Originally posted on kstateonline.com
by Derek Young
REPLACING POITIER
As has been shared repeatedly by now, Kansas State will be without the services of Taylor Poitier for the rest of the season after he suffered an injury versus South Dakota. Many of his teammates and coaches have expressed their feelings for him since the development.
Hadley Panzer, who will fill in for him, had nothing but great things to say about how great of a teammate Poitier is and how their heart breaks for him after all he did to overcome last year’s setback. As Chris Klieman stated, sometimes the cruelest things happen to the best people.
But as Adrian Martinez shared with us, they have to move forward with the “next man up” mentality, and the team has all the faith in the world in Panzer. He saw some playing time last year as a true freshman, and as a sophomore, was listed as the top reserve at both center and right guard for the opener.
A LOCAL BATTLE
Does it feel like a rivalry? It does to Klieman, and most of the players have identified it as such as well, including Martinez, defensive linemen Nate Matlack and Eli Huggins and receiver Seth Porter.
For Matlack and Porter, they have learned some of that from their family. Matlack is an Olathe native whose mother went to school at K-State at the time of the Big 8 and when football was blessed with several regional rivalries.
Porter’s father played football for the Wildcats and shared a league for years with the Tigers.
For those players without those kind of connections to draw from, they heard from the players from Missouri at the beginning of the week about what it would mean to them to knock off the school that overlooked them. That included Felix Anudike-Uzomah and Jaren Lewis.
ALL EYES ON BURDEN
There is no question that the best playmaker for Missouri on the offensive side of the ball is true freshman wideout Luther Burden. They signed him from East Saint Louis High in the last cycle and he was the top player in the country at his position according to the On3 Consensus.
He only caught three balls for 17 yards versus Louisiana Tech last Thursday, but it is clear that Eli Drinkwitz and company want him to have as many chances as possible. Burden also grabbed three carries for the Tigers in the ball game, for 26 yards.
Part of the problem is that they may not have the quarterback on the trigger to give him enough of an opportunity to have as big of an impact as possible. However, Kansas State safety Drake Cheatum and nose guard Eli Huggins shared that they are expecting him to be a central part of Missouri’s plan on Saturday.
