For three years, Collin Olson was a forgotten man on the Iowa State defensive line.

A walk-on from Ankeny Centennial — 25 to 30 minutes down Interstate-35 from Ames — Olson wanted to play for the Cyclones since he was young, and knew that, as a walk-on, it would be more difficult to see the field.

But this wasn’t what he’d envisioned when he joined the Cyclones.

A two-time All-District player with the Jaguars, Olson didn’t have any Division I offers coming out of high school after breaking Ankeny Centennial’s record for sacks in a season, posting seven in his senior year. Olson said he was told he was too small to play in college as a defensive lineman, but he wanted to at least try and fulfill his dream.

Arriving in 2015, Olson redshirted in his opening year. He stayed on when Campbell and his new staff arrived, but new arrivals such as JaQuan Bailey, Ray Lima and Jamahl Johnson pushed Olson further away from playing time.

“I just looked at those guys and said, ‘yeah, they’re better than me,’” Olson said.

He wasn’t on the field and there was a larger group of players in front of him, leading Olson to feel somewhat stuck in his position.

Then, in December of 2017, Campbell walked up to Olson when he was lifting weights. Campbell had a proposition for Olson: a position change. Campbell wanted him to change lines from defensive to offensive, seeing him as a potential option at the guard positions.

It was something Olson hadn’t really thought about before, despite playing offensive and defensive line in high school.

“Just kinda always thought I was better at D-line,” Olson said. “I kinda felt like it’d set me back to the starting blocks.”

When Campbell asked him, Olson felt like he had to make a choice right away. Campbell was going to give him time to think about it, but Olson agreed to make the change, not knowing how it would go — or if he would ever see the field for the Cyclones. Olson said his family was confused when he gave them the news, but they got pumped up and Olson said they seemed ready for something new.

His leap of faith has paid dividends. He got to work getting his feet wet, working with offensive line coach Jeff Myers extensively to get up to speed on the position again. Olson said Myers has been a huge help with his transition to the offensive line, in part because of his youth and ability to relate to the players.

Coming out of fall camp, Olson found himself in a battle with redshirt senior lineman Oge Udeogu for the backup spot at left guard behind starter Josh Mueller.

“We did a lot of work on pass blocking in college,” Olson said. “In high school, you could pretty much just put all your weight in your hand and go forward.”

Campbell has mentioned multiple times during press conferences his mantra of “next man up,” something coaches across the country espouse to their teams.

When Mueller was struggling with a minor injury prior to the home game against Akron, Olson found out what Campbell meant — he was told he would play from the start against the Zips.

It was a little different than the last time Olson played a full game on the offensive line. What were the main differences between the CIML and Division I?

“[The] speed of the game and physicality of the game,” Olson said. “A bigger playbook on both sides of the ball.”

The Cyclones won the game, 26-13, and junior running back David Montgomery got his first 100-yard game of the season under his belt, averaging 4.7 yards a carry — his highest average of the season to date.

After the Akron game, the Cyclones’ offensive line has improved in each of the following contests — despite a poor passing game performance against TCU, Montgomery still averaged 4.8 yards per carry — and Olson has kept his spot in the lineup ahead of the experienced Mueller.

After the TCU game, Campbell labeled Olson as “one of the real bright spots” of the season.

“I think it’ll be fun to watch him continue his growth,” Campbell said. “We’re really proud of him, and he’s done a really good job.”

In the next two weeks, he helped a Cyclone offensive line handle the defensive lines of Oklahoma State and then-No. 6 West Virginia.

Junior right guard Josh Knipfel said Colin has been coming along strong, crediting a solid O-line room with the increasing cohesion in the trenches.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do,” Knipfel said. “We really trust each other and we’re confident in each other.”

Collin Olson never expected to be in this situation, as a starting left guard for a Big 12 team with a win over a top-10 team.

But he feels like he and the Cyclones has a whole still have room to grow.

“We have a mentality of looking forward and not looking back,” Olson said. “It’s good to know for the future that as we continue to grow, we’re only going up.”