ISU coach Matt Campbell and his staff will take to Jack Trice Stadium for their first game as Cyclones in the annual spring game Saturday. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. and is free to the public. 

Here are the need-to-knows for the game: 

Draft  

Campbell and his staff will take a concept they used for the spring game at Toledo and use it here: A draft. 

The seniors will draft a team with coaches before Saturday, and there will be some former coaches and players on hand for the draft. 

“I want to draft out the teams, which is what we have done at Toledo,” Campbell said. “[It] gives the seniors some ownership in it and have a little bit of fun in it.  

“I want to see who these knuckleheads pick.”

Mistakes

Campbell said the spring game will be a good opportunity for the young players on the team to make mistakes and learn from them. 

Incoming freshman Zeb Noland, a quarterback, graduated high school in the fall and joined the team in the spring. He’s the youngest player on the team, but someone who has a chance to make an impact in the near future.

“Here’s Zeb Noland. He’s just out of high school,” Campbell said. “He should be at prom. But now he gets the opportunity to play and make some mistakes, and that’s OK. But you get how you learn from those.”

Environment

Sometimes spring practice can be monotonous.

It’s a lot of drill work mixed with situational football. Even in Saturday scrimmages, which the team has held in the past two weeks, the Cyclones haven’t played a real game. 

The spring game will give them an opportunity to finally play a real game. But the game also relies on what Campbell sees in practice Tuesday and Thursday. 

“As long as I feel like we’re where we need to be at least in terms of where I think we need to be in terms of our football program and not just do situation football,” Campbell said. “Just put down the football and play and have a Gold team and a Cardinal team.” 

It’s also a benefit to have people in the crowd as well. It changes the atmosphere and tests athletes. 

“What I love about the spring game is some of these guys haven’t been able to play in this environment,” Campbell said. “People in the crowd, some energy in the crowd. It’ll be good to play.”

Progress

The biggest takeaway from the spring game will be the progress the team can make over the week. The game represents a culmination of the entire four-week spring season and all of the improvements. 

Since there is a new staff and many changes, this game means a lot more than in years past. 

“I expect our guys to have less mistakes and less alignment issues as we move along,” said defensive coordinator Jon Heacock. “If we do that, we’ll keep moving in the right direction.”