Matt Campbell Has Confidence in Iowa State Cyclones Undermanned Positional Group

Head coach Matt Campbell is not wavering in his confidence in a positional group being hit hard by injuries.

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The injury bug has hit the Iowa State Cyclones football team hard this season. Several key contributors have been sidelined, such as kicker Kyle Konrardy. But the position where the team has been hit hardest is cornerback.

The defensive backfield has suffered greatly. First, it was Jeremiah Cooper, who was set to miss the game against the Arizona Wildcats. But, it was announced shortly after that he would miss the remainder of the year with a knee injury.

In the game against the Wildcats, things got even worse for the secondary. Their other star cornerback, Jontez Williams, suffered an injury late in the contest with the game already decided. It would be revealed that he also hurt his knee and would be out for the remainder of the campaign.

Replacing that kind of talent is not easy for any team. The pressure would be on the other defensive backs to step up and help replace the production that was lost with Cooper and Williams sidelined.

Matt Campbell confident in his group of cornerbacks

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Despite some unheralded names now being pushed into prominent roles, head coach Matt Campbell likes what he has. His confidence has not wavered despite losing two All-Big 12-level talents.

"From a talent standpoint, we feel really confident in what those guys can do," Campbell said via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network. "I thought what you saw Saturday, those guys made player after play after player. We were great at the moment against a great quarterback with some really skilled receivers."

For at least one week, the group was able to hold things together fairly well. Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby entered their matchup in Week 6 on fire, but Iowa State’s secondary did what they could to slow him down.

He completed only 13 of 25 pass attempts for 214 yards and two touchdowns. However, 38.3% of that total came on one play. In the fourth quarter, the Bearcats put away the Cyclones when Sorsby connected with Caleb Goodie for an 82-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-8 with 6:06 remaining in the contest.

A lot of pressure was on first-year contributors Tre Bell and Quentin Taylor as the go-to duo on the perimeter. They have some massive shoes to fill, along with David Coffey and Beni Ngoyi, who are going to be mixed into the lineup as well.

TRE BELL 👀@TreBell13

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— Iowa State Football (@CycloneFB) September 13, 2025

Life would be a little easier for them if the defensive line could get the job done, putting pressure on the opposing quarterback. It will be interesting to see if opponents attempt to take advantage of them being so shorthanded in the secondary because of how poor their run defense has been.

Cincinnati gashed Iowa State for 260 yards on the ground. That is a major issue the team also needs to figure out while sorting through the injuries in their defensive backfield.