DEPTH CHART ANALYSIS: Week 4

The fourth official depth chart for the 2014 season was unveiled today. Have a look:

By way of analysis, I'll hit the high points for each major position grouping. There was just one actual change to the official depth chart this week, so I took the opportunity to continue to make a few minor adjustments of my own.

Offense

With two starts under his belt, Hayes appears to have up-ended Liddle permanently, although the latter still plays about a series every half.

I don't care what the depth chart says. Robinson has drawn all three starts, so until Jones actually starts a game, I'm listing Robinson as the starter.

It doesn't matter, though, because both play about equal snaps, with maybe a slight edge going to Robinson.

Other than that, nothing exciting. We'll see Saturday if Thursday's ineffectiveness prompts some shakeups on this side of the ball to mirror what we saw on defense against Auburn.

Defense

I am removing the "ORs" from the defensive tackle positions because neither Hood nor Seiwert has played in the last two games. The two-deep appears set on the defensive line.

Clearly, there is no way Johnson isn't starting the rest of the season, barring injury, so I moved Truman over to MIKE linebacker, which are more of his responsibilities anyway, and gave his old spot to Johnson.

That forced me to slide Davis to Johnson's backup spot. At this point, we have to say that Mike Moore must be hurt.

That said, I can count on one hand the number of times we've lined up in the classic 4-3 alignment this season, so I guess it doesn't really matter except when we're rushing the passer, and Lee excels in that role so much that I don't know if Moore would be playing those snaps or not.

I flipped Green and Schellenberg to complete the secondary shuffle, although in truth, Barnett was really playing free safety and Green strong safety against Auburn. I will stick with K-State's official designations for now, however.

We all will wait with bated breath to see how bad Burns' injury is, but if it causes him to miss time, I will adjust this to reflect Jackson and McDaniel as the starting cornerbacks.

Special Teams

Boy, am I glad now that I left that "OR" between Cantele and McCrane! After Thursday's debacle, you have to think that competition is as open as it ever will be.

Walsh officially moved ahead of Lochbihler this week on the depth chart, so I was prescient on that move. Barring a slide in performance, he will hold that spot for a while. I also demoted Lochbihler on backup holder duties.

It seemed like Scott handled most of the long snapping, but given how bad some of those snaps were, I think it's only a matter of time before Converse reclaims his position for good, so I will leave him atop the list.

That leaves kick returns. Burns' injury and shaky return performance at Iowa State had me think about dropping him, but I left him for now and instead swapped out Sexton for Jones, who lined up with Lockett in the deep backfield for most of Thursday night. There has been no indication whatsoever that Sexton will have anything to do on kickoffs.