Preview 2019: Previewing and looking ahead to the Kansas State Wildcats season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
– Kansas State Previews 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2018 Record: 5-7 overall, 3-6 in Big 12
Head Coach: Chris Klieman, 1st year
5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE KANSAS STATE OFFENSE
– The Kansas State offense didn’t work. In a league loaded with high-octane offenses, being dead last in total O is a problem. The running game was solid, but the passing game was the worst in the conference, and it was painfully inconsistent.
Seven starters are back for new offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham, who steps in after helping Chris Klieman’s NDSU team rip apart everything in its path on the way to the national title. The Bison ground game was the star, and the style and attack should work immediately with the talent in place.
– Ball State transfer James Gilbert has the talent to be a special back in the new attack, but with Alex Barnes off being a Tennessee Titan, keeping all the top guys healthy is everything. The 5-9, 198-pound Gilbert has been banged up in his career, and the depth is a wee bit thin.
– No matter who’s running the ball, the production should be there behind a line that should be terrific despite the loss of new Denver Bronco Dalton Risner at right tackle. Scott Frantz is a good veteran at left tackle, Adam Holtorf is a reliable center, and overall, this should quietly be one of the Big 12’s better lines as long as injuries don’t hit – and if it can stop defenses from making so many plays behind the line.
– It’s sink-or-swim time with Skylar Thompson at quarterback after Alex Delton transferred to TCU. Don’t expect Michael Phelps, but Thompson is a perfect fit for the attack and should be a total yardage machine with his running skills. Also expect more of a passing attack with three of the top four wide receives back along with Michigan State transfer Hunter Rison.
Leading receiver Isaiah Zumber – 52 catches for 619 yards and five scores – is coming off of hip surgery, but he’s expected to be fine. No. 2 target Dalton Schoen is reliable, and watch out for TE Nick Lenners to grow into big part of the attack after getting knocked out in the opener last season.
NEXT: What You Need To Know About the Defense, Top Players, Keys to the Season, What Will Happen
4. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE KANSAS STATE DEFENSE
– The defense was good enough, and it should be better. The pass defense was among the Big 12’s best, the run D was okay, and overall, finishing fourth in the offensive-loaded conference was fine. Now there needs to be a pass rush with five starters returning under new defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton. The key to Hazelton’s coaching style? Takeaways. The Wildcats were a bit lacking at that last season, forcing just 19 turnovers.
– If the starting linebacking corps can stay in one piece, it’ll be a strong group. DaQuan Patton led the team with 70 tackles, but Elijah Sullivan only saw time in three games last season, and third-leading tackler Justin Hughes is out for the year with a torn ACL. There’s speed here, but not a lot of size and thump.
– The secondary will be a work in progress. After finishing fourth on the team in tackles, AJ Parker is set at one corner spot and Denzel Goolsby will be one of the starting safeties, but in what will normally be a 4-2-5 alignment, it’ll take all of fall camp to put the puzzle together. Walter Neil is a smallish nickel defender who might take that other corner gig on the other side of Parker, and there are plenty of other options to play around with, and …
– Now the pass rush has to help the cause after generating just 18 sacks and 50 tackles for loss. Overall, though, this is a good-looking line. Reggie Walker is a talent on one side, and sophomore Wyatt Hubert and Kyle Ball are veterans to rotate at the other spot. Trey Dishon isn’t exactly an anchor at tackle, but he’s sound in the interior for what should be a decent rotation.
NEXT: Top Players, Keys To the Season, What Will Happen
3. TOP KANSAS STATE PLAYERS
Best Kansas State Offensive Player
QB Skylar Thompson, Jr.
Can the 6-2, 212-pound Thompson do for the Kansas State offense what Easton Stick was able to do for national championship North Dakota State teams? They’re roughly the same size with the same skill set, but Thompson has to be more accurate, and he’ll have to be more of a runner.
Now the gig is all his, and he should shine after rotating with Alex Delton last season and finishing with 1,319 passing yards with nine touchdowns, four picks, and 373 rushing yards and four scores.
2. WR Isaiah Zuber, Sr.
3. RB James Gilbert, Sr.
4. WR Hunter Rison, Soph.
5. OT Scott Frantz, Sr.
Best Kansas State Defensive Player
DE Reggie Walker, Sr.
There wasn’t much of a pass rush overall from the defense, but the 6-2, 250-pound Walker did his part with a team-high 7.5 sacks with 12.5 tackles for loss and 35 tackles in all. He’s a true tweener with outside linebacker size at defensive end, and now he should do even more with good veteran talent taking away the pressure up front.
2. LB Da’Quan Patton, Sr.
3. P Devin Anctil, Sr.
4. CB AJ Parker, Jr.
5. DT Trey Dishon, Sr.
NEXT: Keys to the Season, Prediction & What Will Happen
2. KEYS TO THE SEASON
Biggest Key To The Kansas State Offense
The running game has to be dominant. The new Kansas State coaching staff should be able to take what the program wanted to do under the old regime, and make it even more Kansas Statey.
North Dakota State ran at will last season with close to 4,300 yards, 286 yards per game, and 54 scores on the way to the FCS national title. The parts are there at K-State to try to do the same after running for just 2,191 yards and 20 scores. The Wildcat hit the 200-yard mark just four times after getting there seven times in 2017 and nine times in 2016.
Biggest Key To The Kansas State Defense
The pass rush has to show up. Kansas State normally hovered around the 25-30+ mark in sacks, and more than that, was able to keep Big 12 quarterback uncomfortable. The 18 sacks and 50 tackles for loss last season all ties into the puzzle that didn’t quite fit, mostly when it came to stopping teams on third downs.
The pieces are there with everyone who came up with a sack last season returning, but only six players were able to get to the quarterback. Double the sack production, and the D suddenly becomes a possible killer.
Key Player To A Successful Season
RB James Gilbert, Sr.
The season is all about whether or not QB Skylar Thompson is the real deal, but finding an explosive running back is a big deal for what the offense needs. The depth is a bit lacking, and it’s going to take some help from the recruiting class, but the 5-9, 198-pound Gilbert has to blossom with the big-time role.
The former Ball State Cardinal ripped off a 1,332-yard, 12 touchdown season in 2016, but he was banged up throughout the last two years and struggled to generate the same burst and production. As long as he’s averaging five yards per carry, he should be okay.
Key Game To The Kansas State Season
at Oklahoma State, Sept. 28
It’s the Big 12 opener, and it comes after getting a week off to prepare. Oklahoma State has to go to Texas the week before, and after this, Kansas State doesn’t leave the Kansas until November 9th.
For all of the Wildcats’ problems last season, it was able to whack around the Cowboys for the second year in a row with a 31-12. Make it three straight, and K-State might just be a player in the Big 12 chase.
– Kansas State Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2018 Kansas State Fun Stats
– 1st Quarter Scoring: Opponents 77 – Kansas State 30
– Sacks: Opponents 34 for 235 yards – Kansas State 18 for 122 yards
– Red Zone Scores: Opponents 36-of-41 (88%) – Kansas State 31-of-40 (77%)
NEXT: What Will Happen
1. KANSAS STATE WIN TOTAL PREDICTION: WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
So … the guy won four FCS national championships, and he wasn’t a hotter head coaching prospect, why?
Chris Klieman is the exact right fit to take Kansas State to a whole other level. Under Bill Snyder, the Wildcat program was able to rock with a system that overcame a talent gap by controlling the clock, dominating on special teams, owning the turnover margin, destroying teams on third downs.
North Dakota State last year checked all of those boxes.
It was tenth in the FCS in time of possession, owned the punting game and was decent on kickoff returns, was fourth in the nation in turnover margin, was third in third down conversions and eighth in third down stops.
That’s the Kansas State dream. However …
Set The Regular Season Win Total At … 7
There’s a wee bit of an issue when it comes to overall depth, and for this all to work, it’s going take a lot of strong seasons from a whole lot of parts that sputtered last year.
But the new coaching staff should work wonders right away for at least a two-win improvement.
Going to Mississippi State is a problem, and road games at Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech will be difficult. The bigger problem will be owning Manhattan with Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Iowa State all potentially losable games.
But the Wildcats will win just enough home games to get bowl eligible without sweating too much, and the program will show the potential to be a bigger player under Klieman.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
