K-State football coach Chris Klieman ‘considering everything’ at QB for Texas game
For the second straight week, Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman is unable or unwilling to announce who the Wildcats intend to start at quarterback.
Adrian Martinez could be healthy enough to lead the K-State offense against Texas on Saturday after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. Then again, the Wildcats may prefer to stick with Will Howard after he torched Oklahoma State for 296 yards and four touchdowns last weekend.
“We will see how the week goes,” Klieman said during his news conference Tuesday. “I don’t have that answer now.”
This is one decision that Klieman may need a few days to mull over. He waited until the last possible second to go with Howard against the Cowboys, choosing him over Martinez only after they both went through warm-ups and Martinez said he didn’t feel 100% healthy.
If Martinez remains at less than full strength this week, then Howard would appear to be the easy choice. K-State’s backup quarterback has played like an All-American while filling in over the past two weeks.
First, he amassed 256 all-purpose yards and played a role in three touchdowns during a losing effort against TCU. Then he earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors during a 48-0 annihilation of Oklahoma State.
Howard has played so well that he may be worth starting the rest of the season, regardless of when or if Martinez fully recovers from his injury.
“Potentially yeah,” Klieman said when asked if Howard could play over a healthy Martinez. “He played a really good game at TCU without taking the reps with the ones, and then he played really well on Saturday. It’s something where we are considering everything right now and we have to because we still have a good grind of this season left.”
Klieman also said the Wildcats could potentially try and play both Howard and Martinez at quarterback the rest of the season.
The problem with that plan: K-State would prefer to play Howard in no more than four games this season so he can preserve his redshirt and still have three years of college eligibility remaining. Klieman said he would hate to trade an extra 15 plays from Howard this season for an entire year with him down the road.
Howard has previously insinuated that he would be happy to scrap that plan and help his team contend for a Big 12 championship this season. But he left both options open when speaking with reporters on Tuesday.
“That is definitely a consideration and something that Coach Klieman and Coach (Collin) Klein and I have talked about,” Howard said. “That is something we still need to talk about and something that we are still king of deciding on. But the mission is the mission, focusing on winning and going as far as we possibly can this year.”
Klieman said he will have a conversation with Howard before he asks him to play in more than four games this season.
“I’ve got to visit with Will about that,” Klieman said. “I know how Will feels for now, but I want to make sure he understands the future, too. Right now, he is the healthiest guy we have back there of the two. He knows he needs to stay a viable candidate.”
Based on all the information that was shared publicly Tuesday, one can surmise that Howard is more likely to start against Texas than Martinez. But much can change between now and Saturday.
K-State’s quarterback shuffle might come down to another game-time decision.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 3:22 PM with the headline "K-State football coach Chris Klieman ‘considering everything’ at QB for Texas game."