ISU head football coach Dan McCarney said there is one vital thing his team has been missing in spring practice — offensive leaders.

McCarney hopes Saturday’s spring game can help separate the men from the boys.

“It’s too quiet a bunch right now; we’re hoping some leaders will emerge. It’s one of the reasons I’ve waited on [naming captains],” McCarney said. “We don’t have the guys right now who are the leaders of the offense.”

As for defensive leaders, McCarney has already circled one player’s name on his depth chart.

“On defense, there’s no question that Ellis Hobbs is one of the leaders,” McCarney said. “He’s one of the best leaders I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

The 2004 Cyclones will have many shoes to fill with a lot of new faces. More than two-thirds of the current Cyclone roster is composed of players that are sophomores or younger.

“They’re shaving, but it’s not like they’ve been shaving very long. These are some young guys,” McCarney said.

McCarney said his team’s youth is a big reason few leaders have emerged so far.

“When you’re so concerned about you being No. 1 and keeping your job, it’s a little tougher to be a leader,” McCarney said.

One of those young players is redshirt freshman quarterback Bret Meyer, who will be No. 1 on the depth chart heading into Saturday’s scrimmage. Nipping at his heels are sophomore Austin Flynn and redshirt senior Cris Love.

“[Bret’s] just been more consistent, he’s made more plays. It’s not always the way [offensive coordinator] Barney Cotton and I want it done, but he gets it done,” McCarney said. “If Bret comes out of [the spring game] looking like a starter, then he’ll be the one to beat.”

Though it is only an intrasquad scrimmage, Meyer said starting the spring game still carries some pressure.

“There’s some pressure, but I’m not going to let it get to me,” Meyer said. “If you let the pressure get to you, [there will] be negative effects.”

With Flynn currently the No. 2 quarterback, McCarney said he would consider moving the athletic quarterback to a different position if the circumstances were right.

“He’s a darn good athlete, and we want him on the field,” McCarney said. “If the quarterback race was over, it’d be real easy for me to make that decision right now and say, ‘Hey, can he play wide receiver or defensive back?’ But he’s still very much in the race at quarterback, so we’ll leave him right there.”

McCarney hopes the spring game will show him if his team can keep up the physical style of play that he and Cotton have embedded in the minds of the players.

“We’ve asked them to be more physical and to be a tougher team and they’ve taken strides toward that,” McCarney said. “It’s not just the starters that have to be physical, it’s the entire team.”

Freshman tackle Aaron Brant said this year’s Cyclones will not let themselves be pushed around like last year’s 2-10 squad.

“Right now, [our physical play] has gone up a lot. Out there on the practice field, you can tell we’re a lot more physical than we were last year,” Brant said. “It’s just motivation — we don’t want to repeat what happened last year. Guys are saying, ‘You know what, that’s not how we’re going to play football.'”