Losing Important Special Teams Player Shouldn't Hurt Iowa State Cyclones Too Much

Will the loss of a talented special teams player hurt the Iowa State Cyclones?

Sep 7, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; An Iowa State Cyclones helmet sits on the sidelines before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

With the transfer portal set to open up in a week, the Iowa State Cyclones continue to see players announce their intent to leave. Recently, a key special teams player made his decision to seek other opportunities. 

It has been a wild couple of days for the Cyclones around the holidays. With players needing to make decisions regarding their future just after the new year, there has been a plethora of players announcing what they will be doing of late. 

Some losses for the team are going to be significant, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So far, notable names like Rocco Becht, Benjamin Brahmer, and Carson Hansen have all announced that they will be heading into the portal. 

On the defensive side of the ball, the losses are also starting to pile up. Jeremiah Cooper will be headlining the list of defensive players set to enter the portal. However, they did recently receive some good news that a couple of critical special teams players will be staying, led by kicker Kyle Konrardy and returner Aidan Flora. However, another special team player recently announced that he will be leaving, and that is kicker Jace Gilbert. 

Losing Gilbert Won’t Hurt Team Terribly

Thank you Iowa State!
I will be entering the transfer portal with 1 year of eligibility remaining. pic.twitter.com/XrvB9UCnMl

— Jace Gilbert (@JaceGilbert1) December 25, 2025

While there have been some significant losses for the team in the transfer portal, the loss of Gilbert shouldn't be one of them. Even though he was a good player for the program, the team was able to retain star kicker Kyle Konrardy. His decision to stay likely impacted Gilbert’s, who would undoubtedly like to be the starting kicker.

The junior kicker has been chiefly a kickoff specialist for the team, and while that is important, Konrardy’s ability to be a weapon in the kicking game is more important to have. Gilbert will indeed find somewhere to be the kicker, but his time in Ames is seemingly coming to an end. 

Now, head coach Jimmy Rogers will be continuing to try to replace the plethora of talent that is leaving the program. The new coach has his work cut out for him with a majority of the team seemingly heading into the portal. 

Fortunately, Rogers did just have to build his team in 2025 with the Washington State Cougars through the portal, and he will likely have to do that again. While it won’t be easy, the talented head coach appears to be up for the task.