K-State Q&A: Skylar Thompson, next year’s starting QB and Big 12 football predictions
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Much like the Wildcats, I am taking this weekend off to attend my brother’s wedding. Bless him for picking an open week on K-State’s football schedule. People who don’t consider such things when scheduling big events in the fall are no better than dirt, especially fancy store-bought dirt. That stuff is loaded with nutrients. There’s no competing with that.
Hopefully everyone reading this has fun weekend plans, too. In the meantime, let’s answer some questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
I might legitimately bet money on Texas to beat Oklahoma in Dallas this weekend, as my brother’s wedding is taking place in Nevada.
The Longhorns have the nation’s best running back in Bijan Robinson, and, unlike former coach Tom Herman, Steve Sarkisian is not afraid to give him the ball. Oklahoma has a stout run defense, but Robinson will give the Sooners problems. Lincoln Riley’s squad also hasn’t beaten a team other than Western Carolina by more than seven points this season.
I won’t be surprised at all if Texas wins this classic SEC rivalry.
But there aren’t many other likely losses looming for Lincoln’s lineup. Nice alliteration, am I right?
The Sooners will destroy TCU, Kansas and Texas Tech in their next three games. Baylor, Iowa State and Oklahoma State could all be toss ups, but what are the odds Oklahoma losses more than one of them? I don’t see more than two losses for Oklahoma this season.
Switching to Oklahoma State, the Cowboys almost never beat the Sooners. So that’s a potential loss. At Texas, for the same reasons I mentioned above, could be another loss. Of course, getting the Longhorns after OU weekend could work out well for OSU in that matchup. Games at Iowa State, West Virginia and Texas Tech could also be tricky.
Few have been higher on Mike Gundy’s team than me this season. I love their defense and their running back. But 9-3 is very much in play, even after a 5-0 start.
Problem is: Texas is also a threat to reach the Big 12 championship game and it’s hard for me to see K-State winning in Austin this year.
You didn’t ask, but here’s how I see the rest of the season going for K-State:
Iowa State: Toss up.
At Texas Tech: Toss up/likely win.
TCU: Win.
At Kansas: Win.
West Virginia: Toss up.
Baylor: Toss up.
At Texas: Loss.
Bowl eligibility shouldn’t be an issue, so long as Skylar Thompson remains healthy. But the Wildcats really need to beat Iowa State to have a shot at eight or nine victories.
I predicted K-State to go 7-5 back in August, and that remains the most likely possibility. But a victory over the Cyclones opens the door for a long winning streak, which could lead to big things at the end of the season.
This answer depends on three things.
1. How much can Will Howard improve in the next year? He hasn’t looked like K-State’s quarterback of the future yet, but he technically has four years of eligibility remaining. Collin Klein didn’t look great as a freshman or sophomore. Howard could still turn into the guy.
2. Can Jake Rubley live up to his recruiting rating? Though we haven’t seen much of Rubley since he arrived on campus, I haven’t seen him flash four-star talent in practice. But he’s also a freshman who barely got to play as a high school senior, because of COVID. Maybe he will look a lot better after he spends a year in the system.
3. Who is available in the transfer portal? If an older, talented quarterback shows interest in K-State during the offseason, Chris Klieman needs to take a long look at bringing him to Manhattan. It’s way too early to give up on Howard and Rubley, but an impact transfer might be the best way to go next season.
The only 2022 high school recruit I know of that K-State is interested at quarterback is Blue Valley Northwest’s Mikey Pauley. He would be a nice addition to the 2023 recruiting class, but he also has offers to play baseball at Nebraska and both baseball/football at Kansas.
Maize quarterback Avery Johnson could also lead K-State’s offense at some point, but he’s only a junior in high school and has scholarship offers from national powers. It will be interesting to see where he lands.
K-State looked like a totally different team with Skylar Thompson back in command of the offense.
The Wildcats looked like they had a competent group of receivers for the first time all season against Oklahoma.
Phillip Brooks: six catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Malik Knowles: five catches for 21 yards.
Landry Weber: four catches for 65 yards and a score.
Keenan Garber: one catch for 54 yards.
Before Saturday, the only players on the team with touchdown catches were running back Deuce Vaughn and tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe.
It’s not an exaggeration to say keeping Thompson healthy for the remainder of the season is the team’s top priority.
Both stat lines should make K-State fans swoon.
But I think Collin Klein’s rushing performance (127 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries while only attempting four passes) was the more impressive accomplishment. By the end of that 2010 game against Texas, the Longhorns knew exactly what was coming on every play. And they still couldn’t stop Klein or former running back Daniel Thomas from moving the chains.
K-State won that game 39-14 while passing for nine yards. Nine!
Thompson was at his best against Oklahoma as he threw for 320 yards and didn’t attempt a single rush. Honestly, though, that’s what a QB stat line should look like.
Still, it was the best passing effort I’ve seen from a K-State quarterback since the days of Jake Waters.
Outside of a two-minute drill, I think that is about as fast as you will see Courtney Messingham ask K-State to move on offense.
On the drive you mentioned, the Wildcats drove 75 yards in 11 plays over 5 minutes, 34 seconds for a touchdown that made the score 34-24 midway through the fourth quarter. They attempted five passes and six runs.
As long as a drive ends with a touchdown, I don’t think it’s truly worth complaining about. But that drive did last longer than K-State fans would have preferred.
K-State is capable of playing with more tempo, but the Wildcats don’t like to go fast unless they absolutely have to. It is interesting that they stuck with their conventional approach in that situation.
Chabastin Taylor might play against Iowa State. Perhaps he even makes his first catch of the season coming off a bye week.
But I don’t see him lighting up the stat sheet. He has only caught 32 passes for 476 yards and three touchdowns over the course of 28 career games.
Don’t get me wrong, the Wildcats would love to get Taylor and his 6-foot-4 frame back in the rotation. But you might want to temper expectations.
The Wildcats seemed to surprise all three of their nonconference opponents by switching from a 4-2-5 defensive scheme to a less traditional 3-3-5.
Stanford was caught completely off guard and had no idea how to attack it, especially while rotating quarterbacks. Southern Illinois had a better plan for it, but lacked enough talent to beat K-State on the road. Nevada was confused enough to take the ball out of Carson Strong’s hands and run it 23 times, despite barely averaging one yard per carry.
Then defensive end Khalid Duke got hurt, which is a bigger deal than most originally expected because of his unique ability to rush the passer, defend the run and drop back into coverage. None of his replacements can do all three.
Next came Big 12 opponents, and they were no longer fooled by the 3-3-5.
Lots of Big 12 defenses use a 3-3-5. Oklahoma State knew exactly how to attack it, and Spencer Sanders threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns. Oklahoma also knew exactly what to do, and the Sooners never punted.
We all thought K-State’s defense was going to be below average when the season began. Now that it has lost the element of surprise on its opponents and no longer has one of its best players, it is most definitely a below-average defense.
The dropoff really shouldn’t be that surprising.
K-State hasn’t lost many transfers recently who went on to do big things at their new school.
Keyon Mozee is off to a solid start with Miami (Ohio), as he has rushed for 219 yards and a touchdown this season. That move seemed to work out for him.
Walter Neil has 11 tackles at UTEP and the Miners are 4-1. He’s probably having fun in El Paso.
D.J. Render has 206 receiving yards and a touchdown at Austin Peay. That’s more production than he had during his entire K-State career. It’s cool that he is finally getting a chance to play, albeit at the FCS level.
Jonathan Alexander has 32 tackles at Charlotte. Lance Robinson has eight tackles at Tulane. Will Jones hasn’t recorded any stats at South Florida. Neither has Tyrone Lewis at Louisiana or Ronald Triplette at UTSA.
Corey Sutton has probably had the biggest impact of any recent K-State transfer at his new school, as he has been one of the best receivers at Appalachian State for several years now.
Goes to show a transfer doesn’t instantly fix everything.
Some recruiting experts are starting to like Bruce Weber’s chances with Rylan Griffen.
The longer K-State hangs around in his recruitment, the better the odds become that the four-star guard from Richardson, Texas eventually picks the Wildcats.
Shane Southwell is his primary recruiter. That’s never a bad thing.
He listed Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, California, Georgia, Kansas, Kansas State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State as his finalists last month.
It would be a major recruiting victory if Weber can land his services.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Skylar Thompson, next year’s starting QB and Big 12 football predictions."