Bryce Foster breaks down offensive line play in early games
Center Bryce Foster transferred to Kansas this summer and earned his spot as the starting center. Foster has anchored an offensive line that has played solid this season.
Kansas has allowed just five sacks in its first four games, and the Jayhawks are averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
“I think the first three games, we played really well,” Foster said. “I think when it came to crunch time, those last few drives, we obviously could have been a little bit better. That’s where I think three of our four total sacks came from, was from literally the last play.”
Foster and offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes both said it’s hard to block on those plays when the entire stadium knows you’re passing. The tackles are put on an island and the defensive ends’ only goal is to sack the quarterback.
However, Foster said the offensive line overall has played well, especially in the running game. Kansas has a top 20 rushing offense, averaging 238.8 yards per game on the ground. Foster talked about what it’s like blocking for Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw.
“It’s fun. You know, all throughout fall camp, everyone was hyping them up, and during fall camp I didn’t really pay attention,” Foster said. “Fall camp, for me, is just kind of a cluster. I mean, I don't really know what's going on. I don't know what day of the week it is during fall camp. Getting to block for them in games and stuff like that, they love making you right. I think it's really easy.”
Kansas’ defense had a difficult time in pass protection last Saturday. Daniels was hurried or pressured a decent amount, with West Virginia’s defense giving the offensive line trouble.
“Looking at the film, they were doing small little, like, nuances that kind of broke our rules,” Foster said. “I think they saw some of the stuff we did against UNLV because they had the same kind of structure of defense, and they saw how we protected that, and so they kind of threw a little curveball at it that was a little bit different.”
These “rule-breakers” can be tough for offensive linemen to handle. They’re used to blocking plays in a specific way, so when the defense does something different, the line then must make another adjustment.
“Now the defense, the following week's going to be like, hey, these guys have those kind of rules, right,” Foster said. “And so, let's figure out a way to break them. We've been working on it a lot this week on more specifying who has who, those kind of plays.”
During a game, Foster said it’s a group effort between the offensive linemen, Grimes, and offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa to make changes when defenses start to break their rules. Foster said the addition of the sideline tablets feels professional and has helped to streamline those adjustments, as well as give him a confidence boost.
“Every once and a while, you have a really good play so when you’re back on the sideline, you get a little confidence boost,” Foster said. “You can go back to that really good play you had and be like ‘I can do that. I’m good enough to do it…’ It’s a lot easier to adjust, I would say.’ And then it’s a lot easier to pick up tendencies with the iPad. I think that’s the biggest thing.”