Rapid Recap: Kansas State quarterback for the week still unknown

KANSAS STATE QUARTERBACK SITUATION

Just like last week, it sounds like the Kansas State quarterback situation will be a game-time decision for the Texas game. Adrian Martinez took all the first team reps in warmups prior to the Oklahoma State contest, but because he didn’t feel comfortable in executing everything he needed to at his satisfaction, K-State elected to go with Will Howard.

Because Howard has played impressively for eight quarters, he also gives them more of a freedom to take this approach and not rush Martinez back, to be fair. He led the Kansas State offense to four first half touchdowns against TCU in Fort Worth, and he followed that up with four touchdown passes versus the Cowboys in Manhattan.

Head coach Chris Klieman does not know who will get the call on Saturday, according to his answer on Tuesday afternoon, but he did continue to call Howard the healthiest of the two options. That may matter once again for the Wildcats.

At the same time, K-State is continuing to monitor the redshirt situation as it pertains to Howard.

It is not something where they want to cost him a year because of a few snaps here and there. That’s what happened last season. They needed Howard to play his fifth game in the regular season finale against Texas because Skylar Thompson wasn’t available.

If he burns his redshirt, it won’t be by a razor-thin margin. It will be because they need him and are going with him on a full-time basis.

They can’t do that to him for a second consecutive year. But the most revealing answer is when Klieman was asked if Howard was playing good enough to still receive the nod if Martinez was healthy enough to play, and he responded, “potentially.”

STATUS OF K-STATE LINEBACKER DANIEL GREEN

Klieman said that Martinez was getting closer and closer to being ready to play, and he shared that same sentiment about Kansas State linebacker Daniel Green. Like Martinez, he was unable to go versus Oklahoma State last Saturday.

Green didn’t even dress out for the game.

But according to his head coach, he also tried to give it a go prior to the contest. He just did it in silence and was a bit more incognito about it. Green was in the weight room attempting to see if he could endure the pain enough to give K-State about 10-15 snaps. That’s what was going to be needed to spell Nick Allen.

Obviously, he couldn’t.

Klieman revealed that Green was most worried and concerned about trotting out on defense and not being good enough and hurting the team because of it. That goes to show the selflessness of the team and how much they care about one another and each other’s success first and foremost.

Where the loss of Green hurts Kansas State the most is that they have to remove Nick Allen from some of their special teams units in order to give him his breathers on the sidelines in between possessions. It makes them a little thin in that respect.

We’ll find out later in the week if Green can play against the Longhorns.

DEFENDING TEXAS

When asked what the challenge of the Texas offense was, Klieman immediately referred to the coaching ability of Steve Sarkisian as an offensive mind and the immense of talent of Longhorn tailback Bijan Robinson.

Sarkisian has long been heralded as one of the best play-callers in the country, so the kudos and compliments for him are not surprising. He’s hurt K-State in that regard before. Where he is most effective is that he is able to distribute touches so well and always feature his offensive playmakers in the best spots on the field.

Because of that, one-on-one tackling becomes critical when defending Texas. They make defenses play with incredible effort and individual play-making in order to stop them. Obviously, that’s tough to do when Robinson is one of the toughest players in the country to tackle.

He’s certainly hurt Kansas State before as well.

BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT

I asked Chris Klieman what part of his team has improved the most since the first game of conference play, and though he also mentioned how much of an asset it has been to play a lot of different guys on defense to keep guys healthy for the most part, he focused the most on his offensive line.

Hayden Gillum has elevated his play. Hadley Panzer is tossing people around. They are keeping the quarterbacks upright a little bit more in the passing game. Will Howard was barely touched, as he pointed out when we spoke to him. Deuce Vaughn and DJ Giddens have had a few more holes to run through.

They are growing more and more as a unit. Howard and Klieman both singled out KT Leveston and Christian Duffie for their play versus Oklahoma State. They were very concerned about the Cowboy edge rushers and they were negated for nearly the entire game by the K-State offensive tackles.