D
Derek Young
Guest
MULTIPLE PERSONNEL GROUPS AND FORMATIONS
This was the most entertaining thing to watch. In the first half, they never ran the same personnel group on offense in three consecutive plays. They only did it twice in a row on two different occasions.
Seven different wide receivers played in the first half – Phillip Brooks, Landry Weber, Joshua Youngblood, Wykeen Gill, Chabastin Taylor, Dalton Schoen and Malik Knowles.
Four different tight ends played in the first half – Logan Long, Sammy Wheeler, Nick Lenners and Blaise Gammon. Two fullbacks were utilized in the first half – Jax Dineen and Mason Barta. Three running backs were used in the first half – Harry Trotter, Jordon Brown and James Gilbert.
That means a total of 17 different skill position players played in the first half. It would be the 17 that played for the entire game.
There was also a ton of formations they used on offense. We’ll have to dive into them a bit more to an exact number, but at this point, it’s too many to count. Through three quarters, K-State had executed 32 plays out of shotgun and 32 plays under center.
Simply put, this is going to be an extremely difficult offense to prepare for because they are so different from snap to snap, both from a formation and personnel standpoint. They’ll use a ton of different players and do it out of a ton of different formations. It’s impossible to say they held anything back. If anything, they unloaded everything, so teams have to prepare for an insane amount in the future.
SKYLAR
His first half couldn’t have been more impressive. Skylar Thompson nearly converted on all of his third down passes. The one he didn’t was the touchdown throw to Dalton Schoen that was taken off the board and called incomplete.
Thompson’s throws were all crisp and he even completed a few highlight reels of his own. His pass to Chabastin Taylor was exceptional after evading all the pressure that he did and manipulating the pocket in impressive fashion. He kept his eyes downfield, collected himself and delivered a strike to Taylor for 34 yards. Making it even more terrific was that it came on third down.
The other highlight reel that comes to mind was actually him doing damage on the ground. His 17-yard scamper that gave Kansas State a score was his best run of the game, as he made a defender miss and made a great decision to pull the ball down and scramble away.
It was more of the same in the second half. He probably missed on a touchdown to Malik Knowles who had his man beat to the inside and Thompson instead directed the ball more downfield, leaving it overthrown.
Other than that, it’s hard to have any complains about the starting quarterback. One of his best throws may have actually been an incomplete ball. He threw a 40-45-yard ball to Dalton Schoen from the right flat to the left sideline and it was on the money. Schoen turned his shoulder appropriately, from the right to left, but couldn’t haul in the pass.
When dissecting each pass, an argument could be made that Thompson should have left the game 19 for 22 through the air.
SECOND HALF NOT AS ELITE
I’m being a tough judge. They were still pretty good, to be fair, but the second half saw the Wildcats not as efficient or elite as they were in the first half. The first half was almost perfect in many ways.
K-State’s worst quarter running the ball was the third. Also, to begin the third quarter, they allowed Nicholls to march down the field the easiest they have all game. On top of that, they came up short on a fourth down and 1 when Harry Trotter was stuffed.
I didn’t love the play call, but we’re probably splitting hairs in that department since the game was called beautifully for most of it. James Gilbert had run through tackles and was the most physical back on the night. Though Trotter had shown the most burst on the evening, it seemed that Gilbert should have gotten the ball in that situation, especially if it was going to be a simple run.
They rebounded in the fourth quarter quite nicely, which included a scoop and score by safety Jonathan Alexander.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Only two freshmen ended up seeing action in the season opener and that was Jax Dineen and Joshua Youngblood.
After Jonathan Alexander forced a fumble, recovered it and took it back for a touchdown, he ended up parading up and down the sideline with a sledgehammer. I wouldn’t hate the Wildcats adopting the turnover sledgehammer in Manhattan.
Jonathan Durham left the game and did not return. Jahron McPherson had to play the nickel for the majority of the night. He was originally the starter, but probably had more snaps than projected. On special teams, Durham was replaced by Daron Bowles. When K-State had to come up with a third nickel, it was Alexander. Bowles was put in at safety at that point along with Ross Elder.
We’ll keep you updated on Durham’s status as we find out.
Scott Frantz also left the game with an injury, but he returned and seemed okay.
This was the most entertaining thing to watch. In the first half, they never ran the same personnel group on offense in three consecutive plays. They only did it twice in a row on two different occasions.
Seven different wide receivers played in the first half – Phillip Brooks, Landry Weber, Joshua Youngblood, Wykeen Gill, Chabastin Taylor, Dalton Schoen and Malik Knowles.
Four different tight ends played in the first half – Logan Long, Sammy Wheeler, Nick Lenners and Blaise Gammon. Two fullbacks were utilized in the first half – Jax Dineen and Mason Barta. Three running backs were used in the first half – Harry Trotter, Jordon Brown and James Gilbert.
That means a total of 17 different skill position players played in the first half. It would be the 17 that played for the entire game.
There was also a ton of formations they used on offense. We’ll have to dive into them a bit more to an exact number, but at this point, it’s too many to count. Through three quarters, K-State had executed 32 plays out of shotgun and 32 plays under center.
Simply put, this is going to be an extremely difficult offense to prepare for because they are so different from snap to snap, both from a formation and personnel standpoint. They’ll use a ton of different players and do it out of a ton of different formations. It’s impossible to say they held anything back. If anything, they unloaded everything, so teams have to prepare for an insane amount in the future.
SKYLAR
His first half couldn’t have been more impressive. Skylar Thompson nearly converted on all of his third down passes. The one he didn’t was the touchdown throw to Dalton Schoen that was taken off the board and called incomplete.
Thompson’s throws were all crisp and he even completed a few highlight reels of his own. His pass to Chabastin Taylor was exceptional after evading all the pressure that he did and manipulating the pocket in impressive fashion. He kept his eyes downfield, collected himself and delivered a strike to Taylor for 34 yards. Making it even more terrific was that it came on third down.
The other highlight reel that comes to mind was actually him doing damage on the ground. His 17-yard scamper that gave Kansas State a score was his best run of the game, as he made a defender miss and made a great decision to pull the ball down and scramble away.
It was more of the same in the second half. He probably missed on a touchdown to Malik Knowles who had his man beat to the inside and Thompson instead directed the ball more downfield, leaving it overthrown.
Other than that, it’s hard to have any complains about the starting quarterback. One of his best throws may have actually been an incomplete ball. He threw a 40-45-yard ball to Dalton Schoen from the right flat to the left sideline and it was on the money. Schoen turned his shoulder appropriately, from the right to left, but couldn’t haul in the pass.
When dissecting each pass, an argument could be made that Thompson should have left the game 19 for 22 through the air.
SECOND HALF NOT AS ELITE
I’m being a tough judge. They were still pretty good, to be fair, but the second half saw the Wildcats not as efficient or elite as they were in the first half. The first half was almost perfect in many ways.
K-State’s worst quarter running the ball was the third. Also, to begin the third quarter, they allowed Nicholls to march down the field the easiest they have all game. On top of that, they came up short on a fourth down and 1 when Harry Trotter was stuffed.
I didn’t love the play call, but we’re probably splitting hairs in that department since the game was called beautifully for most of it. James Gilbert had run through tackles and was the most physical back on the night. Though Trotter had shown the most burst on the evening, it seemed that Gilbert should have gotten the ball in that situation, especially if it was going to be a simple run.
They rebounded in the fourth quarter quite nicely, which included a scoop and score by safety Jonathan Alexander.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Only two freshmen ended up seeing action in the season opener and that was Jax Dineen and Joshua Youngblood.
After Jonathan Alexander forced a fumble, recovered it and took it back for a touchdown, he ended up parading up and down the sideline with a sledgehammer. I wouldn’t hate the Wildcats adopting the turnover sledgehammer in Manhattan.
Jonathan Durham left the game and did not return. Jahron McPherson had to play the nickel for the majority of the night. He was originally the starter, but probably had more snaps than projected. On special teams, Durham was replaced by Daron Bowles. When K-State had to come up with a third nickel, it was Alexander. Bowles was put in at safety at that point along with Ross Elder.
We’ll keep you updated on Durham’s status as we find out.
Scott Frantz also left the game with an injury, but he returned and seemed okay.
