K-State Q&A: Deuce Vaughn, football injuries, midseason awards, basketball and more
We have reached the midway point of Kansas State’s football season, which means it’s the perfect time to fully evaluate how things have gone for the Wildcats this year.
It’s also time for me to hand out a few awards. That’s right, I’m starting out this week’s mailbag with some midseason honors.
Offensive MVP: Adrian Martinez.
It’s a tough call between Deuce Vaughn and Martinez, but I give the quarterback a slight edge because of the numbers he put up against Oklahoma (148 rushing yards and four touchdowns) and Texas Tech (170 rushing yards and three touchdowns).
The Wildcats probably don’t beat the Sooners if Martinez doesn’t scramble his way to a 59-yard gain on the game’s decisive play.
I also considered Cooper Beebe here. He has been excellent on K-State’s offensive line.
Defensive MVP: Felix Anudike-Uzomah.
This is a tough one. Austin Moore leads the team with 41 tackles, Kobe Savage hits like a locomotive and also has two interceptions and Eli Huggins might be the best defensive tackle in the Big 12. Josh Hayes has also been impressive.
But I lean “King Felix” because of what he’s done in terms of big plays. He has made a whopping 6 1/2 sacks and forced two fumbles, all while constantly going up against double teams.
Opposing offenses have to be worried about him on every play.
Special Teams MVP: Ty Zenter.
He has pinned teams inside their own 20 on 13 different punts this season. That number ranks second in the Big 12.
Biggest Surprise: Austin Moore.
I figured Moore was going to be good when K-State coaches kept raving about him during preseason practices. But I didn’t think the former walk-on would be the best linebacker on the team. I think he has been exactly that thus far.
Best Play So Far: Adrian Martinez runs for 59 yards against Oklahoma.
Best Coaching Move So Far: Chris Klieman slow-playing a substitution at OU.
Best Win: At Iowa State.
This is a hard category, because none of K-State’s wins have come against teams that look good at the moment. South Dakota is struggling in the FCS. Missouri stinks. Oklahoma is having its worst season in recent memory. Texas Tech can’t win outside of Lubbock. And the Cyclones have a middle school offense. I went with Iowa State, because its defense is legitimately good and winning a night game in Ames is never easy. K-State’s schedule will be much harder down the stretch.
Worst Loss: Tulane.
This result no longer looks nearly as bad as it once did. The Green Wave are 5-1 and now receiving votes in the top 25 polls. Last week, someone asked if this game will ultimately be looked back on as a good loss. I wouldn’t go that far, but Tulane is certainly not a bad team.
And with that, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Thanks, as always, for providing such good questions.
I think there are two main reasons why Deuce Vaughn hasn’t been utilized much as a receiver this season and he has only caught 15 passes for 74 yards.
1. K-State is a running team this season.
Nobody is catching a ton of passes for the Wildcats. Phillip Brooks and Malik Knowles both lead the pack with 20 catches, but neither of them are up to 300 yards at the midway point of the season.
Throwing the ball simply isn’t this team’s forte. Adrian Martinez is an adequate passer, but he is most dangerous with his legs. Brooks and Knowles are serviceable Big 12 receivers, but neither of them is a star player.
K-State has attempted 256 rushes this year compared to 143 passes. Collin Klein knows what this team is best at and calls mostly running plays, accordingly.
Vaughn has been used more as a downfield blocker than a receiver this year.
2. There is no proven backup running back behind Vaughn
DJ Giddens has looked good as a straight-ahead runner this season. He even helped the Wildcats close out their win against Iowa State with some nice rushes in the fourth quarter last week.
But he doesn’t know the offensive playbook well enough yet to play alongside Vaughn or run routes himself. I asked him last week if he was close to mastering the playbook. He responded with a laugh and then said he hadn’t mastered anything yet.
In previous seasons, we saw Vaughn in multiple RB formations that kept defenses guessing.
There is less mystery with just Vaughn out there now. When he moves to receiver, teams can focus more on defending him when they don’t have to worry about another running back getting the ball.
The Wildcats more or less used a bulldozer formation late against Iowa State with Adrian Martinez running behind several lead blockers.
It worked well enough for K-State to win ... barely.
Not loving the idea of using Will Howard in that role. He’s the guy who couldn’t pick up a fourth down at Texas last season.
I would be in favor of the Wildcats giving the ball to Jax Dineen as a short-yardage runner in those situations. He is a big dude and very difficult to tackle. We haven’t seen much (if anything) from him on offense this season, though.
But K-State’s best short-yardage play is a zone-read option with Martinez and Vaughn in the backfield. Defenses get fooled by the misdirection that happens there an awful lot.
There’s not much to update beyond what I already reported out of Chris Klieman’s weekly news conference.
Deuce Vaughn was shaken up late against Iowa State, but he should be ready to play against TCU after he gets two weeks of rest. Felix Anudike-Uzomah should also be closer to 100% by next weekend. It’s the same story with Adrian Martinez and Deuce Vaughn.
None of them had to leave the sideline in Ames. They should be fine.
The only two players that might be legitimately considered questionable for the TCU game are Khalid Duke and Nate Matlack.
Matlack has been getting limited snaps for a while now, and I’m just not sure when he will be back to full strenght. Duke got hurt in the first quarter against the Cyclones and was nowhere close to returning to the game. He might need extra time to heal.
E-MAIL QUESTION: What are your thoughts on the Big 12 coaches picking Kansas State to finish last in the preseason poll? I say Jerome Tang is going to shock the world! - Andrew B.
There was no other place to vote K-State in the preseason poll.
The Wildcats are bringing in a new coaching staff and an entirely new team other than Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud. Nobody knows what to expect from them in Tang’s first year.
Other coaches surely respect Florida transfer Keyontae Johnson, but he hasn’t played in two years.
The Wildcats were picked last almost by default.
But that doesn’t mean they are destined to finish in the Big 12 cellar.
Iowa State was in the exact same situation last season. Everyone thought the Cyclones were going to finish last with a new coach and a new team. But they ended up winning 22 games and making it to the Sweet 16.
There is hope!
I think being picked last is a blessing in disguise for the Wildcats. They enter the season with no outside expectations but they will also have something to prove.
Awesome as it would be for the Sunflower Showdown to feature a pair of ranked teams for only the second time in the history of the rivalry, I don’t envision it happening.
Both teams are about to enter the difficult part of their schedule.
KU finishes with Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas before closing at K-State.
K-State finishes with TCU, Oklahoma State, Texas, Baylor, West Virginia and then KU.
Neither team is going undefeated against those slates.
I can see the Wildcats staying in the top 25 as long as they win three of their next five, which is most definitely doable.
The Jayhawks probably need to do the same, but I think it’s more likely they only win two.
I’m hoping for the best here, but expecting the worst.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 7:30 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Deuce Vaughn, football injuries, midseason awards, basketball and more."