Winners and Losers: Kansas State rewards returning players

KSO covers the biggest winners and losers in the world of Kansas State and college athletics.

Winners

1.) Mott and Stufflebean: At the end of the 2023 season it seemed like the two defensive ends had a tough choice to make. Use your remaining eligibility or move on from college football. In a room where K-State desperately needed experience, they got both Brendan Mott and Cody Stufflebean to return. The pair were rewarded by being named captains for the 2024 season on Sunday.

2.) 2022 Big 12 Champions: The NFL preseason continued with its second week of action. Closing out Saturday night saw Cooper Beebe and Deuce Vaughn, who had strong performances for the Cowboys. Beebe got the start at center and allowed zero pressures. Meanwhile, Vaughn had the highest rushing total out of Cowboys running backs on Saturday. Earlier in the day Malik Knowles made the most of his one catch for the Vikings, securing his first touchdown grab.

3.) Avery Johnson: Get used to him being a winner. But this week he was tabbed one of only two offensive players to be named captain for K-State in 2024. He was also the only Wildcat to make ESPN’s Top 100 Players in College Football list. He checked in at No. 93. A little low if you ask me.

4.) Jerome Tang: Once again Kansas State will be in the middle of high-profile recruiting. 2025’s No. 1 player, AJ Dybantsa, will make an official visit to K-State on the weekend of August 31st.

5.) On3 Predictions: A pat on the back for the parent company. They have released some new tools thanks to a partnership with Massey Ratings. Now you can see projections for each game on K-State’s schedule. Even better, On3 now has high school football rankings by state and nationally. You can also go to a school’s page and get info on current recruits, plus the top recruits of all time. Still waiting for somebody to pop up on that Buhler page.

Losers

1.) Students: Classes start on Monday at K-State. I will be interested to see if my brother survives his sophomore year. Getting through his freshman year surprised me a little. Also, it can be a tough time to feel bad for student-athletes, but football players just went through their best part of the year. They could focus on solely being football players. No longer the case, they have to play school for the next few months.

2.) Malachi Nelson: Another reminder of how special Avery Johnson is comes from Malachi Nelson. The No. 11 player in the class of 2023 just lost the starting quarterback battle at Boise State. He transferred there after the writing was on the wall at USC that Miller Moss would get the job this season. It is never a sure thing that these athletes are going to be special. Kansas State is fortunate that Johnson is on a trajectory to meet all expectations and then some.

3.) Michigan High School Football: Connor Stallions was hired as the defensive coordinator at Mumford High School this week. The former Michigan spy being hired by somebody in high school athletics might make them the loser. But we don’t care about morals in sports, it is about wins. Thus, the losers are all of the other schools that will be spied on and lose to Mumford in 2024.

4.) Nijel Pack’s NIL: The former K-State guard left Manhattan for Miami, where John Ruiz’s LifeWallet was rumored to be funding an insane NIL deal. It was reported this week that the Miami booster’s company had “substantial doubt” of staying intact. Ruiz’s company suffered a $211 million net loss last year.

5.) DY’s Cincinnati Reds: The biggest losers of the weekend. The Reds welcomed the Royals to town and were kind to hand over three easy wins. The Royals won games by a score of 7-1, 13-1 and 8-1 en route to being just three games back of first in the AL Central. Cincinnati managed just 18 hits all weekend. They were also 0/17 with runners in scoring position. The Royals whacked 42 hits and went 14/34 with RISP.