K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson limps away from Baylor loss with another injury
There was no fairy-tale ending for Skylar Thompson during his final home game in a Kansas State football uniform.
The senior K-State quarterback played one of his worst games of the season and was injured in the final moments of a 20-10 loss against No. 11 Baylor on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Thompson appeared to tweak his left ankle or foot after misfiring on a pass to Phillip Brooks in the fourth quarter, and Thompson fell to the turf in agony afterward. He needed help from a pair of K-State trainers to make it off the field and headed straight for the team’s injury tent on the sideline. After a few minutes of examination, he was then carted into the locker room.
It didn’t look good.
K-State football coach Chris Klieman said he didn’t have any updates on Thompson’s injury immediately after the game, but it could be hard for Thompson to recover in time to play in the Wildcats’ next game, against Texas on Friday. Thompson was seen moving around the K-State football complex on Saturday night with the help of crutches and a walking boot wrapped around his left foot.
If he is unable to play against the Longhorns, K-State will need to choose a new starter between Will Howard and Jaren Lewis.
This is unfortunately nothing new for Thompson.
K-State’s starting quarterback has been throwing passes for the Wildcats since 2017, and he has battled myriad injury issues during his time on campus. He was lost for the season with an injury to his throwing arm last year and then missed parts of three games earlier this season when he injured his right knee.
Thompson returned to action last month during a home game against Oklahoma and began playing at an all-conference level. He threw for 1,456 yards and nine touchdowns over a six-game period and led the Wildcats to four straight victories.
But things changed against Baylor’s stingy defense.
The Bears made things miserable for Thompson, as he completed 15 of 29 passes for 158 yards. He also took three sacks and lost 24 yards on seven rushing attempts.
Klieman called Baylor’s pass rush “relentless.”
“They did a lot of different things,” Klieman said. “They played really tight man coverage, and they did a good job of re-routing and banging guys around and knocking them off, just disrupting the timing of things.”
“They also pass things off in zone really well. Then they do a great job of coming hard at the quarterback, whether they’re rushing four or five or sometimes six. They did a really good job of knocking Skylar off his spot and making him ad lib, either up in the pocket or outside, and it was a problem obviously all day.”
K-State was listless most of the night on offense outside of running back Deuce Vaughn, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
Perhaps the Wildcats should have found more ways to get him the ball.
Thompson will work to get K-State’s offense back on track whenever he is ready to return to the field. But it’s unclear whether that will happen in a week or in a month when the Wildcats play in a bowl.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 10:14 PM with the headline "K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson limps away from Baylor loss with another injury."