Ready to Rise to the Next Level
Mar 06, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The most veteran player on the Kansas State offensive line hails from Lakin, Kansas, a town of 2,000, which has no stoplight, one Casey's convenient store and one Subway. While right guard Hadley Panzer knows it was the perfect place to grow up, the 6-foot-4, 303-pound fourth-year senior has big dreams, and he plans to continue to build toward them, using former K-State All-American left guard Cooper Beebe, a potential high-round NFL Draft pick, as inspiration.
"I ask questions about the next level," Panzer says, "and what I need to do to get there."
For now, Panzer is immersed in K-State spring football workouts, which began on Tuesday and will feature 15 total practices, including one final session on April 13.
Panzer headlines an offensive line that lost Beebe along with center Hayden Gillum, left tackle KT Leveston and right tackle Christian Duffie — a combined 144 career starts.
"(Panzer) has got to take the next step," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "Terrific football player. Can he take the next step as a player? Can he take the next step as a leader? Because we need him to."
Panzer has started in 26 career games, all at right guard, in 2022 and 2023, after seeing time in nine games as a reserve right guard as a true freshman in 2021. Last season, he helped the Wildcat offensive line earn semifinalist status for the Joe Moore Award as one of the top offensive line units in the nation. He helped K-State to rank in the top 30 nationally in 11 offensive categories, including scoring (10th — 37.1 points per game), rushing (11th — 204.1 yards per game), third-down conversions (11th — 47.9%), rushing touchdowns (12th — 32) and first downs (12th — 310).
K-State also finished second in school history in total offense per game (445.2) and first downs, third in total offense (5,788), sixth in points per game and rushing yards per carry (4.98), seventh in total rushing yards (2,653) and 10th in rushing touchdowns.
"Do I feel like a veteran?" Panzer says. "A little bit. Some of the new guys or younger guys ask, 'Is this your fifth or sixth year?' I reply, 'This is my fourth year.' I do feel a little bit like a veteran having been around and playing with so many older guys."
Panzer, who is capable of playing either of the guard positions or the center position, improved his strength over winter strength and conditioning after a thumb injury prevented him from lifting last winter, which caused a minor setback.
"I'd had surgery on my thumb so my upper body kind of was lacking a little bit going into the summer and the season," he says. "Getting back into that (this winter) has helped me a lot, being able to do the bench and all that stuff. It's where I'm back to now."
Panzer has not only improved his strength. He was also selected as one of 25 players to participate in the team's leadership council — an honor that he attributes to those past players who helped him along the way.
"When I first got here, my biggest mentor was Noah Johnson," he says. "I mean, he was a sixth-year guy and I had just gotten out of high school, and he took me under his wing and showed me all the plays and how your mind should be working when you get to the line.
"It was a very surreal deal for me just because I got to be around him so much and learn from him. Being around so many great leaders has helped me to be where I'm at today."
Panzer figures to be the most reliable offensive lineman for offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Conor Riley. Riley has coached a multitude of All-Big 12 selections during his five years at K-State. Panzer could be the next in line.
Meanwhile, Panzer believes there's more in store for the youthful offensive line in the fall.
"We've had so many guys — Sam Hecht, Andrew Leingang, John Pastore and Carver Willis — around the guys who were here last year and the year before that, and we know what we have to do," Panzer says. "We know our 'have-to,' and we're not trying to be someone we're not. We're just trying to be the best version of ourselves."
Rebuilding an offensive line is nothing new for the Wildcats. They also went through a transitionary period prior to the 2022 season in having to replace veterans Josh Rivas, Ben Adler and Johnson.
"You look back at the 2022 spring and that was a whole new offensive line," Panzer says, "and people probably put a question mark on us."
The 2022 offensive line responded and helped the Wildcats' offense to finish top-10 in school history in seven statistical categories.
Panzer, who laments what he believes was a so-so individual start to last season in which, "I tried to do too much," appears ready to go behind an approach in which he's simplified his tasks on the field — a trait that he believes served him well during the second half of last fall.
"What I always try to tell myself is to control your have-to," Panzer says. "If you go out there before a drive and just say, 'We have to score here,' and then you don't score, then what are you telling yourself? But if you go out there and say, 'Man, I have to play with great technique,' or, 'I have to play with great knee bend,' or, 'I have to finish my block,' then that's controlling my 'have-to' and that puts me into the best position to be successful."
He pauses.
"I'm just trying to be," he says, "the best version of myself."
He's at home along the offensive line. And the native of Lakin, the former all-state performer for the Lakin High School Broncos, feels at home in Manhattan.
"It was a very big transition going from a town where there's only a Casey's and a Subway to Manhattan where there's a Chick-fil-A and all these chain restaurants," he says. "Manhattan to me is a big-enough city. For me, I say, 'This is a big town for me.'
"But I love my home."
The most veteran player on the Kansas State offensive line hails from Lakin, Kansas, a town of 2,000, which has no stoplight, one Casey's convenient store and one Subway. While right guard Hadley Panzer knows it was the perfect place to grow up, the 6-foot-4, 303-pound fourth-year senior has big dreams, and he plans to continue to build toward them, using former K-State All-American left guard Cooper Beebe, a potential high-round NFL Draft pick, as inspiration.
"I ask questions about the next level," Panzer says, "and what I need to do to get there."
For now, Panzer is immersed in K-State spring football workouts, which began on Tuesday and will feature 15 total practices, including one final session on April 13.
Panzer headlines an offensive line that lost Beebe along with center Hayden Gillum, left tackle KT Leveston and right tackle Christian Duffie — a combined 144 career starts.
"(Panzer) has got to take the next step," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "Terrific football player. Can he take the next step as a player? Can he take the next step as a leader? Because we need him to."
Panzer has started in 26 career games, all at right guard, in 2022 and 2023, after seeing time in nine games as a reserve right guard as a true freshman in 2021. Last season, he helped the Wildcat offensive line earn semifinalist status for the Joe Moore Award as one of the top offensive line units in the nation. He helped K-State to rank in the top 30 nationally in 11 offensive categories, including scoring (10th — 37.1 points per game), rushing (11th — 204.1 yards per game), third-down conversions (11th — 47.9%), rushing touchdowns (12th — 32) and first downs (12th — 310).
K-State also finished second in school history in total offense per game (445.2) and first downs, third in total offense (5,788), sixth in points per game and rushing yards per carry (4.98), seventh in total rushing yards (2,653) and 10th in rushing touchdowns.
"Do I feel like a veteran?" Panzer says. "A little bit. Some of the new guys or younger guys ask, 'Is this your fifth or sixth year?' I reply, 'This is my fourth year.' I do feel a little bit like a veteran having been around and playing with so many older guys."
Panzer, who is capable of playing either of the guard positions or the center position, improved his strength over winter strength and conditioning after a thumb injury prevented him from lifting last winter, which caused a minor setback.
"I'd had surgery on my thumb so my upper body kind of was lacking a little bit going into the summer and the season," he says. "Getting back into that (this winter) has helped me a lot, being able to do the bench and all that stuff. It's where I'm back to now."
Panzer has not only improved his strength. He was also selected as one of 25 players to participate in the team's leadership council — an honor that he attributes to those past players who helped him along the way.
"When I first got here, my biggest mentor was Noah Johnson," he says. "I mean, he was a sixth-year guy and I had just gotten out of high school, and he took me under his wing and showed me all the plays and how your mind should be working when you get to the line.
"It was a very surreal deal for me just because I got to be around him so much and learn from him. Being around so many great leaders has helped me to be where I'm at today."
Panzer figures to be the most reliable offensive lineman for offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Conor Riley. Riley has coached a multitude of All-Big 12 selections during his five years at K-State. Panzer could be the next in line.
Meanwhile, Panzer believes there's more in store for the youthful offensive line in the fall.
"We've had so many guys — Sam Hecht, Andrew Leingang, John Pastore and Carver Willis — around the guys who were here last year and the year before that, and we know what we have to do," Panzer says. "We know our 'have-to,' and we're not trying to be someone we're not. We're just trying to be the best version of ourselves."
Rebuilding an offensive line is nothing new for the Wildcats. They also went through a transitionary period prior to the 2022 season in having to replace veterans Josh Rivas, Ben Adler and Johnson.
"You look back at the 2022 spring and that was a whole new offensive line," Panzer says, "and people probably put a question mark on us."
The 2022 offensive line responded and helped the Wildcats' offense to finish top-10 in school history in seven statistical categories.
Panzer, who laments what he believes was a so-so individual start to last season in which, "I tried to do too much," appears ready to go behind an approach in which he's simplified his tasks on the field — a trait that he believes served him well during the second half of last fall.
"What I always try to tell myself is to control your have-to," Panzer says. "If you go out there before a drive and just say, 'We have to score here,' and then you don't score, then what are you telling yourself? But if you go out there and say, 'Man, I have to play with great technique,' or, 'I have to play with great knee bend,' or, 'I have to finish my block,' then that's controlling my 'have-to' and that puts me into the best position to be successful."
He pauses.
"I'm just trying to be," he says, "the best version of myself."
He's at home along the offensive line. And the native of Lakin, the former all-state performer for the Lakin High School Broncos, feels at home in Manhattan.
"It was a very big transition going from a town where there's only a Casey's and a Subway to Manhattan where there's a Chick-fil-A and all these chain restaurants," he says. "Manhattan to me is a big-enough city. For me, I say, 'This is a big town for me.'
"But I love my home."
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