Iowa State football players say they’ve been doing a lot of talking with their new offensive coordinator, and it isn’t all about X’s and O’s. Cyclone running back Jeff Woody says Courtney Messingham has an approach that helps in learning what he wants done with the offense. He says They joke a lot. For instance, if someone trips on a play, they’ll laugh it off, especially if that person is giving a lot of effort. He says it keeps the mood “light.” Messingham replaced former offensive coordinator Tom Herman who left I-S-U for Ohio State. Messingham says he’s tried to foster the open approach on other issues because they spend so much time with the players throughout the year just focusing on football.

When it comes to football, Messingham says his approach to the offense will be much the same as it has been. He says fans probably won’t notice a lot of difference in the offense. He says they’ll continue to focus on the run first, and look to take better advantage of the things the defense gives them. Messingham says he wants his quarterback to be patient. He says it’s important to take what the defense gives.  “If that means throwing hitch ten times in a row because they’re giving you a hitch, take that hitch ten times in a row, don’t try to force it down the field and make a poor decision,” Messingham says. Iowa State opens the season at home against Tulsa on September first.

(Radio Iowa)

The U-N-I football team comes into the 2012 season with a big hole to fill on offense. The Panthers need to replace quarterback Terrell Rennie, who led U-N-I to Missouri Valley Football Conference championships in each of the past two seasons. U-N-I head coach Mark Farley says there are four candidates for the job as the Panthers open camp. Sophomore Jared Lanpher  stepped in when Rennie was injured last season, and was battling for the starting job in spring practice with Sawyer Kollmorgen. With the beginning of fall camp, the Panthers have also added S-M-U transfer Stephen Kaiser and true freshman Justin Black to the mix. Farley says that all four of the quarterbacks have shown strong ability and leadership at the opening of fall camp.

While Rennie was much more of a run-pass dual threat, Farley says that the Panthers will be a little more of a straight drop-back passing team regardless who wins the starting job. He says that he’s hoping to narrow the quarterback field by one player each week as the Panthers prepare for their season opener at Wisconsin. U-N-I opens the season on the road at Wisconsin on September first.

(Radio Iowa)

The football coaches at Iowa, Iowa State and UNI are joining forces again this year to raise awareness about the need for youth mentors in the state. Adam Lounsbury, with Volunteer Iowa, says there are over 3,000 children in Iowa on a waiting list for a mentor. “The idea of a mentor is to provide another positive role model in (a child’s) life,” Lounsbury says. “It’s estimated that over 50-percent of kids would very much benefit from having another caring adult in their life.” The football coaches in Iowa are taking part in what’s being called the “Coaches Mentoring Challenge.”

It a contest with coaches in Kansas and Nebraska to see which state can recruit the most new mentors between August 1 and November 30. Kansas won the challenge last year with over 4,000 new mentors. Iowa finished a close second. “We had a goal of signing up 3,000…we had 3,832. So we blew away our goal,” Lounsbury said. The 2012 target in Iowa is to recruit 4,000 new mentors. Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, ISU coach Paul Rhodes and UNI coach Mark Farley are taking part in a number of initiatives to help recruit mentors. That includes a letter, signed by the coaches, sent this week to high school football coaches. “It asks them to join the challenge and help promote this locally and sign folks up at local football games or help any way they can,” Lounsbury said. “And as coaches, they know firsthand, the benefit of the positive role they’ve had in people’s lives.” Iowa has more than 80 certified youth mentoring programs. The winner of the Coaches Mentoring Challenge will be announced in early December.

Learn more online at: www.volunteeriowa.org/coaches-challenge

(Radio Iowa)