Kansas State University Athletics
Off The Gridiron With Senior Offensive Lineman Andy Eby
Oct 22, 2001 | Football
Oct. 22, 2001
MANHATTAN, Kan. -
- by Tom Fontana, Kansas State Sports Information student assistant
A football player involved in one of the top football programs in the country doesn't always have time to do all the little things that a person might normally do. Shopping, cleaning, cooking and even laundry. Andy Eby is in that situation.
"I haven't been to the grocery store in over a year and a half," he said. "I go out to eat every night. I like going out to eat. I don't like to cook. I don't like to clean."
He doesn't like to do many of the chores that come along with living on your own and living in a college town.
"I have never done laundry. We have a cleaning ladies that come to our house," Eby said.
No dishes or any cleaning appliances of any kind can be found at his house.
"I don't do dishes. No houseware anywhere," he said. "I like to limit all the things that are time consuming."
He has a rather easy solution to not ever doing his laundry.
"Either my mom does it or sometimes I take it to Wash Palace and they do it for me," he said. "You pay by the pound."
Eby who was an academic All-Big 12 selection in both his sophomore and junior years, along with Verizon Academic All-District VII selection last season, takes his education very seriously.
A senior majoring in construction science management, he hopes to work for his family-owned construction company in Kansas City following graduation. The business has been in the family for around eight to ten years.
"I'll probably end up working for my family. My family runs a construction company in Kansas City," he said. "It's a family business, so I'll probably work for them eventually.
"They build churches, office buildings and senior housing across the country," he said. "They both design and build them. They have an architecture company and a construction company."
When Eby is not working on football or working on his degree one of his favorite things to do is to go hunting and fishing.
"I like to go duck hunting and I like to go pheasant hunt," he said. "I really like to fly fish during the summer when we have time off."
One of the cornerstones of the Kansas State offensive line, Eby has played four positions on the line. His versatility has proven very important for the Wildcats this season.
"It's just that I've been here. This is my fifth year and you just get used to things," he said.
He feels that his 6-foot-3, 280 lb. frame helps him to be that versatile.
"I just have the body that is able to adjust. It's not short and fat. It's just experienced basically."
Listed as the starting center, Eby has played right tackle, right guard and left tackle, along with center. He slides around from position to position throughout the game and is ready to step in for any teammate on the offensive line, should they go down to injury. He doesn't think he excels better at one position more than any other.
"My best position is whatever I'm playing on Saturday," he said. "It just depends on the player I am going against. I feel comfortable at any position, it doesn't matter."
If he could pick one position that he likes better than the rest, it would be the center position because of the responsibilities that come a long with playing center.
"If I had to choose what position I'd play, I would play center," he said. "It's kind of like the quarterback of the offensive line, you get to make calls and stuff. You get to tell everybody where to go."
Playing in a conference fielding three Top 25 teams and having to play two of them on the road this season (Oklahoma and Nebraska), brings both hardships to the game and helps the team to gain experience according to Eby.
"It's exciting. When your a little kid you dream of playing in big games like that, playing on the road," Eby said. "I think its fun. It's a good experience.
"Not to many people get to play in big games like we get to do here," says Eby. "and get to play in the stadiums we do. It's pretty fun."
In a tough loss to Oklahoma earlier this season the crowd was really rough on the K-State team.
"It was really loud. We had a lot of trouble communicating with each other," he said. "We couldn't hear the quarterback very well. It will help us out in future games though."
Having one of the top rushing teams year in and year out is something every offensive lineman takes a lot of pride in. With K-State's talented backfield this season it makes it even easier on the front five to accomplish that goal of having a top rushing team.
"That is something every offensive lineman wants. You want to be a good rushing attack team," he said. "So that's what we wanted to go out this year and concentrate on.
"We should be able to with the backs we have. With (Josh) Scobey and Rock (Cartwright) and then Ell (Roberson) and the back-ups we've got," he said. "We've got some tremendous talent back there. We take a lot of pride in it."
As one of the three returning starters on the offensive line back from an 11-3 season in 2000, the Wildcats were counting on Eby to be a leader on the offensive line. His versatility has proved just that. He is an important aspect to an offensive line that is one of the top 10 rushing teams in the country.