MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State football team showed up in storm-ravaged Marshalltown to help residents clean up two days after a destructive tornado swept through the city. The entire Cyclones roster traveled from Ames to Marshalltown, making quick work out of a number of tasks on Saturday before catching a breather at a local schoolyard, The Marshalltown Times-Republican reported.

Players did everything from clearing tree limbs and debris, raking yards, moving remnants of houses, rooftops and garages, and removing furniture from damaged homes and businesses.

“I don’t have words for it, you know what I mean?” said redshirt freshman offensive lineman Colin Newell. “You just put yourself in that position for a second and you’re like, ‘wow.’ “We had some guys come up here (Friday) and help out, and they said we’ve got to get more guys up here and do what we can to help out. We’ve got a lot of people with us, so we can bring a lot of manpower with us and get out here and help these people out.”

One of the group’s first undertakings of the day was to help a family move its car out of the driveway and a truck out from under a garage that fallenon it. A tearful owner offered hugs to any Cyclone football player who crossed her path — and some pledged their fandom to Iowa State, even if only for a day. “Just doing it for the community makes it all worth it, too, just helping out Iowa and Marshalltown get back to where they were at,” said redshirt freshman offensive lineman Alex Kleinow.

Both Newell and Kleinow have dealt indirectly with flood damage to their own hometowns, but that was nothing compared with what Marshalltown experienced during the tornado. “This is really eye-opening,” Kleinow said.