Coordinator Corner: Evolution of Kansas State offensive playmakers

KANSAS STATE OFFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS

During his media session on Thursday, Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein shared how they were surprised a bit by the Baylor plan of attack. Defensively, the Bears essentially showed a lot of things they hadn’t performed all season.

They rarely ran a cornerback blitz, if at all, and they threw that at K-State on 12 percent of the snaps. That is a big number and something that the Wildcats had to adjust to rather quickly, and it was perfectly handled by quarterback Will Howard.

The Kansas State signal-caller wasn’t rattled, didn’t panic and calmly unleashed the ball early.

Dave Aranda and Baylor also entirely changed their base coverages, too.

They ran a lot more two-high zone with their safeties and bracketed routes a lot less than they had all season. Simply put, the Bears tried to trick K-State by defending them differently than what they have showed all season and the Wildcats didn’t blink.

ANOTHER GUY TO WORRY ABOUT

For a long time, the only Kansas State skill position player that defenses were concerned about was Deuce Vaughn. He was the only one that was applying stress to the opposition outside of the quarterback run.

However, K-State has begun to deploy an offense that has featured others. It hasn’t just been Vaughn. We have seen Ben Sinnott carve out a considerable role and be a dangerous weapon for both of the Kansas State quarterbacks.

Malik Knowles is logging better numbers. Phillip Brooks and Kade Warner have had strong games. Klein noted it on Thursday, and he is correct. Defenses are having to spread out their preparation a little bit more and worry about another guy.

QB NO. 2

The question was asked on Thursday, with Adrian Martinez not available, as to who the back-up quarterback will be for K-State. We know that Will Howard is the starter. After all, both Jake Rubley and Jaren Lewis traveled for the Baylor game in Waco.

Rubley is next up after Howard.

REPLACING KOBE

Not having Kobe Savage for the rest of the season is quite a loss for Kansas State. It probably isn’t being discussed enough, to be honest. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman is crushed for the player he credits for bringing a ton of energy and spirit to the locker room and field.

He was just beginning to play his best football as well and leads the team in interceptions with three. He will undergo surgery once the swelling goes down. But how will the Wildcats replace him? It will mean extra snaps for Cincere Mason, TJ Smith and VJ Payne. It may mean snaps for Nickendre Stiger.

Mason and Smith have already played a lot of college football. Payne sees snaps every week. They believe in Stiger.

K-STATE PREPARING FOR TWO QUARTERBACKS

JT Daniels has had some solid games for West Virginia this season, but he was removed from play a week ago and it wasn’t due to injury. He was benched, and Neal Brown and the Mountaineers chose to play with Garrett Greene the rest of the way.

That change was rewarded, too. Greene led them to a win over Oklahoma in Morgantown.

Because of it, Klanderman shared that K-State is forced to prepare for both signal-callers. It will take two different plans, too, as the two quarterbacks couldn’t be more different. The way to defend one is not the way to defend the other.

The Kansas State defensive coordinator also stated that he anticipates both playing in the game.