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AMES — The Iowa State football team’s first “Spring Showcase” under first-year head coach Jimmy Rogers began with a stroll down “Midnight Alley.”

Iowa State football players hit each other during Saturday’s “Spring Showcase” at Jack Trice Stadium. Photo courtesy Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic.

Sound ominous? It should.

Peril isn’t just implied, it’s inevitable. Violence of the brotherly sort isn’t just baked in, it takes on many hard-hitting forms. It’s a jarring, but beloved 3-on-3 goal line drill tucked into a tight corner of the field, where it’s hit or be hit, and the toughest trio wins — whether scoring or bowing up for a brutal goal line stand.

“‘Midnight Alley’ is (about) who’s got the biggest nuts,’” said 6-3, 305-pound defensive tackle Zaimir Hawk, one of several holdover players from the now-departed but long-successful Matt Campbell regime. “That’s what that means.”

Ok, then.

Sorry to veer into “PG” territory with the language, but “Midnight Alley” is also all about the team building. Right, right?

More action from Iowa State’s “Spring Showcase.” Photo by Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic

“I think it sets the tone as far as setting who we want to be,” Hawk continued. “Right now, this is a new team and we’re setting our identity every day in practice. So I think the fact that we can come together, hit each other, and still love each other. that just goes a long way. I know a lot of people (who) can’t hit each other and then still love each other the same way in the locker room. You know what I mean?”

Call it combative camaraderie. Call it anything you’d like. The drill is designed to ensure a new-look Cyclones team that features 82 new players bonds over the hard stuff. It builds bedrock toughness and fully conforms to the demands from Rogers and his staff, who aim to exceed Las Vegas oddsmakers’ over/under on wins this season (5.5).

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

Iowa State quarterback Jaylen Raynor (1) works with the offense during Saturday’s “Spring Showcase.” Photo by Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic

“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.”

Maybe. But Raynor smiled broadly as he said that. “Midnight Alley” is not for everyone. It is the starting point for success in year one under Rogers, however, and the fans loved seeing it on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium before the other drills and a scrimmage followed.

“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),” defensive coordinator Jesse 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.’”

Cool and dangerous at the same time. Nuts, one might say.

“The drill ain’t nothin’ but hitting each other, you know what I mean?” Hawk said. “And that’s what everyone loves to see.”

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