Kansas State Wildcats Offensive Line Starting To Take Shape After Preseason Injuries

With just four days before the season opener against Nicholls at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the Kansas State Wildcats have most of the position battles figured out. 

The offensive line may be the most shaky of them. A pair of injuries to expected starters John Pastore and George Fitzpatrick has left the coaching staff scrambling before the opener. 

Klein addressed it during Monday's press conference. 

"We've been moving a lot of guys around," Klein said. "It's definitely not like we projected it coming in."

Pastore was a preseason All-Big 12 pick this season before sustaining a season-ending leg injury during training camp. Fitzpatrick is also out for the year while he continues to deal with a medical emergency that caused him to last season, too. 

Klein said he's been proud of the way the team has worked through it. Ryan Howard and Tyler Johnson have been rotating at both tackle spots according to the coaches. There are others such as Charlie Adams and Chase Duarte, who have also shown great improvement since their arrivals. 

Last year Adams was at Cal Poly while Duarte played for the San Diego State Aztecs. 

"[They] had a really, really good week last week rotating through those tackle spots," Klein said of Howard and Johnson. "You look at Charlie Adams and Chase Duarte, those guys are different players than when they got here in January, and that's why we took more at that point in time because it was such an unknown for us, even with some of those projections. So I'm very, very proud of how those guys have stepped up."

The offensive line is especially important for the Wildcats this season. With an unproven backup behind quarterback Avery Johnson, they need to protect him as much as possible if they are going to remain in the race for the Big 12 championship and berth in College Football Playoffs. 

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at [email protected]