K-State loses offensive lineman to season-ending injury as Stanford game approaches
The Kansas State football team ended preseason camp last week without many complaints from Chris Klieman.
Like most coaches this time of year, he is optimistic about the upcoming year and thinks the Wildcats are capable of special things when they take the field against Stanford in less than two weeks at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
But he does have one negative update to report from preseason practice: K-State has lost one of its best offensive linemen for the year because of a lower-body injury.
Taylor Poitier, a 6-foot-2 and 290-pound blocker from Bishop Miege, is no longer expected to contribute up front like originally expected.
“He will miss the season,” Klieman said Tuesday, “and we’re sad for Taylor, because he’s such a tremendous kid and a tremendous football player.”
Poitier was projected to contribute at guard and possibly tackle this season after playing in four games as a redshirt freshman last year. He practiced primarily with K-State’s second-string offensive line at the beginning of preseason camp, but Klieman likes to rotate as many as nine blockers during games. That made Poitier a valuable member of that position.
K-State won’t have as much depth without him this season.
Still, Klieman is hopeful that the Wildcats have enough other young talent on the offensive line to continue rotating two players at most positions on the offensive line.
“I think we’re still in that eight or nine mode,” Klieman said. “We’ve obviously lost one player in Taylor, but I know that there’s eight for sure ... we see contributing significantly, and we hope to still be able to get that to nine. I know we won’t just play five guys. We have a lot of depth there, and guys that have had a lot of experience. So we’ll play a number of guys.”
Kansas State’s is expected to start Cooper Beebe, Josh Rivas, Noah Johnson, Ben Adler and Christian Duffie on the offensive line. Hayden Gillum, Logan Long, Kaitori Leveston and Carver Willis figure to also play as reserves without Poitier in the mix.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 4:13 PM with the headline "K-State loses offensive lineman to season-ending injury as Stanford game approaches."