Former Bettendorf standout Darien Porter among top 4 at cornerback for Iowa State

Editor’s note: Sixth in a nine-part series looking at each Iowa State football position ahead of the 2022 season.

AMES — Iowa State’s Darien Porter possesses intriguing length, blazing speed and an abundance of toughness that belies his 6-foot-4, 185-pound frame.

What the former Bettendorf football and track star lacked was a position group to thrive in.

Until now.

That’s the plan, anyway, as Porter continues to learn how to excel as a Cyclone cornerback after spending most of his career in the receivers room and contributing on special teams.

“With three years of special teams experience, it’s easier to tackle, read the blocks, read cuts and stuff like that,” said Porter, a redshirt junior. “So I think special teams has been a great benefit for me.”

It will continue to be, even while Porter seeks to carve out playing time in the two-deep at corner along with T.J. Tampa, Tayvonn Kyle, Myles Purchase and others.

“He’s done enough so far in 15 spring practices and 13 fall camp practices that he’ll play for us,” ISU cornerbacks coach Matt Caponi said last week. “All four of those guys are fighting for starting jobs. The best two guys coming out of fall camp will start, but probably the first game of the season, by series three or four, the other guys will be in, so I expect that rotation to continue.”

Keeping snap counts manageable throughout a revamped secondary is vital, even as several of the players fighting for significant game reps are new, or largely inexperienced.

That’s true at safety, as well, where the Cyclones must replace three-time first-team All-Big 12 selection Greg Eisworth, and transfers Isheem Young and Craig McDonald, who landed at Mississippi and Auburn, respectively.

Front and center in that group stands fifth-year senior Anthony Johnson, who shined at cornerback for four seasons before making the switch to enhance the team’s and his own future prospects.

“His transition has been more of a, ‘Man, my technique is a little different,'” former ISU safety and current Cyclones safeties coach Deon Broomfield said. “‘I’m back a little bit farther, plays developing, I have time to react.’ He looks really comfortable at the position now.”

Porter’s in a position to help ISU’s corners make quarterbacks and would-be pass catchers less comfortable in part because of Johnson’s move to safety.

It’s currently considered a win-win situation for the program — and shows how bullish head coach Matt Campbell and his staff are on at least the top four cornerbacks.

“I think the more unique and different and multiple you can be in terms of your secondary and what you can do on the defensive side (the better),” Campbell said. “There’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of football in that group and those guys are all what I would say is hitting probably at the right time in their career (in) their growth, who they are and what they’ve become.”

Back to Porter. Few teams can deploy a 6-4 cornerback gifted with track speed, but the Cyclones can and will. How much he’ll play will depend on the length of his learning curve, but so far, he’s been singularly impressive.

“He’s been awesome,” ISU defensive coordinator Jon Heacock said. “He’s got toughness about him. He can really run. He’s created opportunities for himself, so he’s another guy who’s been fun to watch.”

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