Why double teams have done little to slow K-State football star Felix Anudike-Uzomah
Want to make Felix Anudike-Uzomah laugh?
That’s easy. Just ask Kansas State’s best pass-rusher if he has seen any extra attention from opposing offensive lines this year. That will definitely get a few giggles out of him.
“They have been double-teaming me all season,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m used to it.”
Anudike-Uzomah likes to laugh at the blocking schemes he has encountered this season because it’s not like he is seeing a few double teams here and there each week. It is happening on just about every play, regardless of down and distance.
He is so rarely left one-on-one against a left tackle that it surprises him every time it happens.
“I think I got one,” he said. “That was probably against Tulane, once. There was one (against Texas Tech) too. I feel like it isn’t going to happen that much, because I feel like offenses are going to keep scheming me more.”
That is what happens when you make 11 sacks as a sophomore and enter your junior year as the preseason defensive player of the year in the Big 12. And it is likely going to keep happening if he continues to create havoc like he has in K-State’s first five games.
Anudike-Uzomah reminded everyone just how good he is during K-State’s 37-28 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday when he overwhelmed the Red Raiders on his way to three sacks and a forced fumble.
“He is relentless right now,” K-State coach Chris Klieman said. “He is really relentless. It is fun to watch him go to work.”
Even against all those double teams, he is up to 19 tackles, including 5.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles this season.
“What (defensive ends) coach (Buddy) Wyatt has us do is just work on how to defeat the double team and still try to get sacks,” he said. “That is what we are going to practice every day.”
K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman employs a 3-3-5 scheme that usually only features three defensive linemen, which often gives opposing teams a numbers advantage at the offensive line. When the Wildcats choose not to blitz, teams prefer to devote extra blockers to K-State’s best defensive lineman.
Sometimes, that is a good strategy. But the Wildcats took advantage of it over the weekend when Khalid Duke slipped past Texas Tech blockers for three sacks of his own.
“I think he appreciated having Khalid out there with him because it took some of the heat off of him when both those kids were coming,” Klieman said. “Those two together are pretty dang good.”
The Wildcats finished that game with 10 tackles for loss.
Anudike-Uzomah saw a boatload of double teams. But few of them stopped him, or his teammates, from making big plays on defense.
This story was originally published October 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Why double teams have done little to slow K-State football star Felix Anudike-Uzomah."