K-State Feeling Good About Offensive Line Despite Losing Four Starters
Losing four senior offensive linemen, especially one drafted in the third round by the Dallas Cowboys, should cause concern.
Instead, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and senior Hadley Panzer spoke with confidence at Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday about what this year's offensive line will bring. And it is all good.
Panzer, who started all 13 games last season at right guard, discussed this topic in an interview on K-Stateonline.com.
“People are saying we lack experience. That we are young. But when you really look at it, we have a lot of guys who have played a lot of football,” Panzer said. “Whether it is Carver Willis, who started however many games (started seven games) last year. We have guys like Sam Hecht, Andrew Leingang who have gotten reps. They know what that is like. So, it is not like being young or not old enough. It is a matter of going out there and putting it on the field.
“I’m excited. We have a really close group, and I feel like that is what you have to have in a team is a really tight offensive line unit. I think that is what we got.”
Klieman has complete trust in offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Conor Riley in getting a new group ready.
“And that's something that maybe goes overlooked a little bit, the value of what Conor Riley does for our offense and for our program and for that room and the offensive line room,” Klieman said in an interview televised on ESPNU.
“We lost four really good senior offensive linemen, but we have four really good senior offensive linemen returning.”
Klieman said Panzer, Wills and senior Taylor Poitier have taken over from those guys who left.
“And we've always been really, really good up front, and it's due to Coach Riley,” Klieman said. “But it's those guys that have been in the program that want to stay and want to be developed and not want to get in the transfer portal just because they don't play in their first year.”
David Boyce is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at davidboyce95@gmail.com.
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DAVID BOYCE