be on schedule to take the field. Davis has been completely cleared to practice, and although he hasn’t participated in all the Cyclones full contact drills, his recovery is progressing ahead of schedule.

“He’s a medical marvel,” said wide receiver Austin Flynn.

“That’s what we all call him.”

The injury was a freak one, taking place during a non-contact drill.

At first, it appeared the senior would miss at least the non-conference portion of the schedule.

But now, just a few months later, Davis is back on the field and progressing toward stepping back into Jack Trice Stadium on Aug. 31.

“I wouldn’t rule him out of the Toledo game yet,” said coach Dan McCarney.

Davis himself is more subdued in his predictions.

“I will play this year,” the receiver said.

“I don’t know what game it will be, but I will play this year.”

Last season, Davis was third on the team in receiving, hauling in 41 balls for 319 yards. He also scored two touchdowns.

As a sophomore, Davis led the Cyclones with 48 receptions. His 87 career receptions put him in 10th place on the all-time ISU receiving charts.

Taylor to miss entire season

The bad news continues for the ISU defense.

Junior defensive end Kurtis Taylor tore his anterior cruciate ligament during practice Saturday, ending his season before it even began.

Taylor has been the Cyclones starting defensive end since spring practice began.

“My heart goes out to him,” said coach Dan McCarney. “He has worked extremely hard.”

The injury is another blow to a defensive unit that is already shorthanded.

“We lost eight guys from our defense last year, and since camp we’ve lost James Smith and now Kurtis Taylor,” McCarney said. “But we have to stand up.”

McCarney said the injury won’t halt Taylor in the long run.

“I feel terrible for Kurtis,” he said. “He will have a great career.”

Taylor will receive a redshirt this season and will still have two years of eligibility remaining.

Scales injures knee in practice

Jason Scales’ time at Iowa State has been anything but easy.

Scales came to the Cyclones from Valley High School in West Des Moines, leading his team to consecutive state titles and rushing for more than 6,000 yards during his time as a prep.

He broke into the ISU football lineup as a true freshman in 2004, scoring a touchdown against Baylor and cementing himself as a staple in the offensive backfield.

But that’s when things began to turn for the worse. Scales had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee prior to fall practice. He missed the entire 2005 season because of the injury but is back in the battle for playing time after a strong showing in spring practice.

“It’s great to see him out there running full speed,” said coach Dan McCarney at the ISU media day Aug. 5.

Just three days later, the injury bug hit Scales again. The sophomore hurt his left knee in practice, tearing cartilage. Even with the injury and resulting scope of the knee, there is a chance Scales may be ready for Iowa State’s opener.

“It’s day-to-day on whether he’ll be ready,” McCarney said.

“Our doctors and trainers think he realistically has a shot to get some work in next week. If he can do that and practice and get in our game plan, we’d go ahead and use him.

“Based on his past and history it’s hard to predict. He’s doing really well. It was just a scope and nowadays with modern technology, they can come back real fast.”