Kansas State Wildcats coach Collin Klein recently broke down the play of the offensive line
There were questions raised about the Kansas State Wildcats offensive line once injuries began hitting during training camp.
Before the Wildcats could even play a game, they were dealt with season-ending injuries to tackles John Pastore and George Fitzpatrick. Pastore was lost to a lower leg injury that required surgery while Fitzpatrick is still dealing with a medical emergency that kept him out last season as well.
It has left the Wildcats with a relatively young offensive line that has spent little time together. So there has been an adjustment.
Still, first-year coach Collin Klein is confident in the group.
"We averaged like 5.2 yards per carry," Klein said during his weekly press conference. "We're the only team in the country that hasn't given up a sack. We played with a lot of different guys. We're ninth in the country in runs over 10 yards per game. There's a lot of good things that we're doing, and I'm with you – there's improvement that we need to make, and there's things that we need to do better."
There haven't been many complaints about the offensive line thus far. They have provided protection for quarterback Avery Johnson through the first four games. The running back trio of Rodney Fields, Joe Jackson and Jay Harris have had plenty of big holes to run through.
The concern is perhaps how well the offensive line will handle things once the Big 12 conference schedule gets tougher. Their early-season performance could be considered skewered because the Wildcats opened with wins against the Nicholls Cowboys, Washington State Cougars and Tulane Green Wave.
But last week there were some lapses, especially in the second half against the Cincinnati Bears, their first loss of the season.
After the bye week, the Wildcats return to action Oct. 10 against the Houston Cougars at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at [email protected]
