On the heels of last year’s dismal 2-10 Cyclone football season, ISU head football coach Dan McCarney said it will be “back to the basics” as spring football practice begins Wednesday.

The premise of spring football is to teach basic fundamentals and decipher who will see playing time for the Cyclones next fall, McCarney said.

“The bottom line is we have to sift through this team of 92 guys and find out who our best 22 are on offense and defense and who our best starters are going to be on special teams,” McCarney said.

McCarney said the team doesn’t do a lot of game-planning situations against opponents in the spring. Instead, the Cyclones focus on themselves.

“[Spring ball] is really trying to improve every player and elevate the players’ performance on the team and develop leadership, chemistry, togetherness and toughness for the fall,” McCarney said. “We find out a lot about our football team.”

One advantage the Cyclones will have this season is the completion of the Stephen and Debora Bergstrom Indoor Multipurpose Athletic Center northwest of Jack Trice Stadium.

“It’s a great feeling walking in there after waiting for it for 10 years. It’s a great facility, and the players and coaches alike love it,” McCarney said. “It’s nice not having to worry about the weather. If we get a storm like last week, or rain or snow, we can just set our schedule and go. It hasn’t been like that the last 10 years.”

Don Knock, director of football operations, said having the indoor facility will cut down on hassles created by the weather.

“In the past, [if the weather was bad], we’ve had to get buses and bus over to the Rec, and it’s only a 60-yard field,” Knock said. “The indoor facility is state of the art. It’s unbelievable — it’s a full field with space around the outside and the lighting is awesome. It’ll be great for filming and evaluating.”

Iowa State will return to the field in 2004 with a significant amount of experience. Returning players to the offensive line include Cale Stubbe, Seth Zehr, Luke Vander Sanden and Aaron Brant.

Stevie Hicks has seen action at running back and Ryan Kock has experience at the fullback position.

Both Austin Flynn and Cris Love have started games for the Cyclones at quarterback.

“It’s really wide open with the new [offensive] coordinator [Barney Cotton], two new position coaches [Cotton and Todd Fitch] and a new offensive graduate assistant — that’s three new coaches on offense,” McCarney said. “You better come ready and bring your A-game everyday to practice if you’re going to be a No. 1 and you want to play.”

Defensively, the Cyclones will return Nick Leaders, Brent Curvey, Jason Berryman, Cephus Johnson and Tim TeBrink — all are on the defensive line and have had playing or starting experience.

Brandon Brown, Tyson Smith, Erik Anderson and Matt Robertson have all seen time at linebacker. In the secondary, DeAndre Jackson, Nik Moser, Steve Paris and Ellis Hobbs all have the most experience.

McCarney said the Cyclones have made some position moves in the offseason.

“Tyson Smith we moved from rush end — where he played last year before he broke his leg in the first game — to middle linebacker,” McCarney said. “We moved Brent Curvey from defensive end to defensive tackle inside and Shawn Moorehead from outside backer to a rush defensive end.”

McCarney also said Nik Moser was moved from outside linebacker to strong safety.

“Moser’s move is because we feel he’s more suited for that [position], and with the graduation of JaMaine Billups, we have to find a safety who can play in there,” McCarney said.

With the loss of Lane Danielsen, Jack Whitver, Lance Young and Jamaul Montgomery, the wide receiver position will be undergoing a lot of changes for the Cyclones.

“We lose the most experience and probably the best group of receivers we’ve ever had at Iowa State and bring in a bunch of young guns with talent and no experience, but I think it makes it pretty exciting,” McCarney said.

McCarney said the inexperience makes him a little nervous, but the talent is there.

“I think Todd Blythe, Milan Moses and Jon Davis are some of the best wide receiver prospects we’ve had since I’ve been in the program,” McCarney said. “Blythe and Moses left a tremendous impression on the scout team going against the No. 1 defense last year.

“They are really talented, but they haven’t played one snap, so they’ve got a lot to learn.”