Jim Knowles trying to pace himself with young defenders
STILLWATER — First-year Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was pleased with his team’s overall performance in last week’s 48-28 win at Kansas, but he knew the Cowboys could have played better.
Part of the difficulty, Knowles said, was with his adjustment to the influx of young players in the lineup because of injuries. The OSU defense was without tackle Darrion Daniels, linebacker Calvin Bundage and safety Malcolm Rodriguez, plus faced a couple other injury issues during the game.
“We knew who the next man up was gonna be, but getting them ready to play in a Big 12 game, that’s a different story,” Knowles said. “With the evolution of this system, I think sometimes I get ahead of myself, and I gotta realize that we are playing a lot of young guys, and I can’t throw too much at them.
“I thought we had a bust or two that I need to do a better job of teaching.”
Aside from Daniels, who is out for the year, the status of the other injured players is not yet known for the Cowboys' home game against Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Iowa State’s deep safeties could limit OSU’s downfield throws
Coming off a week in which Oklahoma State’s deep passing attack looked the best it has all season, quarterback Taylor Cornelius and his receivers could have to adjust their approach.
Iowa State’s defense tends to favor using two deep safeties, a scheme that can make deep throws more dangerous.
“They like to play the safeties deep and roll the corners up to play the flats,” said OSU’s leading receiver, Tylan Wallace, who has 30 catches for 546 yards. “We gotta adjust to that. Obviously, we like to throw the deep ball, but if they take it away, then we gotta take what they give us. We’ll have to run stuff underneath that to be effective.”
Charlie Kolar, other locals heading back home
Only two players on the Iowa State roster have touchdown receptions this season: emerging star Hakeem Butler, who has three, and tight end Charlie Kolar, the redshirt freshman from Norman North High School.
Kolar, the younger brother of Oklahoma State reserve quarterback John Kolar, had his first — and so far, only — career reception in Iowa State’s 17-14 loss to TCU last week, catching a 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave the Cyclones a 7-0 lead at the time.
Charlie Kolar is one of four Oklahoma high school products on the Iowa State roster. Senior running back Mike Warren, from Lawton, could be a possible option to get some carries if Cyclone star David Montgomery remains injured on Saturday.
At receiver, Carson Epps from Jenks is in his final season, and Jones’ Sean Shaw is redshirting as a freshman.