Guard Kasey Studdard is living up to his name these days. The second-year pro, who's father, Dave, played offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos for ten seasons (1979-88) and uncle, Les, played center for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1982, has been impressing as a starter during OTAs.
Studdard entered mini-camp near the bottom of the depth chart at guard. With both Chester Pitts and Fred Weary injured, Studdard has been playing on the first team and taking advantage of his opportunities.
"When guys miss time, players get opportunities," head coach Gary Kubiak said. "Probably no better example right now is when you look at Kasey Studdard. If you looked at the depth chart when we got started here a few weeks ago, he was in for one heck of a battle and all of a sudden he's been our starting guard for the last four practices and just gets better every minute he's on the field.
"I think players emerge because of situations like that, but it's up to them once they get an opportunity to play well enough that you can't take them off the field."
According to Kubiak, Studdard could be one of those players. He quickly picked up assistant Alex Gibbs' zone blocking scheme and he has been playing with a mean streak.
Make sure to watch my interview with Studdard, which will be posted on Sunday afternoon.
