Mailbag: Discussing the Kansas State offensive line
1. Which of the three Kansas State basketball newcomers will make the biggest impact next season?
DY: I have stated it before, but I think Kansas State freshman RJ Jones is the most likely one to hold a considerable role. That is not to say he will hold a considerable role, but the odds are better for him than Macaleab Rich or Dai Dai Ames, at least initially.
Jones’ ability to score should set him apart.
2. How were the Wildcats picked for the season opener versus USC?
DY: When searching for non-conference games and asking around who is seeking a high-major opponent, word can quickly spread about opportunities.
K-State likely was made aware that there was a game on the table with USC in Las Vegas and pursued it or the Trojans discovered the Wildcats wanted another high-major opponent. Teams design their own schedule and chat with several schools and learn who is looking for what fairly easily.
3. Has K-State lost ground on Andrew Babalola by not offering sooner?
DY: No. He is well aware of how it is unfolding. Andrew Babalola is a stud offensive lineman in the 2025 class from Blue Valley Northwest. He has landed offers from Iowa State, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Minnesota and Miami already.
He’ll have his offer from Kansas State once he camps in Manhattan this month.
4. Is Andrew Leingang better suited to line up as an offensive guard or offensive tackle?
DY: Sources have indicated that K-State offensive lineman Andrew Leingang is much more effective and more natural on the interior.
5. Are you impressed with Deion Sanders?
DY: I’m indifferent. Every fiber of my being wants to think that Deion Sanders is going to fail. Everything he is doing is very unorthodox and goes against the grain and logic quite a bit. Adding a bunch of transfers in the Spring seems silly since it is the lesser talented period.
Cutting that many players at once may be a way to increase talent, but I don’t think the Spring transfer portal period is the time to make that move. Additionally, that is plenty of the roster having to learn the entire playbook in just a few months rather than a year.
It’s never been done before.
With that being said, it could work over time once he establishes everything that he wants to but I’m just not sure he has that kind of patience. But everything they are doing in their first few months on the job suggests a lot of chaos and confusion in year one. We’ll see.
But he’ll upgrade the roster and have a simple path to being relevant once again in Boulder because the Pac-12 has plenty of schools that are easy to pass on the football totem pole.
6. What fell through in April when it was supposed to be “the four most exciting weeks in K-State history”.
DY: For clarity, those were not my words. However, I think folks are underestimating what happened, though. After all, Kansas State fell just short on both Max Abmas and Aaron Estrada and still secured the services of both Tylor Perry and David Castillo.
Castillo is only one of the biggest high school prizes they’ve signed in several years.
7. Who is the most likely candidate to fill in for Christian Duffie at right tackle while he recovers from injury?
DY: Some will want to point to John Pastore because the freshman making noise always seems a bit more shiny. But my initial reaction is that he is still probably a little too green yet to open up as the starter at right tackle for K-State in game one of year two.
What is most likely is probably one of two scenarios.
The first is Cooper Beebe just temporarily kicking out to right tackle for the Wildcats and either one of Taylor Poitier or Andrew Leingang establishing a role on the interior. The second is that Beebe stays put and either Leingang or Carver Willis man the right tackle spot.
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