Emporia State is set to return all five starters on the offensive line from their Heritage Bowl championship team. Three of them earned All-MIAA honors last season.
Sherman Deaton was named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List this year and was a First-Team All-MIAA selection on the offensive line last season. He has started 29 games in his career. He had 51 knockdowns last season. He was a five-time winner of the Squarehead Award as the top offensive lineman for the Hornets, including the last three games. He had six knockdowns in the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl win against Southern Nazarene. He earned back-to-back Squarehead Awards after recording 4.5 knockdowns against Fort Hays State and seven knockdowns against Missouri Southern. He was named the Squarehead Award winner at Missouri Western and finished with six knockdowns against the Griffons. He was named the Squarehead Award winner against Lincoln with 5.5 knockdowns.
Carlos Guzman was a Third-Team All-MIAA performer last year. He has started 19 games in his career. He started all 12 games at guard last year and had 46 knockdowns through the regular season He was named the Squarehead Award winner with nine knockdowns against Central Oklahoma and recorded a team-high and season-high 11.5 knockdowns against Washburn.
Trevion Mitchell was named Honorable Mention All-MIAA as a freshman last season. He started all 12 games and totaled over 30 knockdowns last year. He led all offensive linemen with over 800 snaps on the season. He earned his first Squarehead Award against Nebraska-Kearney and set a career-high in knockdowns with 6.5 against Missouri Southern.
Colton Dodd is in his fifth year at Emporia State and played in 10 games with eight starts last year at center. He totaled 29.5 knockdowns in the regular season with a career-high 9.5 knockdowns against Washburn.
Jalon Robinson started five games before getting injured last year. He averaged 1.3 knockdowns per game before the injury. He is in his second year with the Hornets after transferring from Kansas and is the only transfer among the offensive linemen.
Talon Wheeler is in his fourth year at Emporia State and started the final three games of the season last year. He recorded 8.5 knockdowns in his first career start against Missouri Southern.
