Please forgive Austin Flynn if he’s sick of the questions already.

Spring practice is not even a month old, and the question of who will be the Cyclone football team’s starting quarterback is already surfacing.

Flynn and junior Cris Love went through nearly the same situation last year, when the two competed for the unenviable task of replacing Seneca Wallace.

“It’s almost the same as last season, with three guys really competing,” Flynn said. “It seems that we have three guys on the same level, like last season.

“The quarterback is a pretty big position, so it’s going to be whoever is going to be more consistent and control the offense and control the team [that lands the starting job].”

Six quarterbacks are competing for the starting position, and Flynn and Love are joined as front-runners in the race by redshirt freshman Bret Meyer.

“We’re all rotating in now,” Love said. “We’ve got a new system in, so the main parts that we’re emphasizing are being smart, not having turnovers, learning the system and just keeping the ball out of trouble.”

Everyone involved feels the competition is healthy, as each quarterback pushes the others.

“We’re all fighting for it right now,” Love said. “Number one, we’re trying to improve ourselves. Also, if you have a guy breathing down your neck [from] behind you, that’s going to make you better.”

Head football coach Dan McCarney also likes the competition.

“It’s real competitive,” McCarney said. “[New quarterbacks coach] Todd Fitch is doing an excellent job. I knew he was a real good coach when I hired him — and he has them ready every day. It’s a very competitive atmosphere out here.

“We’re starting with a new coordinator, new quarterbacks coach, a new system — it can’t get much more of a cleaner slate than that.”

With new offensive coordinator Barney Cotton and Fitch bringing in their new game plans, everyone involved is adjusting to a new offensive scheme.

“At first, I thought it was more of a running type of game, maybe [for a] quarterback who is more mobile,” Flynn said. “[Actually], a lot of things have been dropback [in the pocket], and that fits the hands of Cris Love more than anything.”

Love has already shown improvement in his game through the first week of practice.

“He’s actually shown a lot of speed and has worked hard on his speed,” Flynn said. “He’s been actually running more than me and Bret have, [even with] us being maybe a little more mobile then he is.”

After a dismal 2003 season that saw the Cyclones go 2-10, a new system is being installed that will add to Iowa State’s abilities but will also go back to some things that worked for them in years past.

“There is some new, but there is some old that we want to get going again, a lot better than last year,” McCarney said. “We’ve done some good things in the past; offensively, around here, there just weren’t many last year.”

The offense struggled last season, as youth and injuries took their toll. Flynn, a redshirt freshman, played in 11 games for Iowa State, passing for 1,238 yards, five touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was also third on the team in rushing, gaining 396 yards on the ground.

The Cyclones have another year under their belts and a talented recruiting class, so there’s some optimism this spring.

“We’re real balanced right now,” Love said. “We’re doing a little bit of everything. We’re trying to use what we’ve got. We have a lot of good talent at running back and a lot of talent at wide receiver, and we’re trying to mix it all in and have a good offense.”

With practice having just begun, there is still time for the quarterbacks to do something that allows them to stick out in their coaches’ minds.

Even though practice is still young, McCarney and his staff plan on making a signal-caller decision soon.

“They are all doing some good things, and nobody has emerged yet as the guy,” McCarney said. “We’re going to get off the quarterback carousel as soon as we can.”