Two young players came to Iowa State in two very different ways. However, they have found themselves working together towards one very similar goal: winning football games.

Redshirt freshmen Joe Woodley and Marc Timmons have emerged to fill roles that desperately needed filling for the Cyclones as they attempt to garner their first bowl bid in over twenty years.

Woodley came to Ames from West Des Moines, where he was a record-setting linebacker at Valley High School. This first-team all-State linebacker started for three seasons as he recorded a school best 386 tackles throughout his career there.

Woodley was nominated as his conference’s best defensive player as a senior, along with being recognized as one of the Midwest’s top preps by Tom Lemmings Prep Football Report. He also played alongside fellow Cyclones Casey Shelton, Todd Slycord, and Kevin Costello while at Valley.

Interestingly, Woodley has made the transition from defense quite easily as he has stepped up to fill the role of starting fullback. Although he has only carried the ball five times this season he has been very valuable in protecting quarterback Sage Rosenfels on passing situations and lead blocking for tailback Ennis Haywood on running plays.

Woodley notched his first career touchdown at Baylor last week and has begun to take a liking to being an offensive player.

“I loved playing defense. But, I’ve come to realize I’m an offensive player now. So I guess I like it now just because its getting me out there on the field,” Woodley said.

Joe comes from a family of athletes, including his brother Matt, who was a four-year starter for the Drake basketball team, and his brother Andy, who is a starter on the Norhtern Iowa basketball team.

Joe’s father, Mike, is the ISU tight ends coach, and along with running backs coach Tony Alford has been very instrumental in helping him make the transition from defense to offense.

“I’ve only played fullback for a year and the reason I’m starting is because of [Coach Alford]. I must have been doing something right, and he’s obviously teaching me the right things to do. And besides Coach Mac’s encouragement, having my dad being up here has helped a lot too,” Woodley said.

Timmons took a different route to Ames than Woodley, coming halfway across the country from Bradenton, Flor., where he was an all-State cornerback for Southeast High School.

During his career at Souhteast High, Timmons led his team to the third round of the state playoffs as a junior, and the state title game as a senior. His team went 11-4 his senior season as he collected 56 tackles and intercepted 5 passes.

Since coming to Iowa State, Timmons has been converted from cornerback to free safety, where he is already making a huge contribution.

He has 10 tackles and intercepted his first pass against Ohio in the first game of the year.

As far as making the transition from cornerback, Timmons struggled initally but through hard work and a strong conviction has made the adjustment and proven to be valuable defensively.

“Last year I played cornerback and this year they switched my position, but I feel that everything happens for a reason,” Timmons said. “Me, Jamarcus [Powers], and Johnny [Smith] – we worked a lot on our footwork and our coverage. We just pushed each other because we hated that nasty taste of losing to Kansas last year and we wanted to do anything possible to better ourselves so things like that wouldn’t happen this year.”

Timmons came to Iowa State along with high school teammates Smith and his cousin, second-string running back, Hiawatha Rutland, who were both very influential in his decision to come play football for the Cyclones.

“I know if anything goes wrong that they’re gonna be there to pick me up. You know when they switched my position I wasn’t very happy about it, but they were there to tell me that things were going to be all right, and that God has a plan for me. And I bought into that and kept a positive attitude through the spring, and things are working out pretty good now,” Timmons said.

Although they differ in many ways, Woodley and Timmons do share some similar goals. “I want to get us to a bowl game; it’s my main focus. I know we have the team to do it – we just have to take it one game at a time,” Timmons said.

“I hope this is the year that big things can happen around here. Its hard to have your own goals as a fullback, but I just want to keep going what we’ve got here,” Woodley said.

Woodley and Timmons each have three seasons remaining in their collegiate careers in which to shine. They are gaining valuable game experience with each snap and will do no less than help the Iowa State football program to shine too.