Iowa State Cyclones 2026 Season Preview

A New Voice in Ames

Jimmy Rogers takes over a program that just went 8-4 and 5-4 in Big 12 play, which hands him a foundation most first-year coaches never inherit. The bar he is working against is a winning record and a middle-of-the-pack national ranking at No. 72, not a rebuild. Iowa State's 2026 story is whether a new staff can keep that level intact through the transition, not whether it needed fixing in the first place.

A New Arm, Same Grind

Iowa State's offense stalled short of the end zone last fall, ranking 85th in points per scoring opportunity and 92nd in explosiveness despite solid yardage numbers, and the fix isn't scheme, it's the arm. Jaylen Raynor arrives from Arkansas State having already thrown for 3,364 yards and 19 touchdowns, and his job is simple: turn Iowa State's drives into finished ones instead of field goals. The defense that held teams to 20.2 points per game returns as the safety net, but this team's ceiling in 2026 rides on whether Raynor can supply the explosive plays this offense couldn't find on its own.

Rocco Becht's 2,565 yards and 16 touchdowns walk out the door with him, and Jimmy Rogers hands the offense to Arkansas State transfer Jaylen Raynor rather than let it play out as a competition. Raynor threw for 3,364 yards last season, well beyond anything Iowa State got from its quarterbacks in 2025, though his 11 interceptions travel with him too. With Connor Moberly and Wyatt Bohm unproven and fellow transfer Zane Flores coming off a rough stretch at Oklahoma State, Raynor's volume passing arrives as the clearest fix for an offense that ranked 73rd in passing yards per game and 92nd in explosiveness a year ago.

Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III combined for nearly all of last year's rushing production, and both are gone, leaving a room where the top returner, Aiden Flora, managed just 58 yards a season ago. Jimmy Rogers rebuilt the position almost entirely through the portal, importing Cameron Pettaway from Bowling Green off a 365-yard season and Salahadin Allah from Oregon State, while three unproven freshmen add bodies but no track record. This is a backfield defined by turnover rather than continuity, and Pettaway's workload will say more about Iowa State's 2026 rushing attack than anything on last year's card.

Iowa State didn't lose its receiver production this offseason, it imported all of it. Brett Eskildsen and Chase Sowell are gone, and the leading returning option, Dominic Overby, caught just 7 passes a year ago, so the rebuild runs through the portal: Cody Jackson arrives from Tarleton State off a 53-catch, 799-yard season, with Omari Hayes (39 catches, 515 yards at Tulane) and Carter Pabst adding more proven hands. With a passing attack that ranked 73rd in yards per game and 92nd in explosiveness last year, Jackson projects as the immediate top target for a group that's betting transfer production translates faster than developing what was already on campus.

Iowa State loses its entire tight end production, including Benjamin Brahmer's 37 catches and 6 touchdowns, and turns to the portal to replace it wholesale. Tyler Fortenberry arrives from Arkansas State with 32 grabs and 294 yards already on his résumé, the clear plug-and-play answer at the position, while Drake DeBaun, Luke Galer, Jordan Vyborny and Drew Byrd stock the room with fresh bodies but no track record. With returning options like Vince Benetti carrying just 1 career tackle, Fortenberry is not competing for the job, he is the job, and this group's ceiling rides on how fast Jimmy Rogers folds him into an offense that already needs more explosive plays.

Jimmy Rogers inherits a front that allowed 22 sacks and posted middling explosiveness (92nd) in 2025, and now has to reconstruct it with 15 departures against just eight returning bodies. Gabriel Greenlee and Austin Barrett are the most experienced holdovers, but with the notable losses up front, Rogers went to the transfer market for immediate answers, bringing in tackles Jake Taylor (Oklahoma) and Maasai King (Akron) alongside interior addition Caden Maas (Sioux Falls). This is a rebuild year for the line, and how fast those transfers gel with Greenlee and Barrett will decide whether Iowa State's 174 rushing yards per game holds up or slips.

Iowa State's pass rush finished 129th in sacks a year ago, and the fix came entirely through the portal from one program: Isaac Terrell (7 sacks, 12 TFL), Bryson Lamb (25 tackles, 1.5 sacks) and Malaki Ta'ase (2.5 sacks, 4 TFL) all arrive from Washington State with real production already on tape. That trio slots in around Jace Gilbert, the returning leader up front with 3 TFL, while the departures of Alijah Carnell and BJ Carter clear the way for Terrell to headline the edge rotation from day one. This is a defensive line that stopped runs at a respectable rate (36th) but couldn't get to the passer, and the Washington State transfers are the direct answer to that specific problem.

Kooper Ebel's 77 tackles and 8 TFL walk out the door, and Iowa State didn't wait around to replace that production, going to the portal for Sullivan Schlimgen, who brings 49 tackles and 1.5 TFL from Washington State. Carson Willich's 18 tackles top the returning group, but nobody back from 2025 sniffed Ebel's disruption, which matters for a defense that finished 129th in sacks and 100th in tackles for loss a year ago. Schlimgen projects as the every-down piece in the middle while Bradley Esser, Montreze Smith Jr. and Tristan Exline arrive with no game tape yet, so the havoc numbers this defense needs likely come from Schlimgen before anyone else.

Marcus Neal Jr. and his 77 tackles are gone, and Ta'Shawn James and Quentin Taylor Jr. left with him, gutting a secondary that helped Iowa State hold opponents to 20.2 points a game. Jimmy Rogers is replacing that group almost entirely through the portal, leaning on Malcolm Jones (51 tackles, 5 TFL at Jacksonville State) and Braden Awls (48 tackles, 6.5 TFL at Toledo) to start immediately alongside holdover Drew Surges. With Caden Matson and corners David Coffey and Beni Ngoyi back but light on tackle production, the new safeties from Jacksonville State and Toledo are the ones who have to hit the ground running for this unit to hold its 2025 level.

Kyle Konrardy is back after hitting 14 of 18 field goals with a long of 63, giving Jimmy Rogers a proven leg while everything else in the kicking game gets a facelift. Tyler Perkins and his 42.4-yard average are gone, leaving the punting job to incoming Ethan Gurney, whose specialist pedigree made him a priority addition even without a college snap to his name. Chase Smith adds competition at kicker behind Konrardy, but the real swing factor is whether Gurney can flip a unit that lost its only proven punter into a strength rather than a question mark.

New Arm, New Coach

Rocco Becht is gone, and Jimmy Rogers hands the offense to Jaylen Raynor, who arrives from Arkansas State having thrown for 3,364 yards and 19 touchdowns, a bigger arm than Becht's 2,565-yard, 16-touchdown line last fall. The skill corps gets rebuilt around him rather than restocked with familiar names: Carson Hansen, Abu Sama III, Brett Eskildsen, Chase Sowell and Benjamin Brahmer all depart, replaced by Cody Jackson (799 yards, 6 TD at Tarleton State), Omari Hayes, Cameron Pettaway and Tyler Fortenberry. With 48 transfers in against 55 out and a first-year staff, Raynor's chemistry with his new-look receiving corps will decide whether this offense hits the ground running or spends the fall figuring out timing.

Jaylen Raynor

Rocco Becht's departure clears the way for Jaylen Raynor, who arrives from Arkansas State with a 3,364-yard, 19-touchdown season already on his résumé, a far bigger sample than the man he replaces produced in Ames. Jimmy Rogers is building his first Iowa State roster around that arm, and with Cameron Pettaway still needing to prove his 365 rushing yards translate against Big 12 fronts, how quickly Raynor plays like the passer Arkansas State saw determines whether this offense keeps pace with last year's 8-4 mark or takes a step back.

A Home Bet, Not a Road One

Iowa State's 8-4 mark under a new staff run by Jimmy Rogers masked a real split for bettors: this team covered 60% of the time at home but fell to 20% on the road, and that gap only widens once a loss hits, with backers going 1-3 against the number the week after. The straight-up numbers held up fine away from Ames, but the number itself rarely did. With Rogers now installed as the full-time voice of the program, whether that road number closes matters more than the overall record suggests.