Welcome to the debut of Ten Things! I'll use this piece (much like Derek Young's Five Poyntz - a totally different concept, by the way, because - you know - 10 and five are different) to recap a variety of press conferences, games, recruiting thoughts and other K-State sports related issues.
Let's give it a try.
1. Kansas State is not significantly more talented than North Dakota State.
This one stings K-State fans, but it's probably pretty accurate. Offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham was asked two questions - one by Kellis Robinett and the second by me - comparing the programs. In his first answer he compared depth, in his second he compared talent.
It's not as bad as it sounds on the surface. NDSU has probably been a Top 40/Top 50 program in college football for 5-10 years now. Still, it's an FCS program comparing to a Power Five team, suggesting K-State's rough year last year probably was related to talented depth.
“I think it’s still quite a ways away. When I say that, just outside looking in, I thought there are really, really good wide receivers from a skill standpoint; an o-line that comes back that a lot of guys have played quite a bit of football. The o-line part fits right in with what we would have had at North Dakota State. The wide receiver skill set is much better than what we had at North Dakota State. That being said, we’re not as deep at tight end and fullback as we probably were at North Dakota State, and we’re not as deep at tailback as we were at North Dakota State. I am smart enough to understand that you cannot put a square peg into a round hole. We are going to have to use the skills that each guy brings to the table, yet we are still going to have that mindset that the style of football is going to be very similar to what we did at North Dakota State. We are not going to play as many tight end/fullback formations early as we would have at North Dakota State.”
“I think the talent discrepancy comes to when you start talking about the second, third and fourth guy in your position group. FCS programs over the years, generally speaking, their top-11 you’re rolling out there are probably pretty darn close to what we would have. The problem is, when you play a 12-game schedule, you are not worrying about the number ones; you are worrying about those twos and threes being able to contribute when they get put into the opportunity to play.”
2. Sammy Wheeler is indeed at tight end.
Our own Derek Young reported this days before it was seen in Monday's open practice, but former quarterback Sammy Wheeler is indeed working at tight end. I had zero doubts about DY being correct, but I was curious if it's a full-time move or just a trial. To me, it sounds full time:
“After two or three practices, we really looked at him and said, ‘Sammy, we see you probably as the third or fourth quarterback.’ Yet I think in the tight end situation and fullback - because our tight ends and fullbacks are really somewhat interchangeable - we felt like he could put himself into the mix," Messingham said. "I am not telling you he is already the third guy by any means, but put him in the mix of trying to figure out how we use the best athletic skill set that we can find. He’s a guy that I think has a very good skill set.”
3. Skylar Thompson has a strong arm.
Okay, we knew this. Still, I found it interesting arm strength was the first thing Messingham mentioned when asked about Thompson:
“Honestly his arm strength (impresses me the most)," Messingham said. "For being a guy that’s probably 215 or 218 pounds, he’s got a very strong arm and it comes out in a hurry. He’s thrown the ball very, very well. Knock on wood, we’ve done a nice job taking care of the football in the passing game.”
4. Adam Holtorf is still an awfully good dude.
We also knew this one. Just like that guy, though.
Holtorf is a name to watch in the newly dubbed "Kam Stokes Award: Irrational Matt Hall man crush of the year" race.
5. Jonathan Alexander looks the part.
Chris Klieman sang the praises of Alexander - a junior college transfer safety - on signing day, thanks in large part to his physical skills.
I still haven't seen Alexander play FBS football, but he looks good in person. He's a legit 6-foot-3 (maybe even 6-3.5) and 220 pounds. Says he's ran hand time 4.4s but believes he's more of a 4.5 guy. He says he "benches with the linebackers."
He also looks like a linebacker. It was funny to hear so many reporters (he's a new player, to be totally fair) asking him questions about playing corner. The guy is 100 percent safety and will look more like a linebacker that corner with how he's used in nickel packages.
Either way, point is he's big, fast, strong and has a good attitude. May well succeed.
6. Wykeen Gill is not on scholarship yet.
But he should be. I think he's got a real shot to shoot up K-State's receiving corps once again, and at some point this young man deserves to have his school paid for.
This isn't a knock on either staff, by the way. Klieman's just got here and is still working on scholarship numbers. Snyder's probably would have put him on schollie this fall. Nobody has made a mistake here.
Messingham on Gill:
“I’ve been very impressed with him. Obviously, (Isaiah) Zuber is not practicing right now. He has taken full advantage of his reps and his opportunity. We, as a staff, have looked at it and said, ‘There is a guy that we have to keep developing.’ I think we are going to be able to say that we will be able to count on him and put him in the mix.
“Honestly, from my standpoint, being a new guy to some of these guys as far as seeing what they bring to the table, I would have no doubt thinking that the guy played wide receiver since the first day he stepped on the field. What I am getting at is he has attacked it. He has shown a skill set from a receiver standpoint that you would expect out of a receiver. I have been very happy with him.”
7. Marcus Hayes does not yet know if his transfer waiver will be granted.
Honestly, this is an underrated big deal.
Hayes was worth taking either way, but the thought is he would have to sit out and be a junior starting next season. He's already used his redshirt, so potentially not sitting out this year would give him another year of eligibility essentially, allowing him to play as a sophomore.
Hayes would then be able to contribute right away as a return man and at safety.
If he doesn't get the appeal I'll probably throw a big fit and go to the effort of finding 50 kids the NCAA has allowed to play without sitting out who had no better case than Hayes.
Let's just save everybody the time and let the kid play football.
8. An 11 a.m. presser comes mighty early when you get home from San Jose at 3:30 a.m.
But maybe don't feel too bad for me. The last two days were full on vacation time for me, so a little bit of work is okay.
Or give me sympathy, either way. I like attention.
9. Everybody thinks Hunter Rison is really good.
That pretty much says it all. There were quotes galore available on the Michigan State transfer, but I'll let Alexander sum it up best:
“Electric. He’s electric. He’s different, for sure. His catch radius makes him different. The ball will be way out in front of him and he’ll slip out and go get it. I’ve seen DB’s slow down because the ball is out of reach and he’ll just reach out and go get it. He’s a problem for me.”
10. I think true freshman Jaren Lewis will be the No. 2 quarterback.
Okay, I'm cheating a bit here. Nothing happened today to really make this seem "real," and I don't believe him to be working with the twos.
It's a gut feeling, and maybe a little confirmation bias from a pre-held notion of this before the presser.
Either way, I find this quote from Messingham telling.
“To be honest with you, it’s kind of surprising because I would have assumed that it would be, ‘Hey man, prom is coming up.’ But he has not thought that way and he has not attacked it that way. From the very first start of winter conditioning stuff, he jumped in and did it no different than any other young man that is here. His learning curve actually is very, very good. Now, he has shown the overload, meaning practice one and practice two were really, really strong. Practice three it was all of sudden, ‘Oh wow. We got a lot of stuff in.’ It was true, we did have a lot of stuff in.
He swam a little bit on practice three, bounced back in practice four, and I really felt like he did a good job. The thing that he has done the best at, whether he knows it or doesn’t know it, he’s convincing in the huddle that he does know it. That is a huge key because when your quarterback comes in, the o-line is looking at him and that o-line thinks, ‘I am not too sure this dude has any idea what is going on.’ His demeanor, his control of the huddle has been very good for being a high school senior right now.”
