Iowa State’s secondary saved the team from defeat on multiple occasions last season — and despite the loss of first team all-Big 12 cornerback Ellis Hobbs, that is a trend that should continue this season.

“It will be a big loss for us,” said strong safety Nik Moser. “But I don’t think it’s something too big that we can’t overcome.”

The defensive backfield will return a core of experience in seniors Moser, LaMarcus Hicks and Steve Paris and junior DeAndre Jackson.

After playing linebacker for the 2003 season, Moser emerged as a star for the Cyclones’ secondary last season.

He had a team-high 85 tackles and picked off three passes, with two of those interceptions coming against Northern Illinois.

He was named Independence Bowl defensive MVP for accumulating a team-high 10 tackles.

After transferring from Coahoma (Miss.) Community College, Hicks played mostly nickel back for the Cyclones, where he registered 45 tackles.

With the graduation of Hobbs, Hicks will be moving to right cornerback, a position he’s familiar with.

“I’ve been playing it for a long time,” Hicks said. “Last year was my first time moving to the inside and playing the nickel position. I feel real confident playing the corner spots.”

ISU coach Dan McCarney said despite being a step down in speed from Hobbs, he was encouraged by Hicks’ progress during his Cyclone career.

“He won’t be as fast as Ellis Hobbs today, last week, or last year,” McCarney said.

“Can he be as effective? We’ll see. When we put him on the field last year, all the kid did was make plays.”

Two of the junior’s biggest plays were a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown in the last two minutes of Iowa State’s comeback victory against Kansas State and a recovery of a blocked punt in the Northern Illinois end zone, initiating the Cyclones’ come-from-behind victory against the Huskies.

Jackson will play the left cornerback position, where he made 50 tackles and broke up a team-high 10 passes last season.

Beyond Hicks and Jackson, the corner spots become shaky, as redshirt freshmen Roger Wright and Jermaine Hickey hold down the No. 2 slots.

“We have some issues at corner from a depth standpoint,” McCarney said. “We’re definitely real aware of that.”

Paris is another big playmaker for the Cyclones’ secondary. The junior was second on the team in tackles to Moser, racking up 83 stops.

In the regular season finale against Missouri, he registered a career-high 15 tackles and returned a fumble 51 yards.

McCarney said Paris is picking up right where he left off last year.

“Last year he was one of the most improved players on our team,” McCarney said. “He’s practicing and playing like that right now.”

With a strong nucleus intact, Paris said the squad is ready to get things started again.

“I didn’t realize we had so many people coming back until I looked on the depth chart, and I’m ready to roll again,” Paris said. “We’re going to have real high expectations because of the success we had last year.

“We had a lot of people jump back on the bandwagon because we had a winning season with the bowl game and all.”