Kansas guard Connor Stroh says he is having more fun than he has ever had playing football, and when he feels that way, he can play free.
But he is also playing physically free of what he has realized is an impediment to his potential production: “This has been the first time I have played a game without knee braces on,” the Texas transfer said.
“I’ll still wear them in practice, but I think it helps me so much,” Stroh added. “People think it may not make a big difference, but for me at least, it does. I can move way better.
“And you know, Coach has kind of told me, like, ‘You’re a big guy, so we’re going to use you as a big guy.’ And so I may not have the best feet on the O-line, but I can move well enough, and that’s where I’ve gotten myself.”
“Well enough” has been more than good enough for the Jayhawks. The 6-foot-7, 350-pound Stroh has fashioned himself into a key piece on the offensive line, and his Pro Football Focus grade of 72.5 is highest among regular contributors in that position group for KU.
“It’s a big body, you know, and he can move people,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “You really look at some teams and some of the people we’re lining up against, the big bodies can help. He’s played well, he’s in better shape, he’s moving and lasting. And I know guys like him, sometimes the concern is in our wide-zone game — can he move enough to get out — but I know the coaches have been pleased with where he’s at.”
So pleased, in fact, as to steadily increase his role each week, from 23 snaps against LIU to 53 against Missouri to 57 against Arizona State, per PFF.
“For me, it’s just more opportunity to help the team,” Stroh said. “Coach always talks about he’s going to play the best guys who are going to help the team, and that’s what I’m here to do, is help the team.”
Along the way, he has demonstrated the consistency that associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki has been looking for on the Jayhawks’ line: “I try to just go out there and play how I play all the time,” Stroh said. “I don’t try to … get too high before a game, I don’t let myself get too low, I just try to go into every game and practice the same. And so I think that’s one thing that I’ve gotten better at.”
“I’m really proud of him because he didn’t start in the first game, he got a little reps, he got some reps, did a nice job,” Kotelnicki said. “Got a few more the next game, did a really nice job. Got a lot more the next game, did a really nice job. So now he’s going to start.”
Indeed, Stroh has surpassed returning starter Amir Herring for the top spot on the depth chart at left guard heading into Saturday’s game against Middle Tennessee.
“When Coach was telling me, he was kind of just like, ‘Don’t change what you do. Just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be just fine,'” Stroh said. “I’ve kind of taken that to heart. I’m not going to change. Just because I’m a starter now, I’m not going to change anything I’ve done.”
He’s come a long way in a few weeks. At the conclusion of fall camp — a period of time that Stroh admitted to enjoying more than he ever had before, even though “you’re not supposed to enjoy fall camp” — he had apparently lost a battle for the starting job at right guard to Tavake Tuikolovatu, and it seemed like DeAndre Harper could even be ahead of him in the pecking order as the first lineman off the bench, since Harper plays both guard and tackle. Indeed, Harper rotated in at right tackle with Nick Morrow in early weeks.
“I came here to first of all help this team, but also find happiness and have fun while I’m here, so I was like, ‘I’m going to give my all. I’m going to do what I can to help the team, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work,'” Stroh said.
But even if his role didn’t seem large on paper, KU kept putting him out on the field. Against Missouri he even had the opportunity to execute a Kotelnicki classic, as a lineman going in motion.
Now KU seems poised to have him on the field for all sorts of plays, if he continues to execute at the level he has recently.
“He is the textbook example in terms of when you (are) given an opportunity, you capitalize on the opportunity, now you’re given more opportunities,” Kotelnicki said.
Both Kotelnicki and Stroh praised Middle Tennessee’s front four, so it’ll be a nontrivial test for Stroh in his first start as a Jayhawk, after he previously started several games at Texas last season.
“We’re not going to take them lightly at all,” he said. “I think at least the strength of their defense, to me, is their D-line, so we’re definitely preparing for that.”
