Iowa State quarterback Todd Doxzon said he will be 100 percent for tomorrow’s game against Iowa — even if his ankle isn’t.

The junior from Omaha said the sprained ankle that has kept him from ISU’s first two games limits his mobility slightly, but with the adrenaline pumping he will play at 100 percent in front of the home crowd.

“I’ll be at 100 percent this Saturday,” Doxzon said. “Even if I was 80 percent, I’ll be 100 because of the game.”

McCarney said Tuesday he fully expects Doxzon to start against the Hawkeyes. The quarterback’s return will help the Cyclones upgrade their passing game and make the team more two-dimensional, he said.

“He’s far and away our best quarterback,” McCarney said. “He’s the best athlete we have at quarterback and we need him badly.”

The wait has been a long one for Doxzon. He injured his ankle in practice and has waited patiently on the sidelines watching back-up quarterback Jeff St. Clair guide the Cyclones through a comeback win over Ohio University and a tough loss to Texas Christian.

“Especially that first game, I wanted to get out there, take it to Ohio and get some confidence, but I just couldn’t get out there,” Doxzon said.

Unfortunately for Doxzon, one of the reasons he couldn’t get out there was because he was injured by Cyclone running back Troy Davis. Doxzon threw his only interception during fall practices three days before the Ohio game and then tried to tackle the defender who caught it.

“I was tackling him and all of the sudden Troy came out of nowhere and we landed in a pile,” Doxzon said. “He just kind of landed on my leg. I thought I broke it.”

Davis, who is leading the nation in rushing and all-purpose yardage, said he will have more of an advantage by having Doxzon on the team against the Hawkeyes.

“It will help me,” Davis said. “Everybody’s going to keep keying on me. Now they’ve really got two people to key on.”

McCarney said he hopes the addition of Doxzon taking the snaps will allow the Cyclones to do more than just hand the ball to Davis.

“Hopefully with Dox’s return we can upgrade our passing game, because people will jump in there and give you eight-man fronts all day long,” McCarney said.

Since it will be his first game of the season, Doxzon said he realizes the Hawkeyes will be try to shake him up with their defensive schemes.

“They’ve got a real good defense. They like to blitz quite a bit, especially on third down,” he said. “So we’ll be looking forward to that and try to do some stuff off that.”