Leadership has been a recurring topic during the 2015 ISU football fall camp. On Monday, it came up yet again when talking about the team’s defensive end group.

With seniors and former junior college transfers Dale Pierson and Trent Taylor at the helm, the defensive ends—who have four junior college players in the No. 1 and No. 2 slot on the pre-fall camp depth chart—will have steady leadership at the top.

Coming to Iowa State for the first time last season, Pierson and Taylor arrived in an unfamiliar place and adjusting wasn’t easy. Especially for Pierson, who started the year at the bottom of the depth chart and worked his way up to two starts to end the season.

Taken what they have learned from their rookie season in Division I football, they have already started to pass that knowledge along to other fellow junior college transfers.

“I think the biggest thing is the speed of the practice and the game,” Pierson said about the transition. “It takes a while to adjust to things. Most of it is mental. Once you get that mental mindset that it’s going to be harder here so I got to do it. You try to pick it up.”

ISU defensive end coach Stan Eggen, along with the rest of the coaching staff, has pushed the message that players need to coach other players.

Pierson and Taylor are just a part of the example.

“We coach the younger guys, we try to get coached by the younger guys,” Taylor said. “I take it upon myself to try to at least learn something new every day and teach somebody something new every day.”

Eggen said after Saturday’s scrimmage, the first one of fall camp, there are seven defensive ends that are in the mix to either start or be in the rotation.

Taylor and Pierson have been assisting each other to solidify their starting role and substantial playing time.

“Just pushing each other,” Taylor said of the relationship. “He motivates me. He’s has a great motor. Every time I see that, it makes me want to go harder and just basically feed off each other.”

One of the transfers that will bolster the defensive line is Jhaustin Thomas, who arrived in early August. Thomas, a three-star recruit from Trinity Valley Community College in Georgia, comes to the Cyclones after taking a year off from football to pursue basketball.

After having a rough first practice in which he threw up due to his fitness, Thomas seems to be taking well to the division I game.

He is just one transfer that Pierson and Taylor have taken under their wing.

“I’m just helping him learn the game,” Pierson said. “I’m just encouraging him, keeping him moving forward.”

The hard work that the defensive ends put in during practice stems from a coach like Eggen, who is renowned for his tough coaching style that can be heard from around the Bergstrom Football Complex during practice.

Eggen’s style can be intimidating, but to some players it helps them become better players and leaders themselves.

“Every day is intense,” Taylor said. “I love it. I wouldn’t want to be coached by someone who is going to beat around the bush.”

Last season, Rhoads talked about the team forming cliques during the season and not bonding like he wanted his players to do.

The defensive linemen don’t seem to have a problem with the message so far into fall camp, calling themselves “a family.”

“The defensive linemen, we are a family,” Pierson said. “It’s like a brotherhood.”