Quick Facts on Kansas State
Last Year’s Record: 9-4
Location: Manhattan, Kansas
Coach: Bill Snyder
Returning Offensive Starters: 6 (WR Kody Cook; WR Deante Burton; OT Cody Whitehair; OG Boston Stiverson; OG Luke Hayes; OT Matt Kleinsorge)
Returning Defensive Starters: 6 (DT Travis Britz; DE Jordan Willis; LB Will Davis; CB Morgan Burns; CB Danzel McDaniel; SS Dante Barnett)
Because I am running out of time (the season is, like, right around the corner), I’m going to have to dispense with the three players and five things and just write all of my thoughts. Kansas State today and Texas on Thursday.
Yards
| Pass Yds/Gm | Rush Yds/Gm | Rec Yds/Gm | |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB Joe Hubener | 39.20 | 23.67 | 0.00 |
| RB Charles Jones | 0.00 | 41.54 | 11.70 |
| RB Jarvis Leverett, Jr. | 0.00 | 16.75 | 0.00 |
| WR Kody Cook | 0.00 | 0.00 | 19.30 |
| WR Deante Burton | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.20 |
Points
| Pass Pts/Gm | Rush Pts/Gm | Rec Pts/Gm | |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB Joe Hubener | 1.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 |
| RB Charles Jones | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.46 |
| RB Jarvis Leverett, Jr. | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| WR Kody Cook | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.46 |
| WR Deante Burton | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Offensive Notes
- Even though Hubener is the leading passer, it does not appear that he is not leading the way at quarterback. Ertz is a 6-3/205 sophmore from Iowa and I don’t know much about him other than he did well at an open practice, although it’s been an even race (at least according to Snyder) between the four options. I suppose that it would not surprise me if Snyder would play all four options, which would include Jonathan Banks, a JUCO transfer, Hubener, the backup last year, and Alex Delton, a freshman.
- Where Snyder does have a terrific returner is Charles Jones, who rushed for over 500 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, but was doing it on a torn PCL, all the while by being pushed by redshirt freshmen Dalvin Warmack and Justin Silmon. So, what you see in the graph above probably won’t represent what we’ll see in the fall.
- At receiver, Dominique Heath, another redshirt freshman, was on the first team, while freshman Denzel Goolsby tries to break in at receiver as well, but Kansas State has to replace a ton at receiver, as Tyler Lockett is (thankfully) gone to the NFL and may no longer burn Big 12 defenses.
- You’ll also note that the offensive line returns four out of five starters, which means that you could probably expect a pretty solid running game.
- The big takeaway is that Kansas State does have to replace a lot of talent at the skill positions. Also, want to know who was the 16th best passing offense in the nation last year? Yeah, it was Kansas State, who passed for 287 yards a game while only running for 134 yards a game, good for 101st overall. I’d sorta expect that to change as they’ll be relying a completely new quarterback. If Hubener is the guy under center, as you’ll note, he can run the ball, and I don’t know much about the other options, but I’d guess that they could also run fairly well.
Tackles
| Solo | Assisted | |
|---|---|---|
| DB Dante Barnett | 56 | 21 |
| DB Danzell McDaniel | 51 | 8 |
| LB Will Davis | 21 | 14 |
| DL Jordan Willis | 11 | 15 |
| DL Travis Britz | 16 | 11 |
Havoc
| Tackles for Loss | Passes Defended | Forced Fumbles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DB Dante Barnett | 4.00 | 11.00 | 0.00 |
| DB Danzell McDaniel | 5.00 | 4.00 | 2.00 |
| LB Will Davis | 2.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| DL Jordan Willis | 7.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| DL Travis Britz | 5.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 |
Defensive Notes
- Some break-out performers from the open scrimmage (see link above) was Sean Newlan, who was playing safety, the lone spot that needed to be replaced from the returning starters. From what I recall, Barnett and McDaniel are both very solid returners in the defensive backfield.
- Kansas State has a ton of options at tackle and end and I’m not sure who will play what, although the expectation is that Britz, a senior, will see a lot of time. The article also mentions Tanner Wood as an option on the defensive line. Wood was a 40star end from the 2013 class and their highest rated player from that class.
- At linebacker, Colborn Couchman and Trent Tanking, both former walk-ons, are making noise at linebacker, although Will Davis seems like a guy very much likely to make an impact at linebacker. KSU did graduate Jonathan Truman and Dakorey Johnson (a former Texas Tech commit), the first and fifth leading returning tacklers on the team and aside from Davis, Elijah Lee made some plays at linebacker as well as a freshman.
- Kansas State’s defense was really good last year (hence the 9 wins) finishing 41st overall in total defense and and 29th overall in scoring defense. There are a lot of players returning on that front line, but Snyder almost always produces a pretty good defense. Perhpas it is the fact that the offense has been such a slow-down affair, but it certainly helps the defense, better against the run, 27th overall, than against the pass 48th overall.
General Thoughts
- This isn’t a defensive note, but just a general note, which is that Bill wants his son, Sean Snyder, to be his eventual replacement and I don’t think that most Kansas State fans are all about this. Sean is the associate head coach and special teams coach, played for Kansas State and has been there for 21 years. This should bring up terrible memories for Texas Tech fans as Bob Knight tabbed his son, Pat, as the successor for the men’s basketball team and what seems like an eternity, is that program finally coming out of the hole that started with Pat. This is, obviously, a tricky situation, one that you woudl think that Bill carries as much weight as anyone, and maybe it would work out for Bill as Snyder hasn’t been in charge of the offense or defense, which makes him a pretty easy person to keep around (fans always want to fire the offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator).
- We’d be breaking all sorts of rules if we didn’t discuss the JUCO haul from the 2015 class. I’ve already mentioned Banks at quarterback, but they also grabbed DT Craig Settles, OL Evan Applegate, DE Aulilio Olomua and LB Jayd Kirby. That’s just five JUCO players out of a 26 player class. Not sure if this is an abberation, but in 2014, Snyder took 10 and in 2013, they took 8.