Nuggets: Assessment of the Kansas State roster
Next Kansas State transfer to the NFL
The Kansas State success in the NFL Draft under head coach Chris Klieman is across the board more than anything, but the most significant trend has been the number of defensive back transfers that have been sent to the professional level.
Each of the last three years has seen K-State sign a defensive back transfer that went on to be selected by an NFL team in the draft. Julius Brents signed with the Wildcats after the 2019 season and he was followed by Kansas State secondary members Russ Yeast and Josh Hayes.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Hayes, Brents was picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round and Yeast was selected by the Los Angeles Rams. K-State is proud of that feat, and they use it to recruit the next batch.
I bluntly asked Klieman at Big 12 Media Days who the next in line to follow that path. Without hesitation, he mentioned Marques Sigle. Like Hayes, he arrives at Kansas State via North Dakota State. Also like Hayes, he’s switching from a cornerback role to the safety spot for the Wildcats.
More is better?
Lately, I reflected what I was saying about K-State this time last year.
Much of it was associated with the star power of the team that was being under-appreciated by many forecasting the 2022 season. While the Wildcats were viewed as a darkhorse, they still weren’t gathering the same amount of attention and respect that they are this year.
Between Julius Brents, Ekow Boye-Doe, Daniel Green, Khalid Duke, Eli Huggins, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Nate Matlack, Cooper Beebe, Taylor Poitier, Malik Knowles, Deuce Vaughn and Adrian Martinez, the high-end talent of the team was as impressive as it had been in a number of years.
And there were still surprises, right? Green and Matlack were extremely limited due to nagging injuries that they played through. Poitier again missed most of the season because of an injury. After a slow start, Martinez picked it up and then was slowed by injury himself.
But it allowed some new faces to emerge and be pivotal players for Kansas State, too. They received a lot more than what we were expecting from the likes of Austin Moore, Desmond Purnell, Kobe Savage, Hayes, Brendan Mott, KT Leveston, DJ Giddens, Kade Warner, Will Howard and Ben Sinnott.
Another item was that it felt like they had more players ready to contribute. A message that I was delivering, that was agreed to by Klieman, was that it was the best and healthiest that the K-State roster had been 1 through 85.
And that played out by evidence of the Big 12 championship. What I would share this year, is that they lack some of that star power at the top or at least it hasn’t surfaced quite yet, but they are even better 1 through 85 than last year and that’s saying something.
It’ll be interesting what those two things mean combined with one another.
Importance of Uso to K-State
Another strong takeaway from Arlington last week was the importance of Uso Seumalo. the Kansas State nose guard flashed multiple times last year but just didn’t have the conditioning level to stay on the field. It was also because Huggins was just that good as well.
However, by all accounts, he has transformed his body and radically improved his stamina to be able to withstand a considerable amount of more snaps for the Wildcats. And many believe he will be the key as to whether or not the defense is good enough to repeat as the league’s champions.
That is a vital spot in the 3-3-5 scheme run by K-State, and Huggins was a man amongst boys that went unnoticed for much of his career. However, he had many crucial plays and even played a large role in the goal line stand to edge out TCU in December.
The good thing is that everyone that speaks about Seumalo absolutely glows about him, not just as a person, but the work he put in throughout the offseason and how much he is flourishing right now at Kansas State.
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