When the Cyclones took the field last Saturday to battle an in-state rival, they weren’t looking ahead on the schedule.

But after the game ended, the news broke. Toledo, who the Cyclones are slated to take on this week, had upset No. 18 Arkansas 16-12 on the road.

While it may have shocked some of the players and many college football fans around the country, ISU coach Paul Rhoads didn’t flinch.

“I’ll tell you this, I wasn’t surprised,” Rhoads said. “Toledo has an exceptional football program. Matt Campbell has done a fantastic job as their head football coach. They’ve got great football players.”

Perhaps the biggest obstacle the Cyclones will face this weekend will be stopping running back Kareem Hunt.

Hunt, who was suspended for the first two games this season for a violation of team policy, is set to return to the field this weekend. Hunt ran for 1,631 yards last season, the second highest total in Toledo history, and averaged more than 163 yards per game, the third most in the nation.

He rushed for at least 100 yards in all 10 games he played in. And when a running back puts up those numbers, people take notice.

“The kid is a very talented, gifted, gifted back,” Rhoads said. “You don’t try to plan to tackle him with one guy. You try to get a number of people around him.”

Running back coach Louis Ayeni, who was the associate head coach and run-game coordinator at Toledo from 2010 to 2013, first met Hunt during his junior year of high school while on a recruiting visit and said he was immediately impressed.

Hunt, a Willoughby, Ohio, native, ran for 2,685 yards his senior season, setting a Lake County, Ohio, record. He was named first-team All-State and was a finalist for “Mr. Football” — an award given to the top player in the state.

Hunt, who was widely considered a three-star recruit in high school, didn’t receive much notice from the nation’s elite programs. Instead, he caught the eye of Ayeni, who said the two clicked instantly.

“We had an instant connection, and thank God it just lasted,” Ayeni said. “There was just a bond there. When you meet somebody for the first time, sometimes you just click. And me and him had a great relationship from the start.”

Ayeni recognized Hunt’s talent immediately and stuck with him during his senior year of high school. When Hunt decided to join the Rockets on National Signing Day, Ayeni believed Hunt was the biggest recruiting catch in Toledo history.

“It was definitely Ayeni that helped me stick with Toledo,” Hunt said. “I knew that I could trust him pretty much, and he pretty much gained my parents’ trust too. I felt like he was a good guy and that he could get me where I wanted to go.”

Hunt didn’t start right away his freshman season for the Rockets. When he finally did, though, he found immediate success.

Hunt ran for more than 100 yards five times that season and finished ninth in the Mid-American Conference with 866 rushing yards. He ran for more than 72 yards per game, the ninth best in the MAC.

But the following year, Hunt got a call that changed everything. Ayeni was leaving.

“I’m not going to lie, it was hard because that’s my main guy,” Hunt said. “That was the main reason why I went to Toledo. He called me right over Christmas Break and told me he was leaving. It was tough, I was pretty upset about it.”

Ayeni had accepted a coaching job at Iowa State before the start of last season.

And while he wasn’t directly coaching Hunt anymore, Ayeni said he still keeps in touch with him and is very impressed with how Hunt has progressed the past two years.

“He’s a special kid to me,” Ayeni said. “He’s a really likeable kid and lovable kid. I’m like a proud dad watching him develop and do what he’s been doing the last few years.”

But this weekend, Hunt and Ayeni will be on the same field again, this time as adversaries. Hunt, who is excited about seeing his old coach again, isn’t going to let the added distraction throw him off.

“I’m going to come out and play my game no matter who we play or who’s there,” Hunt said. “I’m excited to get to see and talk to him after the game and catch up and stuff, but I just want to win every time I’m out there.”

And Ayeni, who is already facing extra distractions by simply returning to his old program, feels the same way.

But for the Cyclones to come away with a win Saturday night, Ayeni knows they will have to shut down Hunt.

“He’s a special kid, a special talent,” Ayeni said. “It’ll be fun to see him out there. Hopefully we can corral him because I want to win this game.”