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ISU’s ground game shows signs of life

AMES – To head coach Matt Campbell, there isn’t a guy who exemplifies Iowa State football more than Brian Seda.

The North Tama High School graduate hadn’t started a game in his career – let alone play a down – before the game against Iowa more than a week ago. Yet, on Saturday against TCU, Seda took the left guard starting spot from Patrick Scroggins to make his first-career start and take another step toward living out his dream.

Campbell, who is still figuring out what players will give the Cyclones the best chance at earning that first win of the year, has found something truly special in Seda, he said at Monday’s weekly news conference.

“I don’t know if anybody loves Iowa State more than Brian Seda. I’ll be really honest with you,” Campbell said. “We did the Cyclone Tailgate Tour and he signed up for every one of them as a player to go. He believes in this place. I said this to [Nick] Fett and Seda, that I wish we had those guys for two or three years because they’re both really talented football players. They’re both guys who have really good football ability. “

Seda hasn’t recorded any stats for the Cyclones yet this season, but if all goes well, he’ll continue to make a significant impact on the field, rather than on paper.

Starting quarterback Joel Lanning said he’s already seen a deep improvement in the offensive line this season.

“They’re improving. The first week, two weeks we couldn’t really run the ball at all,” Lanning said. “Last week, we ran the ball for, what, 150 yards? Maybe, not quite. But we’re growing and we’re going in the right direction. We’re slowly going up the hill.”

The Cyclones rushed for a 164 yards, but only 138 net yards after tackles for loss were factored in. Running back Mike Warren said he’s seen the offensive line improve in other ways besides just physically.

“More mentally,” Warren said. “The guys are more locked in to what they have to do. They’re taking film seriously and everything is translating from the film room down to the field. It’s helped a lot. Getting that experience in the film room, knowing what you’re looking for, and then going out on the field and seeing the same thing.”

Campbell said leaders like Brian Bobek, Fett and Seda are the reason the 2016 Cyclones are paving the way for the future of the program. Since coming to Iowa State, Campbell has consistently preached the idea of building a culture, rather than setting a definite number of wins as a goal for this season.”

“I don’t even know if [Seda] practiced a rep with the first or second team in his last four years of his career,” Campbell said. “But he’s a kid that when you went through spring practice, we were like, ‘Man, he goes 100 miles per hour every single day.’ And at camp we thought, ‘Gosh, this guy’s got a chance to help us somewhere down the line. And low and behold, did we think we’d be here this fast? Maybe not. But I love to go to war with guys like that. And that guy, he gets it.”

The offensive line will consist of Fett at left tackle, Scoggins at left guard, Bobek at center, Seda at right guard and Julian Good-Jones at right tackle – according to Monday’s newest depth chart – heading into Saturday’s contest with San Jose State. The two teams are set to kick off at 11 a.m. inside Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

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