Musings: Talking Kansas State and Big 12 football

SURE BETS FOR KANSAS STATE

1. No. 1: News was delivered on Thursday that the country’s top basketball recruit, AJ Dybantsa, would make an official visit to Kansas State. He will be in Manhattan when they host UT-Martin on the football field to begin the season. Sources continue to tell both Joe Tipton of On3 and I that the Wildcats should be viewed as a legitimate threat even though BYU is out front.
2. Rare: The more I think about Dylan Edwards at K-State, and even watch him in practice, the more I think he is going to be even more of a problem for Big 12 opponents than what is being advertised. He is that rare of an explosive athlete. His speed is different, and it’s not something that many teams in the league can defend or stop.
3. Whitaker: It is a matter of when, not if, Omaha-area athlete Darien Whitaker commits to Kansas State.

SURPRISES IN THE K-STATE WORLD

1. Kirksey: Is he the surprise of training camp? Everyone is singing the praises of K-State linebacker Terry Kirksey. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and assistant Steve Stanard believe they’ll count on him this year.
2. Turnovers: Another surprise of training camp was Kansas State defensive players sharing that they’re forcing turnovers left and right. I’m not panicked about it because my suspicion is that we just caught the defense on a very good day. But it was shocking to see them be so vocal about it.
3. In-helmet communication: Interestingly enough, it won’t be Conor Riley communicating to the helmet of starting quarterback Avery Johnson. It’ll be Matt Wells. That adds another layer of delivery to the process, but it sounds like the Wildcats want him to hear from the quarterback coach.

JURY STILL OUT

1. WVU: I might be on more of an island than I anticipated, but I’m not a huge believer in West Virginia for the 2024 season. They are a clear regression candidate to me. I do like their backfield, but I also think their quality/caliber was inflated due to capitalizing on a poor schedule last year. They defeated just two bowl teams (not great ones) and fell to Houston. Look at their schedule this time. They won’t have the same luck. They play both Penn State and Pitt in the non-conference portion again and begin Big 12 play against Kansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Kansas State and Arizona. Ouch.
2. Ward: While there’s some reasons for hope on a few basketball targets, it sounds like K-State has some work to do for four-star forward Cam Ward. Marquette was thought all along to be the favorite, and Michigan State may be next after that.
3. Conference schedule dates: Before too much longer we should hear about the dates of every Kansas State basketball game for the 2024-2025 season. We do know that league play will once again begin on December 31.

HAS MY ATTENTION

1. Double dose: Dybantsa will be in town for the first K-State football game of the season. Do not be surprised if another five-star hooper is as well – Darryn Peterson.
2. Nose guard: Assistant Mike Tuiasosopo called Damian Ilalio his starter on the interior of the Kansas State defensive line. We’ll see if that holds.
3. Lubbock: So, I don’t like West Virginia. But a surprising team in the Big 12 that I can be convinced of is Texas Tech. Why? They are recruiting the best in the conference, and they still somehow won seven games a year ago with the worst schedule and injury luck of anyone. Maybe that spills into 2024 because Behren Morton may still have issues, but the schedule lightens a lot. Due to starting with Abilene Christian, Washington State, North Texas, Arizona State and Cincinnati, the Red Raiders could already be 5-0 when they play Arizona in Tucson.

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