ISU free safety Dustin Avey has earned a spot on the First Team All-Big 12 team three times for academics. Through five games of his senior season, Avey is showing why he may receive all-conference honors again this year but this time for his playing skills.

Avey is coming off his best game of the season, a 49-27 loss to No. 1 ranked Nebraska Saturday. In the defeat, Avey recorded 12 tackles to raise his season total to 32, which includes 24 solo stops.

On the season, Avey also has a pair of interceptions and has caused a fumble.

“I think I’m playing very consistent right now,” Avey said. “I’m doing the things I need to do to take care of my responsibilities and make the plays to help this team win.”

Now, in his senior year, Avey knows this is his final run, and his desire is apparent to the Cyclone coaches.

“Dustin has got a real hunger and desire to play winning football and be a leader in the secondary,” said ISU Head Football Coach Dan McCarney.

“We were going to substitute for him late in the game Saturday, and he told Coach Elliott `I’m not coming off this field. Don’t take me out of this game.’ He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Last season, Avey suffered a shoulder injury in a 44-41 midseason loss to Texas. Avey finished the season as the third leading tackler on the team with 83.

During off-season, Avey had surgery on his injured shoulder, and ISU Associate Head Coach Bobby Elliot felt that may have affected his performance at the beginning of the season.

“I think he probably started slow, for his standards, coming off the shoulder injury,” Elliott said. “In the last two or three weeks, he’s really played well. He’s back to himself and I think he’s a little bit better. He’s playing confident and aggressive, and doing a lot of good things for us on special teams too.”

Saturday, the Cyclone secondary shut down Nebraska’s receiving duo of Matt Davison and Bobby Newcombe.

“I think we did a solid job against their receiving corp,” Avey said. “We knew that if we shut down their passing game, then we could put more responsibility on the run.”

“There’s not really a weakness in our defense right now, which allows us to play and compete against great football teams. In the past, we might have been weak in certain positions but I don’t see that this year,” Avey said.

In Saturday’s game, Avey delivered a fierce hit on Davison as the Husker receiver was cutting across the middle of the field. McCarney was quick to talk about that at Tuesday’s press conference, and mentioned Avey being a more complete player.

“He had the best hit of the game Saturday,” McCarney said. “He’s played the best since he’s been here. Just his whole game, his coverage, his tackling, and he’s being more physical. He’s always around the ball and you don’t see any drag down tackles with Dustin, he’s really hitting hard.”

Avey has started in the Cyclone lineup since his freshman year when he made 17 tackles in his collegiate debut against Oklahoma State. Through his first three years, Avey totaled 198 tackles.

As a junior, Avey started at strong safety as Jeff Waters manned the free safety spot. Waters had a solid senior year and McCarney feels that Avey is following in his footsteps.

“He (Dustin) saw what Jeff meant to our defense last year,” McCarney said. “Jeff Waters was our defensive MVP at the end of last season and I sense the same from Dustin right now. He is extremely valuable to our defense right now.”

The Cyclones have started the season with a 4-1 mark and instead of improving, Avey is just looking to stay consistent and use what he’s learned in his four years as a Cyclone.

“I think now that you’ve got through training camp and the first five weeks of the season, it’s about maintaining your level of play and what you’ve been practicing all year,” Avey said.

“You work for four years improving your game and skills, and your senior year you just go out on the field and show what you’ve been practicing and working on.”