Rapid Recap: More praise for Kansas State corners

Raving about Kansas State corners

First it was Chris Klieman glowing about the Kansas State corners last week. This week, it was K-State cornerbacks and assistant head coach Van Malone. Jacob Parrish and Keenan Garber have been two of the hardest working players all off-season for the Wildcats. In terms of growth overall, the off-season is where the two corners have grown the most. Garber and Parrish are both two of the best leaders on the team and really command the attention of the corners in the room.

On the field, it is experience that has helped their growth. Both played a lot of football for Kansas State last season as a young player and one player new to the position. The two starting corners have done such a good job, Malone has actually been able to watch his younger corners like Zashon Rich during training camp and helping them come along and develop.

Emerging safety

One safety has really caught the eye of Malone. Jordan Riley was described as an “alpha” by Malone. His physicality has not only popped to the Kansas State cornerbacks coach, but also NFL Scouts. Malone and NFL scouts have spoken about Riley and it is safe to say he is squarely on NFL radars. Despite not being in Manhattan for long, the Ball State transfer has emerged as one of the best leaders on the team.

Depth

On paper, this season appears to be the most depth K-State has had at both corner and safety under Klieman. Malone agreed with that sentiment Monday afternoon. The thing that has really popped with the depth in the secondary is speed. It has always been one of the major things at corner, but Malone believes the safety room may be the fastest it has been in his six seasons.

Differences between this year and last year

It has been a bit overshadowed because of the attention the offense has gotten, but the Wildcats return a lot of experience on defense. In fact, one of the major differences between this year and last year for Malone is the experience the defense possesses. The players on defense understand the scheme and verbiage with the scheme which has led Kansas State to continue to push at practice. K-State is not slowing down to install things defensively or slowing down to work on pressures because of the experience they have.