J
Jeffrey Martin
Guest
It’s time again to go “Off the Record” here at K-StateOnline, when we present you with a collection of tidbits we feel more confident sharing in a message board post than we do as a content item. The intention is for the contents of this post to be kept exclusive on The Foundation.
We’re not going to go into specific details of his injury situation out of respect for Coach Bill Snyder’s injury policy and to protect players from risk of specific injury to certain body parts. However, Ertz does have issues beyond being “banged up.” We 100 percent expect Ertz to start and play as long as possible tomorrow against Texas, though.
That said, it would be surprising if Alex Delton doesn’t see the field tomorrow. More like borderline shocking. The sophomore has taken a huge chunk of the reps with the No. 1 offensive unit this week in practice and will almost certainly at least see snaps as the ‘Wildcat’ quarterback (but not the Wildcats quarterback… tricky, we know) if not as the quarterback in K-State’s traditional offensive package.
Those close to Texas still believe the Longhorn defense is vulnerable to the quarterback run game, and for K-State to use it to their fullest advantage, it’s likely going to take a willingness to play Delton a decent number of snaps.
There are still plenty of people around the program higher on Skylar Thompson, but Delton is the No. 2 at the moment and a good fit for a game plan that will feature the quarterback carrying the ball regularly.
On drops:
I was talking to a former receiver about this, and he said, ‘Honestly, Coach (Andre) Coleman, he’s very tough and some guys don't respond to his tough coaching style. That’s the fact of the matter.’ I second that… I wholeheartedly agree. He’s a tough guy to play for, demands a lot from his receivers but some guys don’t respond well to his coaching style. That could play a part as well.
On a quick fix of the offense:
Personally, I felt we were at our best on offense when we picked up the tempo a bit. We do two-minute offense on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - it just doesn’t seem like the offense is clicking. But if they could develop some sort of rhythm… What we’re seeing is sort of slow and methodical, which has its benefits but it’s hard to develop a good rhythm. I’d like to see us maybe pick up the tempo a bit, which is something we do in practice… They need to change it up a bit. (Defenses) are taking an educated guess at what they’re doing, but we’ve been so predictable running the zone plays, zone powers, and people are figuring it out. If we came out with something different, something new, showed some tempo - you don’t have to go tempo the whole time, but you mix when you do it, but when you do it, get it and go. I’d love to see that from the team moving forward.
And finally, a prediction:
This is one of those guys at the beginning of the year where you thought K-State would go in and blow them out. But seeing how we’ve performed in Austin the past few years, it’s sort of a close one. I think we’ll win, a similar game to what we saw in Baylor. I’d say 30-14, Cats.
JESSE ERTZ'S HEALTH
Let’s address the rather sizable elephant in the room – quarterback Jesse Ertz’s health status.
We’re not going to go into specific details of his injury situation out of respect for Coach Bill Snyder’s injury policy and to protect players from risk of specific injury to certain body parts. However, Ertz does have issues beyond being “banged up.” We 100 percent expect Ertz to start and play as long as possible tomorrow against Texas, though.
That said, it would be surprising if Alex Delton doesn’t see the field tomorrow. More like borderline shocking. The sophomore has taken a huge chunk of the reps with the No. 1 offensive unit this week in practice and will almost certainly at least see snaps as the ‘Wildcat’ quarterback (but not the Wildcats quarterback… tricky, we know) if not as the quarterback in K-State’s traditional offensive package.
Those close to Texas still believe the Longhorn defense is vulnerable to the quarterback run game, and for K-State to use it to their fullest advantage, it’s likely going to take a willingness to play Delton a decent number of snaps.
There are still plenty of people around the program higher on Skylar Thompson, but Delton is the No. 2 at the moment and a good fit for a game plan that will feature the quarterback carrying the ball regularly.
MORE FROM PLAYER X
As usual, we saved some interesting nuggets from our weekly talk with a former Wildcat football player and are sharing them here, in this space.On drops:
I was talking to a former receiver about this, and he said, ‘Honestly, Coach (Andre) Coleman, he’s very tough and some guys don't respond to his tough coaching style. That’s the fact of the matter.’ I second that… I wholeheartedly agree. He’s a tough guy to play for, demands a lot from his receivers but some guys don’t respond well to his coaching style. That could play a part as well.
On a quick fix of the offense:
Personally, I felt we were at our best on offense when we picked up the tempo a bit. We do two-minute offense on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - it just doesn’t seem like the offense is clicking. But if they could develop some sort of rhythm… What we’re seeing is sort of slow and methodical, which has its benefits but it’s hard to develop a good rhythm. I’d like to see us maybe pick up the tempo a bit, which is something we do in practice… They need to change it up a bit. (Defenses) are taking an educated guess at what they’re doing, but we’ve been so predictable running the zone plays, zone powers, and people are figuring it out. If we came out with something different, something new, showed some tempo - you don’t have to go tempo the whole time, but you mix when you do it, but when you do it, get it and go. I’d love to see that from the team moving forward.
And finally, a prediction:
This is one of those guys at the beginning of the year where you thought K-State would go in and blow them out. But seeing how we’ve performed in Austin the past few years, it’s sort of a close one. I think we’ll win, a similar game to what we saw in Baylor. I’d say 30-14, Cats.
