Iowa State running back Darren Davis has a number in the back of his mind, and it’s not 2,185, the number of yards his brother Troy rushed for in 1996.

Nor is it six, the jersey number of University of Iowa slot back Tim Dwight, the other offensive threat the state of Iowa will have its eye on this fall.

Davis is thinking 30, Aug. 30, the date of the Cyclones’ season opener against Big 12 Conference foe Oklahoma State.

“I’ve got Oklahoma State on my mind now and that’s all I’m worried about,” Davis said during media day. “I know I am going to hear a lot about ‘Troy this’ and ‘Troy that.’ I can’t look at it like that. I have to stay focused and play my own game.”

Head Coach Dan McCarney couldn’t agree more. Now in his third year at ISU, McCarney said his team’s focus will be on winning football games rather than keeping track of yards.

“We want to start having more celebrations in the locker room, and if that’s 1,000 yards for Darren Davis, and we win more games, then that’s great,” McCarney said. “If he does better than that, goes on and has a chance to challenge for some of the honors that Troy did, then that’s super.”

Although there was talk at media day about the potential of a multidimensional offense, the lingering question was still whether Davis could live up to his brother’s record-setting career at ISU.

Darren’s answer: “I have to follow in his footsteps, but on the other hand, I have to make my own footsteps, doing my own thing.

“We’re two different kinds of running backs. Troy has a much different style than me. I don’t do much of a bullet; I like to run around you.”

Even McCarney admitted that it is natural to compare the two running backs.

“They are two of the most phenomenal young men I have ever been around in my life,” McCarney said.

He said the main difference in the two players is in their receiving abilities.

Darren caught eight passes for 117 yards last season, including a phenomenal touchdown snag against Texas A&M, while Troy caught 12 passes for 64 yards.

“He’s got great hands, that is one of the things I think he does a little better job than Troy, catch the ball,” McCarney said.

Quarterback Todd Bandhauer said he is looking forward to having Davis as a third or fourth option in passing situations.

“He’s awesome,” Bandhauer said. “He’s Troy but a little smaller and quicker.”

With five seniors among a receiving core called one of the best in ISU history, Davis is not expected to carry the weight of the Cyclone offense this fall.

Davis said the addition of a passing game will keep opponents from going into the nine-man front ISU has often faced in past years.

“Darren might have it a little bit easier than Troy did,” fullback Joe Parmentier said about the improved and diversified ISU offense. “Darren will take over right where Troy left out and do just as well. He’ll probably break a couple of his records.”

Davis also said he is capable of breaking some of Troy’s records, which include the NCAA rushing record for consecutive seasons (4,195), the first player in NCAA history to reach 1,000 yards rushing in the first five games of two seasons and the all-time career rushing record at ISU, among others.

“I’m capable of doing it, and he knows I can do it, and that’s why he don’t want nobody else to break ’em but me,” Davis said.

Darren Davis averaged 6.8 yards on 30 carries last season and was second in the Big 12 and 27th in the nation in kickoff returns, averaging 24.1 yards on 21 returns.

Against Kansas, Davis returned four kicks for 101 yards.

He was named special teams MVP when he had two returns for 63 yards against Nebraska.

Whether Davis will return kickoffs this season, McCarney said, will be determined by how well the back-up running backs do in practice.

“We’re playing that by ear, because he is such a tremendous kick returner and punt returner,” he said.

“The great thing is we feel like we’ve got some good competition with Jimmy O’Neal and Damian Brown. They’re both former all-staters in Colorado and New York, and they don’t like standing around watching. They want to play.”

McCarney added, “Darren’s had an excellent summer.”

Going into two-a-day practices, Davis said he was in the best shape of his life.

As for his brother, at last Darren heard, he was doing well in New Orleans.

But what does Troy think of Saints Head Coach Mike Ditka?

“He’s a very nice guy; they get along with each other,” Davis said.