ISU football head coach Paul Rhoads’ message at last Thursday’s media day was one of a change in culture. More specifically, a change in mindset and leadership this season.

The message has certainly settled in the defensive secondary. The coaches implemented a new way to get the guys to work harder, faster and better during fall camp.

All it takes is a ball.

At the end of each practice, the defensive coaches gather and decide who will get a special ball. The ball is awarded to the player with the best day on defense in terms of turnover statistics. So far, it has worked well for players. 

“We are trying to develop that culture, that identity, that culture and that shared belief of pursuing the football,” said ISU defensive passing game coordinator Maurice Linquist. “You are seeing guys doing that. You see defensive ends do it, tackles do it, linebackers do it and you got to have it in this league.”

The prizes don’t end there.

Every player who wins the ball signs their name on it, proving their trophy in writing, and gets to carry the ball around until it is passed on to the next winner. At first, players were skeptical of a simple ball. Now, it has sparked controversy in the locker room and more energy on the field.

“After the first day, people had seen that it was something that they wanted to achieve to get,” said senior defensive back Qujuan Floyd. “It went through the whole defense. Each day we would have more tries at getting the ball.”

The debates in the locker room as to who the players think deserve the ball is one that Linquist thinks overshadows any argument in the nation.

“You see those guys and Donald Trump? That was nothing,” Linquist said. “It’s heated, now, because they want to win it, man. It’s a fun deal but at the same time it’s a serious deal and the good thing is they are drinking the punch and buying into what we are doing.”

The antics in fall camp are encouraging the change in culture going into the defense this season, specifically the secondary. Last season, the defensive coaches said the secondary was conceding too many “big plays.” The message showed in the statistics as the Cyclones finished 122nd in yards allowed through the air in the NCAA (3,392).

Along with limiting big-yardage plays comes creating turnovers. The football prize in fall camp encourages making plays on defense and taking the ball away. An aspect of the game Linquist believes wins football games.

“You can give up some yards and really be saved by takeaways,” Lingquist said. “Takeaways change games. That’s the most telling statistic, usually, of any game. How many? Were you on the plus or minus side of it?”

Propelling the hard-work mindset, especially for the cornerbacks, is the capability of the backup players. Listed second on the depth chart behind cornerbacks Nigel Tribune and Sam B. Richardson are redshirt freshman Brian Peavy, who Linquist said has impressed at camp so far, and junior Jomal Wiltz.

For Tribune and Richardson, it has pushed them to play with an all-out mentality.

“[The backups] push us a lot,” Tribune said. “I think our No. 2s are a lot better than they were last year”

During Iowa State’s two-win season in 2014, Tribune said the team would get down on itself and not play each game with the fire he would have liked to have seen.

“I think a lot of the times last year … we went into the games knowing we were going to lose,” Tribune said. “I think that is something that is isn’t going to happen this year, for sure. It’s an immature thing, on my part, I think, for letting it happen.”

With an extra year of experience and a newfound mentality, Iowa State’s secondary may have a chance to improve on its dismal passing defense and could rank in the top-half in the nation.

“I think we are shaping up pretty good,” Tribune said at media day. “I think we will have one of the best passing defenses this year in the conference.”