This year’s spring football period is far different than last year’s.

At this time a year ago, the ISU football team was facing a battle at the quarterback position. Both Sam Richardson and Grant Rohach were battling for the top spot, with neither really breaking away from the other.

Eventually, Richardson earned the starting job. But the added distraction that the position battle brought struggled to allow either quarterback to become completely comfortable with the new offensive system that was put in place.

But this time, quarterback coach Todd Sturdy has his man, and he feels a lot better about it. That and the success Richardson had last season puts the team in a pretty good place, Sturdy said.

“I think [Richardson] was able to do some things last year performance-wise that started to show some consistency in his performance in a positive way,” Sturdy said. “I think every time you go out and preform like that and keep building those on top of each other, I think it really improves your consistency. He was starting to get that way.”

Without the added distraction of a position battle, Richardson said he feels a lot more comfortable this spring season.

That, along with having full confidence from the coaching staff, is something he said has allowed him to improve in the offseason.

“It’s easy to lead when you’re the guy. It’s tough when there’s a competition and you don’t know what’s going on,” Richardson said. “When you know what you’re doing, and your having good days and stuff, it’s easy to lead. It definitely makes it a lot easier with a lot of confidence.”

After second-year offensive coordinator Mark Mangino installed a new offense last spring, it took some time for the team to fully learn his new system.

So now with Richardson in the top spot, he is able to work on the offense without distraction — something that he said is very important.

“I’ve ran the same offense here up until last year,” Richardson said. “So it’s nice to be able to know what I’m doing now and not having to think real much before a play, just kind of it being second nature. It makes it a lot easier for us.”

Richardson completed more than 56 percent of his passes last season and threw for 18 touchdowns. The senior was also the Cyclones leading rusher for the majority of the 2014 campaign, rushing for more than 400 yards.

Now, his coaches think that this season can be Richardson’s best to date, with both Sturdy and ISU coach Paul Rhoads saying that Richardson can be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 Conference.

“I think he’s got a chance to be a truly outstanding performer in this league,” Sturdy said. “I think he’s got a chance to be one of the top guys in this league, whatever that is. But I think Sam has the chance to preform at a very high level.”

But Richardson said he isn’t paying attention to any of that. Instead, he just wants to take things slow.

“I take everything as an individual basis, just trying to attack each day and get better as a player,” Richardson said. “I think anything other than that will go on it’s own. I’m not really worried where I would stand in the conference or anything. I think just trying to gather the team together and lead them as a senior, I think is where I’ll make my greatest strides.”