The nicknames have already begun.

“The guys were joking today that I’m the grandpa around here,” said ISU kicker Tony Yelk.

“I hope it doesn’t catch on, but it’s all right, maybe I can share some wisdom with somebody.”

Yelk will be one of the elders on the ISU football team next season after being granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Last year, the Cyclone punter and placekicker injured his hip in preseason workouts and missed the entire season. The decision to give him an extra year was announced by ISU head coach Dan McCarney on Thursday.

“We are happy that this worked out for Tony,” McCarney said in a press release. “It is extremely rare but his injury now will not rob him of a final year as a Cyclone. Obviously this adds to the competition at place-kicker and at punter. We are grateful to the NCAA.”

The announcement was a weight off the kicker’s shoulders.

“I’m excited and grateful,” Yelk said. “It was a frustrating year to sit back and watch from the sidelines. It makes you really appreciate when you’re out there playing. It’s definitely not the same.”

Yelk’s request wasn’t a sure thing.

“I just put my trust in the people here,” Yelk said. “They thought I had a shot, but it wasn’t a guarantee by any means. If they took into consideration my injury for a kicker, I felt deep down I had a shot. It was somewhat of a crapshoot.”

Yelk holds a 42.3-yard average on punts during his career, and his 43.8-yard average in 2001 ranks second on the school’s all-time single season punting charts.

He is also 38 of 40 on extra points and has hit 11 of 25 field goals, including a 51-yard kick against Texas in 2003.

Although Yelk will be eligible again, he isn’t guaranteed a starting job. He will have competition for his old job in the form of Troy Blankenship and Bret Culbertson, who stepped in to anchor the ISU special teams.

Blankenship averaged more than 38 yards per kick, and Culbertson took over a shaky kicking spot in the Cyclone’s sixth game of the season, making good on 8 of 10 field goals and all 16 extra points.

“It’s going to be interesting,” Yelk said. “In a way, it’s almost a bad situation. I love Troy and I love Bret and those guys had great years. You can’t have two guys kicking the same ball, so someone’s going to have to be sitting. I feel confident in my abilities, but those guys are very good at what they do also.”

Having been granted a second chance, Yelk is ready for the competition in order to find his way back on the field.