Injury hampers Beasley's throwing

By KENT PULLIAM - The Kansas City Star
Date: 11/13/99 22:15

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The explanation was quick to come from Kansas State coach Bill Snyder about quarterback Jonathan Beasley's horrible three-of-19 afternoon Saturday.

Beasley is hurt and has been for two weeks. He did not practice at all before the Colorado game and worked only in the running game before the Wildcats' 41-15 loss to Nebraska.

"He is having to take some injections before the ballgame," Snyder said. "Not being able to practice has a great impact on throwing accurately."

But Beasley still is the best K-State has. That's why they went with him instead of senior Adam Helm. Finally, when it became apparent that Beasley wasn't going to be able to throw accurately, the Wildcats made the switch in the third quarter.

"I said: `Jonathan, you can't throw,' " quarterbacks coach Ron Hudson said. "He was doing fine this season until he got hurt."

It's uncertain when Beasley got hurt. Until Saturday, when he was not allowed in interview sessions, Beasley has been a stand-up guy about his performance at every opportunity. At no point has he talked about an injury or used it as an excuse.

But on Saturday there were Wildcats open. And with the rare exceptions of a couple of completions to Quincy Morgan, Beasley couldn't hit them. He threw long on at least nine of the passes he missed.

"It's hard to speculate," Snyder said of whether the injury contributed to Beasley's tendency to overthrow everything. "He missed everything today."

Helm was little better, and again Snyder took the blame. When K-State trailed 27-9 early in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats had to pass. And Nebraska knew it.

"I put us in a bad position by passing at the end of the game when we didn't have any chance of protecting," Snyder said. "I thought we had a chance until probably in the fourth quarter when it got out of hand. We were getting people run over."

It's uncertain who will start against Missouri in the season finale. Beasley said he felt better before the Nebraska game than he had the week before.

"You can't blame everything on Jonathan," said Wildcats running back David Allen. "He's been our guy all year. We figured he would come through."