Last season, the Kansas Jayhawks possessed one of the best offensive tackle duos in all of college football. Both were adjusting to new positions, but there was never really an adjustment period. Cesar Rodriguez, on the right side, had spent much of his sophomore and junior seasons in the starting lineup, and used that experience to his benefit. And then you had Anthony Collins starting opposite him, a high school basketball player who only came to football as a way to make some serious dough. So much so that "Momma's Gotta Eat" became his unofficial nickname. Still, even with his humorous take on why he is playing football, he was named a first team All-American and a finalist for the Outland Trophy, which he lost to Glenn Dorsey.

And so, while there are some uncertain and unproven Jayhawks that will be depended upon throughout the entire team, including TE, OWR, DT, DE and CB, no position is as questionable entering into the season as the offensive tackles. Replacing two of the best offensive linemen in school history are two redshirt freshmen, two players who have yet to even don a uniform with a chance of playing that night at the collegiate level. If that doesn't make you uneasy, not much will. Still, the freak out factor has been relatively low throughout the Jayhawk fanbase, right or wrong. While the MSM is harping on the losses of 1,300 yard rusher Brandon Mcanderson and 1,000 yard receiver Marcus Henry departing, not to mention first round pick Aqib Talib, few are acknowledging the largest hole on this team. The tackles. Which is especially odd considering that the two positions the MSM seems to be most worried about on offense, runningback and outside wide receiver, are littered with at least somewhat experienced players, while the offensive tackle position is going to be left up to two complete unknowns.

And yet, despite the fact that they are completely and utterly unknown quantities, I'm not nervous. Well, that isn't true. I still haven't quite figured out a way how we will survive George Selvie and South Florida in week 3, but besides that I'm good. Really. Because Spikes reminds me a helluva lot like Collins. Not to say that he is the next AC, because not too many offensive linemen will sprint down the field just to pick up the touchdown-scorer while slapping him across the helmet in the process, but he has the same intangible feel to me. But more on that later. For now, here is the three year depth chart at both LT and RT:

--- Italics denote projected redshirt year

--- Bold denotes projected EMPTY space on depth chart

* I realize that this report indicates that Lueken will not be redshirted this season. However, I still think that he will be initially redshirted, only to potentially come available were he to be needed, which he hopefully won't be. Still, great news that he has looked that good thus far in camp.

Because of the whole freshmen factor, we seem to be set at this position for the forseeable future. Wolfe and D'Cunha figure to be really good backups, and there is always the possibility of, if Wolfe/D'Cunha/Lueken performs well enough, of Hatch moving back inside to his natural position of G/C and W/D'C/L taking over at RT. In all honesty, this is probably as deep of an offensive line unit Kansas has ever had, and that includes the losses of Collins and Rodriguez. This group is that good, IMO.

Player-by-player previews after jump...

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