Most offensive linemen are used to being the biggest players on the field.

They tower over backs and receivers and are the muscle needed to protect their quarterback. While they still may outsize the competition on the field, when the ISU offensive linemen walk off, they’ll be joined by some large company.

First-year offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Barney Cotton is an imposing figure and has already made quite an impression with his new team.

“Coach Cotton is one hell of a coach,” sophomore tackle Aaron Brant said. “He’s really shaking things up for us.

“He definitely gets us motivated. All the guys on the line seem to like him right now. The attitude about him is really good, so we have some high expectations.”

Iowa State hired Cotton after he was fired by Nebraska. Cotton was there for only one season, leading the Huskers to 10 wins and a bowl game.

He, however, was just one casualty for the Nebraska program, which fired head coach Frank Solich after the regular season and cleaned out several other assistant coaches after the year was over.

Cotton replaces Steve Brickey, who was fired by McCarney after the Cyclones went 2-10 last year, and ISU head coach Dan McCarney said he couldn’t be happier with the new man running his offense.

“He brings great professionalism and maturity and experience. He’s a tough guy, and he wants tough guys playing for him, and that’s whether you’re a wide receiver, quarterback or an offensive lineman,” McCarney said.

“He’s got that temperament, that personality [and] that’s what he expects from his players and that’s exactly what I want and exactly what I like. We were a physical offense and a physical running team, and we need to get back to that. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer.”

Cotton has already installed an added toughness into his new team.

“He’s a, ‘You have to give it your all’-type guy,” tailback Stevie Hicks said. “You can’t take plays off. You have to go out and take it full speed all the time.”

Cotton is also working with the offensive line, working to improve a group that was rocked by injuries last season. Much of the line is made of young players, allowing Cotton to work with them for a long time to come.

“Anytime you switch over from a [different] coordinator or position coach, there may be some habits that you may have to break, whether it’s technique or footwork or fundamentals or assignments that are different from what we’ve done in the past,” McCarney said.