100 Questions: Who to watch?

In an attempt to pass the time this off-season we're fortunate to have secured the help of scottwildcat from Boscoe's Boys. Scott is going to provide 100 questions about the past, present, future (and who-knows-what) involving Kansas State sports, and I'll do my very best to answer them.

Let's dive in to the 100 Questions.

Question No. 89: If you could receive video tape of every single practice of fall camp, but only had access to three angles, two of which were on players, and one of which on a single coach - who was also mic’d up - which two players would you choose to watch, and what one coach would you choose to watch and hear?

COACH (to watch and hear)

There are a lot of good options for this question, but go ahead and give me Conor Riley.

I get to cheat a little bit here, as using Riley gives me access to the largest group of players (14 offensive linemen on scholarship) anywhere on the roster. Not only do I find him entertaining, personally, to listen to, there's probably no more valuable position to have a great understanding of than the offensive line.

Listening to Riley teach his unit, and getting to watch and hear that progress, would be extremely valuable from a team coverage perspective. Knowing where K-State is at up front on offense - or a least being able to know how Riley feels about that group on a daily basis - would give me a great sense of the offense's overall potential.

PLAYERS (to watch)

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The first I'd pick would be John Holcombe. K-State's backup quarterback may be the most physically gifted player on the roster when you combine his size, overall athleticism and arm strength. And, just a redshirt freshman, Holcombe has plenty of time left in Manhattan - including two years after Skylar Thompson graduates - to grow into a big-time starting quarterback.

Getting to see Holcombe every day, every rep would give me an excellent sense of all those other things I don't see just watching him throw in warm-ups prior to a game.

And, of course, it's fun watching a guy throw the ball 70 yards in the air.

I'm going to stay on offense, too, for my second pick: True freshman wide receiver Joshua Youngblood.

Like Holcombe, Youngblood has a long, promising future in the K-State program, one that could even take off in his true freshman year in Manhattan.

I'm not sure I've heard more hype about any individual player - at least any true freshmen - than I have Youngblood this off-season. I'd be surprised at this point if there is even a real consideration of redshirting Youngblood, as it sounds like he fits perfectly into that slot/slash role that will see him catch passes, take hand-offs on reverses/jet sweeps/end arounds and simply be given opportunities to have the ball in his hands.

I'd love to see, of course, how consistently he can make big plays in practice on a daily basis.