Life is all about second chances. Jason Berryman, convicted felon and Cyclone football player, has received one of those chances.

Head football coach Dan McCarney said Berryman has “grown up a lot” this summer, and has moved up several positions on the depth chart, locked in a three-way battle at defensive end with junior Shawn Moorehead and senior Cephus Johnson.

“Berryman, Cephus Johnson and Shawn Moorehead are all looking to start and all three of them will play a lot of football if they stay healthy,” McCarney said. “We have to go win a game, and those three guys are the best three guys to start at those two outside positions.”

After Berryman was released from Story County Jail, he and McCarney had several meetings, and McCarney decided to give him the opportunity to practice with the team as part of a judgment period.

“I’m going to give him the opportunity the next couple of months to try to come back and earn a position back on this football team, and it’s not on the depth chart,” McCarney said in June.

“I’m talking as a teammate, as an unselfish person, as an unselfish teammate, as a citizen.”

McCarney then announced on August 5 he had decided to allow Berryman to return to the team and receive a scholarship, with several conditions in place.

“I spelled it out very clearly what I expected of him,” McCarney said. “Up to this point he’s done a great job of that. He’s kept his mouth shut, worked hard and gives us everything he’s got every day on the field.”

One of the three conditions was to take summer classes, and the other two are performing community service and attending mandatory anger management classes. At the time, Berryman said he had done little community service but there would be a lot more opportunities once the semester started.

“He was a good student this summer at his own expense, been involved in community projects; he’s given a lot back in the short time he’s back been with us and I expect that that is just scratching the surface,” McCarney said.

Being on scholarship and returning to the team did not mean Berryman had regained his starting position on the defensive line. McCarney said at media day he was putting Berryman on the scout team and he would have to go through the ranks to earn his defensive end position back.

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

Berryman did not have a problem with that; in fact, he said it was great to be on the scout team and it had given him even more inspiration to become a better person. And even if he had not received a scholarship again, he said he would have walked on — that is how committed he is to earning back the respect of the Cyclone community.

“If I had to become a walk-on, then I would have became a walk-on because Iowa State is where I want to be,” Berryman said.