Rapid Recap: Kansas State defensive ends shine
Big night for Kansas State defensive ends
The Kansas State defensive ends were a major bright spot in the 41-6 win over UT-Martin. K-State was consistently getting pressures and hits on Skyhawks quarterback Kinkead Dent. Two players in particular given strong praise by Chris Klieman in postgame were Brendan Mott and Tobi Osunsanmi.
Osunsanmi and Mott played their tails off getting to Dent. Mott got home once for 0.5 sacks on the night and Osunsanmi had 1.5 and added another hit on Dent. A plus for the Kansas State pass rush was forcing UT-Martin into several third-and-long situations.
The Skyhawks couldn’t run the ball effectively, so the Wildcats were able to pin their ears back and force pressure.
Glowing praise for a linebacker
Perhaps the player praised the most in the postgame press conference was K-State linebacker Desmond Purnell. The Topeka native was flying all around the field and led the team with eight tackles. He was also tied for the team lead in tackles for a loss with 1.5.
Klieman called the junior linebacker a stud and someone who is still underrated and under-appreciated on a national level. Purnell was dinged up a bit towards the end of last season and is fully healthy now and poised to have a big season.
No worry from Klieman
Kansas State was not perfect in the season opener versus UT-Martin.
The Wildcats had two turnovers and struggled to get into a groove for a bit on offense. However, there is no worry from the K-State head coach. In fact, he was glad his team was able to face some adversity in the game and play through it.
UT-Martin has won their conference the last three seasons and played Georgia to a 17-3 halftime score a year ago. At halftime Klieman challenged his players to respond, and he thinks they played a much crisper second half aside from the fumble on the opening kickoff by Jayce Brown.
