The news on Iowa State starting center Colin Newell’s banged up knee has apparently come back more positive than initial postgame speculation.

Iowa State coach Matt Campbell on Monday called Newell ‘day-to-day’ after he suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 29-26 triple-overtime win against Northern Iowa. Newell was helped off the field without putting weight on the injured knee, but further testing is more positive.

“That’s really what it was, more of a sprain than anything,” Campbell said Monday. “Again, really fortunate from our end, which is huge.”

While Campbell didn’t delve into specifics, Newell likely has a low-grade sprained MCL, which sometimes means a slight tear, though Newell has apparently avoided such fate. Former Iowa State quarterback Kyle Kempt suffered an MCL injury in last season’s opener and missed roughly a month and a half, but Campbell said Newell’s injury isn’t nearly as extensive.

The redshirt sophomore, who started the final 12 games last season and entered Saturday as an anchor in the middle, is dealing with a less significant sprain.

“Nothing like that,” Campbell said. “Kyle’s deal was an extensive deal where Colin’s is way more of a sprain than anything else. There’s no tear there and it’s not a situation where it’ll be an extended period of time. I really think it’s more day-to-day and we’ll see where he is by the end of this week.”

Newell will be helped by a bye week before Iowa State returns to action Sept. 14, though coaches will still need to prepare for the possibility that he misses time.

The Cyclones have multiple offensive linemen who can play center, including left tackle Julian Good-Jones, who started 13 games there in 2017. Redshirt sophomore walk-on Derek Schweiger has been Iowa State’s backup center since spring ball and relieved Newell on Saturday for the three overtimes. Campbell said redshirt freshman Trevor Downing, who is considered one of the team’s top-6 linemen, is capable of playing center in addition to either guard position.

“The neat thing for us is we’ve got multiple guys that have gone in and played center for us,” Campbell said. “Obviously Derek Schweiger came in and did a great job for us in the game. So if it was a situation where he wouldn’t be available to us, we’ve got a lot of options with certainly the things we’ve talked about. I think we feel really comfortable with what Derek has done there too right now that allows us to at least have some consistency.”

Campbell said running back Kene Nwangwu is also day-to-day after suffering what appeared to be a shoulder injury Saturday. Nwangwu, who entered the opener dealing with a tweaked hamstring, rushed four times for 40 yards before exciting with an undisclosed injury.

His injury, like Newell's, isn’t deemed extensive.

“Both guys, we’ll know more so by the end of this week and their availability going into the following week, but at least right now day-to-day,” Campbell said. “Hopefully we’ll have those guys back on the practice field later this week.”