Hines: Is this the year for Iowa State football’s offensive line?

AMES – OK, are you ready for this? 

It’s as sure a sign that fall is near as pumpkin spice conquering every grocery aisle or a kid’s panic about the start of school. Before the leaves change or that first Oktoberfest finds a mug, this rite of autumn must occur. 

Consider this your yearly dose of optimism about the Iowa State offensive line. 

“The competition in the O-line room right now is great,” sophomore lineman Deylin Hasert said Thursday. “It’s making everybody better, and obviously we have a lot of guys that can play.” 

Yes, I know you’ve heard this before. And I know you’ve been burned by believing in Cyclone blockers in the past. All right, I know you’ve only been burned by belief. All that preseason hope. The talk of depth and versatility and competition and scheme change and on and on and on. 

And it’s mostly amounted to jack squat once the games started. 

I get it. The Iowa State offensive line has been disappointing more often than not in the eight previous years coach Matt Campbell has been at the helm. For all the wins, draft picks and success the Cyclones have had under Campbell, getting the O-line to “average” has seemingly been a yearly struggle. 

I know, I know, I know. 

But if we want fall to come and football to start, I’ve got to do this. So strap in. 

Maybe this year is different? 

Hear me out, at least. 

The Cyclones have experience, with James Neal, Jarrod Hufford, Jim Bonifas and Tyler Miller all back after starting all 13 games last season. Hufford has started 33 straight for the Cyclones. Brendan Block started the last five. 

They’ve brought in Jalen Travis, a 6-foot-7, 315-pounder who was a multi-year starter at Princeton. Hasert, a 6-foot-4, 315-pounder from Minnesota, is healthy after missing all of last year with an injury. 

That’s real experience. That’s real depth. 

“It’s been beneficial for us to be able to have this many players that can compete,” second-year O-line coach Ryan Clanton said. “It’s my job and our job as coaches to get those guys to play at a high level and to attack each day with a purpose.  

“They’re willing, have great intent and we’re chasing the development piece of it right now.” 

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Iowa State now looks as though it might actually have the size and physicality to measure up in the Big 12. Travis and Miller project as towering bookends at 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-9, respectively, at tackle. Neal, at 6-6 and 330 pounds, has been practicing at guard. Black is 6-4, 315 and with the brawling style befitting a former competitive weightlifter. If Hufford could move to center, that’s a 6-4, 325-pound sixth-year senior running the show. 

Those are honest-to-goodness real pieces for a good Big 12 offensive line. Let us also not forget that as rough as things got for the offensive line at times last year, there was real progress throughout the season. It wasn’t always sustained, but it was there.

“You can forecast as much as you want,” Clanton said, “but until you get in those situations as an offensive lineman and make it out and succeed and not just try to survive a situation, we’re trying to really test their mental capacity.” 

C’mon, coach. That’s too cautious of optimism. We’re trying to pump sunshine here. 

“They want to do something special,” Clanton said, “and they believe in this place.” 

That’s more like it. 

Now bring on the pumpkin spice and get to kickoff.  

Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.