Iowa State head coach Jimmy Rogers leads his team during Saturday’s “Spring Showcase” at Jack Trice Stadium. Photo by Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic.

AMES — Iowa State’s football players don’t simply stroll down “Midnight Alley.”

The evocative term describes a grueling, maximum-effort, pad-popping drill designed to breed extreme physicality — and its what Cyclones head coach Jimmy Rogers and his staff chose to kick off Saturday’s “Spring Showcase” with at Jack Trice Stadium.

“‘Midnight Alley’ is who’s got the biggest (will),” ISU defensive tackle Zaimir Hawk said. “That’s what that means. So, basically, (it’s) just a drill where we want to see who’s got it today. Who wants to try today and who wants to do their best. Because the drill ain’t nothing but hitting each other — and that’s what everyone wants to see.”

It’s certainly what the Cyclones’ first-year coaching staff needs their team to embody. Rogers, offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl and defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit use toughness and grit to establish a competitive baseline for their players. It’s a demand, not a request, and the meek need not apply.

“Those are the types of drills that we need,” said Roehl, who previously installed his own version of ‘Midnight Alley’ at ISU when he was on former head coach Matt Campbell’s staff in 2024. “That truly embodies what we’re about. We’re gonna play with a high level of physicality and if you’re going to play that way, we,, you need to practice that way, and that drill embodies what both sides of the ball (need), but the entire team. I’ll bet if (kicker Kyle) Konrardy wanted to get in that drill, he probably would have.”

Konrardy was not available for comment, but dual-threat quarterback Jaylen Raynor opined on the topic.

“I think they were scared of putting me in there,” said the 6-0, 202-pound senior who accounted for 67 total touchdowns in three seasons at Arkansas State. “I would have hurt somebody.”

Joking aside, “Midnight Alley” set a tone for the first public spring practice/scrimmage of the Rogers’ era. A throng of Cyclone fans filled most of the lower bowl on one side of the field to see standard drills morph into a scrimmage where players such as Raynor, wide receivers Cody Jackson and Dominic Overby, and several other players showed glimpses of their big-play capabilities.

Overby scored a long touchdown, Jackson reached the end zone twice — on a 32-yard catch and an end around run — and backup running back Jayden Jackson rambled in for a score. Konrardy was perfect on field goals and extra points in the scrimmage portion of the showcase and Rogers left the field largely pleased by how far his team has come.

“There were a couple penalties in there today and we’ve gotta continue to improve,” Rogers said. “We’re kind of a fraction of what we’re gonna be later. Hopefully these next three months are impactful.”

That’s true for everyone on Rogers’ overhauled roster, of course, but especially for the quarterbacks. Raynor took No. 1 reps on Saturday and fellow transfer Zane Flores took the No. 2 snaps, but holdover Connor Moberly’s come on late in spring ball and is challenging to be a big factor in the room.

“I think Raynor has just a grip on the team as far as the leadership standpoint. He’s got moxie and he’s got charisma in how he leads the locker room,” Rogers said. “He’s had a really good spring, learning the playbook, being under center more than he’s ever been. I think Zane has really done a good job and, honestly, the last two weeks, seeing the growth of Connor — the separation between Connor and Zane has really closed, so that’s always good to see, because ‘Mobes’ has talent. No question about it.”

Few, if any, position battles are ever decided in spring. But the baseline bouts that emerge in “Midnight Alley” drill will continue to help define who these new-look Cyclones are, and what they will ultimately become collectively.

“When we were even just lining up and structuring how we were gonna do it, the guys were screaming and hooting and hollering in the indoor (facility),” Bobbit said. “It’s a tone-setter and it’s a battle. At the end of the day, it’s a one-on-one battle, and the excitement of competing all spring, that kind of just sums it up, right? The name is cool, though, too — ‘Midnight Alley.’”

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