It was just a simple play gone wrong.

On a Tuesday back in early March, Kamari Cotton-Moya was finishing up practice when he suffered a head and neck injury. Cotton-Moya was then taken to the hospital by ambulance for additional testing, and released a short time later.

Now, months later, the redshirt sophomore safety has put that all behind him. In fact, he says he is in the best shape of his life.

“It is what it is. If I get hurt, I’ve got a backup,” Cotton-Moya said. “But I’m not looking forward to getting hurt at all. I’m just going to keep playing aggressive and keep playing Cyclone football.”

Cotton-Moya led the Cyclone defense in his freshman campaign with 77 total tackles, and started in 11 of 12 games. He was also named the Big 12 Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year.

Cotton-Moya became a sort of cornerstone for the defense last year, and a name that Cyclone fans quickly learned. The Bakersfield, California, native isn’t focused on living up to past performances, though. Instead, he has other things on his mind.

“That ain’t really in my eyes anymore,” Cotton-Moya said. “I’m just looking to become a better team, be a better leader, be a better teammate and just looking forward to what we have coming up on September 5th.”

Coaches say that they saw a lot of good things from Cotton-Moya last season, but the consistency wasn’t always there. Now, though, defensive passing game coordinator Maurice Linguist can see a big difference.

“He brings a calmness and a poise to what we’re doing,” Linguist said. “He allows everyone to play fast. When things move, and trade, and shift, you need a guy that knows what to communicate. A trained defender makes immediate and right decisions, and when you’ve got a guy back there that can make the check, make the call, see it before it happens…it brings a poise to the defense.”

Cotton-Moya, though starting just his second year as a starter for the Cyclones, has fallen into more of a leadership role in the defense. While he may not have expected that position coming in, he said that he is accepting his new role well.

“This spring, when we decided that we needed more out of our defense and we needed more out of each other, they just told me to be a vocal leader,” Cotton-Moya said. “I feel like the guys leaned on me and expected that out of me. I just felt like that’s what I needed to do and I’m doing a good job at it so far.”

And after the first week of fall camp, Cotton-Moya said that he can see pieces of both the defense and the offense starting to come together.

“We’re getting after it right now,” Cotton-Moya said. “I’m excited for what we have coming. The defense is fast and the offense is looking good. It’s going to be a great year for us.”