9. DEFENSE RAN OUT OF GAS
Jaylen Pickle missed multiple games. Robert Hentz was limited at times during the season and missed a huge chunk of preparation before the season. Eli Huggins missed multiple games. Derick Newton left the team in the middle of the year and passed away soon afterwards.
Elijah Sullivan missed two games and got hurt on the first series of another. Justin Hughes missed two games and was not 100 percent after his injury last year.
Jahron McPherson didn't miss a start, I don't believe, but he missed three quarters of one game and two and a half of another due to being banged up and having to leave the game.
TJ Smith was injured and missed more than half the season. Wayne Jones missed a half because of injury and made him limited for a few weeks after that.
Ekow Boye-Doe missed one game. Justin Gardner missed a game and parts of a couple of others. Kiondre Thomas missed two games. Lance Robinson missed two games and then entered the portal.
Will Jones missed a game and then entered the portal. Tyrone Lewis could have been playing by the end of the season, but lacked patience, and thus entered the transfer portal.
No offense to Ross Elder, but by the end of the season, they were trying to do anything to avoid playing him at safety after some rough games from him. That meant putting Sullivan at safety after just two practices at the spot. Like luck would have it, he got injured on the first series of the game.
Then McPherson went down. It meant Wayne Jones and true freshman Aamaris Brown at safety. Brown had been on the practice squad or in Covid-19 protocols for weeks. It went the way you'd expect it to, unfortunately.
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Is it weird I found solace and maybe, if I squint really hard, some optimism in thinking if the culture piece straightens out faster than it might have otherwise, then the rest comes into place a bit faster also as development (and recruiting, hopefully) get back some normalcy?
Derek's piece: https://kansasstate.rivals.com/news/10-things-we-learned-2020-football-season
Jaylen Pickle missed multiple games. Robert Hentz was limited at times during the season and missed a huge chunk of preparation before the season. Eli Huggins missed multiple games. Derick Newton left the team in the middle of the year and passed away soon afterwards.
Elijah Sullivan missed two games and got hurt on the first series of another. Justin Hughes missed two games and was not 100 percent after his injury last year.
Jahron McPherson didn't miss a start, I don't believe, but he missed three quarters of one game and two and a half of another due to being banged up and having to leave the game.
TJ Smith was injured and missed more than half the season. Wayne Jones missed a half because of injury and made him limited for a few weeks after that.
Ekow Boye-Doe missed one game. Justin Gardner missed a game and parts of a couple of others. Kiondre Thomas missed two games. Lance Robinson missed two games and then entered the portal.
Will Jones missed a game and then entered the portal. Tyrone Lewis could have been playing by the end of the season, but lacked patience, and thus entered the transfer portal.
No offense to Ross Elder, but by the end of the season, they were trying to do anything to avoid playing him at safety after some rough games from him. That meant putting Sullivan at safety after just two practices at the spot. Like luck would have it, he got injured on the first series of the game.
Then McPherson went down. It meant Wayne Jones and true freshman Aamaris Brown at safety. Brown had been on the practice squad or in Covid-19 protocols for weeks. It went the way you'd expect it to, unfortunately.
-------------------
Is it weird I found solace and maybe, if I squint really hard, some optimism in thinking if the culture piece straightens out faster than it might have otherwise, then the rest comes into place a bit faster also as development (and recruiting, hopefully) get back some normalcy?
Derek's piece: https://kansasstate.rivals.com/news/10-things-we-learned-2020-football-season
