Last season was hard for linebacker Jordan Harris.

After transferring to Iowa State from Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Mississippi, where he was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association’s second-team All-America team, Harris was forced to redshirt his initial season at Iowa State.

Now a year later, Harris is back on the gridiron, and he’s loving every minute of it.

“I was smiling a lot,” Harris said. “I was happy to finally be on the field.”

Harris started at linebacker for the Cyclones last week in their 31-7 win against Northern Iowa. The Clarksdale, Miss., native finished the game with nine tackles, tied for the most on the team.

His success on the field last weekend impressed redshirt sophomore safety Kamari Cotton-Moya, who had nothing but praise after playing with Harris for the first time.

“Jordan Harris is good, one of the best players on our defense,” Cotton-Moya said. “He helped out the front line and helped out the linebackers and even helped out the secondary more than we could [have] even imagined. I’ll be looking forward for him to be playing more and more.”

Both Harris and Cotton-Moya aided the ISU defense in limiting Northern Iowa to just 126 rushing yards and 176 passing yards last week. But more importantly, they did so in a new three-man front.

The Cyclones started the game in a 3-4 formation, with three linemen and four linebackers — something the coaches said throughout the summer they would like to incorporate more.

While Iowa State essentially shut down the Panthers offensively with the new formation, redshirt junior linebacker Jarnor Jones said the team isn’t yet satisfied with its performance.

“Assignment-wise, I don’t think we did as well as we thought we did,” Jones said. “We got the win but assignment football, it wasn’t there, and we know that. I don’t think we surprised ourselves at all. If anything, I think the win kind of took away what we should have [done] with execution things.”

The Cyclones didn’t abandon their traditional 4-3 formation, with four defensive linemen and three linebackers. The four-man front made an appearance in the game at times, but ultimately it was the three-man front that worked the best last Saturday.

With Iowa looming on the schedule, ISU coach Paul Rhoads said the defense is going to need to shake things up a bit.

“You’re not going to survive in a three-man front against that type of offense,” Rhoads said. “You’ll see both varieties on Saturday, and three-man stuff you’ll see meshed up as we deem necessary.”

The Hawkeyes rushed for 210 yards in their season-opening 31-14 win against Illinois State last weekend. LeShun Daniels totaled 123 yards on 26 carries, while Jordan Canzeri added 28 yards and a touchdown on his five carries.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard had a big day too. He completed 15 of 24 passes for 211 yards through the air and picked up 26 yards on the ground, rushing for two touchdowns.

“It’s a different style of football,” Rhoads said. “You’re going to see two tight ends, you’re going to see two backs. You’re going to see downhill football. You’re going to see power football.”

So it sounds like the Cyclones will be returning to their traditional four-man front for the Cy-Hawk game in an effort to curtail the Iowa offense.

Or will they?

When news broke earlier in the week about Iowa State’s plan to switch between defensive fronts, social media and message boards blew up. Many fans seemed skeptical, even wondering if the Cyclones were attempting to deceive their in-state rival.

And when asked if the Cyclones were planning to show some of the 4-3 set this weekend, defensive coordinator Wally Burnham had a very short response.

“You want me to give you my game plan?” he asked. “Next.”

So with no real answer given by Burnham or any other coaches, fans will have to wait until kickoff to see how the ISU defense lines up.

That means, though, that Iowa State will most likely have to work on both formations this week in practice, something it has been doing since the start of fall camp.

Cotton-Moya admits that it was hard at first to have to work with both schemes during fall camp. After a while, though, he said it got a lot easier.

“It was kind of confusing at first,” Cotton-Moya said. “With the coaches’ help, they led me in the right way and led the whole defense in the right way and put us in the right position to be able to play fast.”

Fans can expect to see both defensive setups this weekend, and Harris isn’t concerned with switching between both formations. He likes them both. 

“I’m kind of half and half,” Harris said. “I think both of them set up for the linebackers and the safeties. The safety gets more freedom in the 3-4, but I like the 4-3 too.”

And in reality, Harris and the rest of the defense aren’t as focused on how they’re lined up. Their main goal is just to keep the Hawkeyes’ powerful offense at bay.

And keep the coveted Cy-Hawk trophy in Ames for another year.

“We just keep trying to win, keep trying to keep the trophy here at home,” Cotton-Moya said. “Both teams are good. We know we’re good and we know they are a great team as well. We’re just trying to keep winning and doing what’s right to win.”