Bryce Foster stacks confident practices after meeting with Daryl Agpalsa
Bryce Foster felt like he needed to meet with offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa on Sunday. The Preseason All-Big 12 selection had been doing self-evaluation of his film and thought he wasn’t playing up to his standard.
Foster had a 55.6 PFF grade through Kansas’ first three games and a 66.0 against West Virginia. PFF grades range from 0-100, with Foster’s grade being considered average to below average so far this season.
Agpalsa was seeing the same things Foster was seeing. The meeting wasn’t planned, but the two went through the grading process from the Jayhawks’ first four games and looked at where Foster can improve.
“I wouldn’t say [my play is] up to the par that I expected myself to play at right now,” Foster said. “I had a meeting with Coach DA, I think on Sunday, we kind of just talked about that. Kind of like where he expects me to be, and how I need to do some things better and things like that.”
Foster called himself his own worst critic. However, he wasn’t looking for positive reinforcement in his meeting with Agpalsa, assuming that if he was doing something well he was doing his job.
“Honestly, I told him, I don’t really want to hear any of that. Like, I want to hear what I want to get better at,” Foster said. “If he doesn’t tell me I’m doing something wrong, then I’m doing it right. I’m doing my job.”
Foster honing in on details in practice after self-evaluation
Foster noticed during his evaluation that there were little mistakes that became magnified during games. Those issues started in practice, letting him know that making improvements will start there.
“It was such little stuff that I was doing wrong that ended up being something big. Something as little as finishing a block with my body in a specific place,” Foster said. “And then in practice I wasn’t doing that and it showed up in a game. So I had that kind of self-evaluation and now I’m like, okay, now I know the way I need to practice.”
Kansas’ center has taken the self-evaluation to heart and stacked his “two best practice days of the year so far.” Foster said he’s felt confident walking off the practice field in the last two days, honing in on the details.
“We talk all the time about the little details of how we finish blocks, how we finish plays, and anything along those lines,” Foster said. “And I think that’s been the biggest thing for me.”
“Whether it be something like a snap placement where the ball is getting to the quarterback and not, unfortunately, being on the ground like it was this past weekend, doing stuff like that,” Foster continued. “And taking a wide zone more vertical rather than getting washed on the line of scrimmage, or just moving my feet, or getting my body in the right spot to be in between the defender and the runner.”
The Jayhawks’ offensive line, like Foster, has been a mixed bag so far this season. Coaches have said that they improved their physicality from the Missouri to West Virginia games. Foster said the group, which has three new starters, has continued to gel.
“As a whole, for our offensive line, I think we’ve played okay,” Foster said. “Not up to par as to what we played at last year, but it’s a new group. We’re gelling. I think we kind of gelled quite a bit this past weekend, so I’m excited for what we can do this weekend.”
