Tyson Smith is just happy to be back.

Less than a year after breaking his leg in the Cyclones’ season opener against Northern Iowa, Smith is back on the field and ready to go.

His return to the field isn’t without change. A new position and lingering effects of the injury give him plenty to adjust to.

“It’s getting there, but I’m not 100 percent yet,” Smith said. “I’ll be 100 percent by the summertime. I’m out there playing in pain right now. It’s sore, but I’m happy to play through it.”

Smith had already recorded eight tackles and was a leader for the Cyclones defensively when the injury occurred. His season ended in the blink of an eye.

“I’ve never felt anything like that in my life,” Smith said. “It was burning, and I couldn’t move my leg. It was burning and it was numb, I just couldn’t move it.”

Smith said he remembers the uncertainty that was running through his mind when the injury occurred.

“[There was] a little bit of everything — ‘Is it broke? I hope it’s not broke. Another one? Am I done for the season? Am I going to be able to go out with my class, the senior class?’ — everything,” Smith said.

Smith’s injury brought out the one part of football that head coach Dan McCarney fears.

“That’s the toughest part of coaching and the thing that I hate the most. I don’t think there’s anything I don’t like about coaching except the injury part,” McCarney said. “To see the pain and the agony that he was in when the actual injury occurred was hard to watch.”

Smith was forced to watch the rest of the season from the sidelines, attending home games whenever possible.

“I came to most of the home games, unless I was in absolute pain,” Smith said. “If they were on TV, I’d watch them from the couch.”

He also began an intense workout program, a regimen he began in November and didn’t end until just before spring break.

“It’s been a lot of lateral movements — getting in the pool and swimming, running on a treadmill, trying to get [the leg] stronger, doing one-legged stuff in the weight room,” Smith said. “I’m just trying to get it better, get it stronger.”

McCarney said he is grateful for the work Smith, and all those around him, put into his recovery.

“It’s really gratifying and satisfying when you do see the recovery he has made, and to see him out flying around on defense, now playing linebacker,” McCarney said. “It goes back first of all to the individual player, because they have to have it inside them to come back from a major injury and surgery. Then [the credit] goes to the trainers and doctors for the job they did rehabbing and getting him back.”

Smith came to Ames as a linebacker and was moved to defensive end for his sophomore season. That season, he started every game for Iowa State and was fifth on the team with 58 tackles.

He followed that season with a 104-tackle performance in 2002, and was poised to have another outstanding season in 2003 before his injury.

With Smith out, Jason Berryman stepped in on the defensive line, having a breakout season in which he was named Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year. Berryman’s success has allowed Smith to move back linebacker, the position he held when entering college.

“I do more. I’m in coverage, I have to learn more, but that comes with the territory,” Smith said. “I’m loving it, and I’m out there trying to make all the plays I can.”