Jason Berryman, the Cyclone defensive end who served 258 days in the Story County jail for theft and assaulting two ISU students, is back with the team, as he announced August 5 at a press conference.

“The time that I spent in jail has changed me,” Berryman said. “Before I went to jail, I took a lot of things for granted — my talent, my education. I didn’t really fully appreciate all the things that I had, and spending 258 days in jail gave me a new perspective on life.”

While Berryman is back with the team, Tom Kroeschell, director of ISU Media Relations, said Berryman is not back on scholarship as of yet.

“He will be back on scholarship with the semester starts,” he said.

When summer practice started, head coach Dan McCarney said he thought it would have been better for Berryman to transfer to a different school.

“That whole thing with Jason would have been a lot easier for me and for Jason if he had gone to a [junior college] or gone someplace else,” McCarney said at football media day August 4. “We both know this is tougher for him and tougher for me to come back here, for him especially, to come face the people who he so disappointed with his behavior.”

Berryman said it was an option to attend another school and that it probably would have been easier to have done so, but he wanted to return so he could redeem himself.

“It was an option to go somewhere else and it would have been easier to go somewhere else, but here at Iowa State, it has one of the best educational programs. I think I can get what’s here from anywhere else, if not the best,” he said.

Berryman revisited the night he punched Jeffrey Kemble, senior in health and human performance, in the face and stole $4 from him and took a cell phone belonging to Thomas Peters, senior in mechanical engineering, for which Berryman was arrested Aug. 4, 2004.

“It was a mistake,” he said. “I’m very remorseful and I regret it. There is no justification for that and I am really very deeply sorry for what happened.”

Berryman said one thing he did while in jail was think about the incident almost every night.

“Every night almost, I thought about the mistake I made that night and the things I put those people through,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the 258 days, I might not be the better person that I am today.”

McCarney said the whole thing is about the team, not just Berryman. In order to return to the team, Berryman had to accomplish several goals. He had to take a summer class, perform community service and take anger management classes. While he has done little community service, Berryman said more was lined up when the semester started, including his required classes.

Additionally, he had to earn McCarney’s trust again and Berryman said it took “action” in order to do so.

“He has a good eye to look inside of a person and judge a person and I think that’s what he did,” Berryman said. “He knows that I am sincere in becoming a better person.”

Even though Berryman is a Cyclone again, McCarney said he has yet to regain his position on the defensive line.

“I’ll start him out as a fifth stringer and see if he can work his way back up,” McCarney said.

Berryman said he thought it was great being on the scout team.

“People say I have paid my debt — I haven’t fully paid my debt back,” he said. “I haven’t earned the trust of the fans, of my teammates, of my family. My debt is still being paid; it’s an ongoing process.”