Mailbag: Insight on the Kansas State defensive line
1. Is Kansas State deep at nose guard or is Jevon Banks struggling?
DY: To characterize Jevon Banks as struggling would be inaccurate, but I’m not sure he’s blowing anyone away at Kansas State, either. His role, impact and performance has been described to me as similar to Robert Hentz.
That would suggest he is more of a role player that plays situationally to spell the other players at the spot. Additionally, the K-State staff loves Uso Seumalo and believe that reserve Damian Ilalio has also turned a corner.
2. When will Ques Glover make a decision?
DY: At the moment, that isn’t clear. All we know is that he will likely want to make his college choice in time to enroll at a school by the first day of classes. That would still give him a couple more weeks in most cases if he opts to use up all of that time.
What muddies the waters and makes it even tougher to gauge is that his recruitment will be anything but normal. It will be atypical because he has already played at two schools, was committed to a third before re-opening his recruitment and now will make a decision during a dead period.
That means no visits will be permitted for Ques Glover, not even to Kansas State.
Collin Klein/Drew Galloway
3. Does Collin Klein need to leave K-State in order to be the successor to Chris Klieman?
DY: If his goal is to succeed Chris Klieman as the head coach at K-State, it probably will not be a requirement for Collin Klein to be the next head coach in Manhattan. And if he or anyone at the university felt that it would be, they likely would not have talked him out of going to Notre Dame.
Does that mean he will definitely stay at Kansas State and just wait his turn? Not necessarily, especially if Klieman remains the head coach for several more years. He may become impatient and jump at a Group of Five job.
It just isn’t something he has to do to be the next guy at K-State, in my opinion.
4. What happens to the Big 12 if the Pac-12 had taken that $30 million television deal from ESPN?
DY: To be honest, it likely suffers a similar fate as what just happened to the Pac-12 or is forced to sign an unflattering television deal in the ballpark of what was on the table for the Pac-12 from Apple, or maybe even less.
The issue for the Pac-12 wasn’t that they didn’t have any valuable properties, because they did if we’re being honest. Their problems stemmed from poor negotiating tactics, a television industry that wasn’t desperate to add more content and a declining number of available television windows.
Had they chewed up the few television windows available, which is what the Big 12 ultimate did when signing the deal with ESPN and FOX, that would have taken away much of the leverage the Big 12 had and they would have struggled to find an appealing media rights deal.
The Big 12 sits in the favorable position that they have right now because of the decision of commissioner Brett Yormark and the school presidents, chancellors and athletic directors to accept what was presented to them by the ESPN and FOX when they did and the incompetence of George Kliavkoff and his Pac-12 members.
Gene Taylor and Brett Yormark/Kansas State Athletics
5. Rank Arizona State, Colorado, Cincinnati and UCF in terms of the success that they will have in football and basketball in the Big 12.
DY: I like this question.
My instincts are to say that Arizona State may have the toughest road to hoe, initially. That isn’t anything against the school itself, as it is an attractive destination with advantages that can be leveraged enough for success.
However, it is very difficult for sports and programs to have consistent success when there is a failure of leadership. If it isn’t strong across the board, it just increases the difficulty because the support, knowledge and cohesion just doesn’t exist.
Until the Sun Devils can move on from Michael Crow as president and Ray Anderson as athletic director, I am not high on them from a competitive standpoint. That creates roadblocks and unnecessary hurdles for both football and basketball. They can be navigated, but it won’t be easy.
Colorado is in a bit of a state of flux. They have an improving basketball program and just signed one of the best high school prospects in the country in Cody Williams. The arrow is pointed upward. Under Deion Sanders, the football trajectory will be a boom or bust.
It was just so bad that he probably can improve it anyways because the bar was so low. However, how long will he be there and can any strides that he is able to take be sustained afterwards? That is to be determined.
In the case of Cincinnati, I’m also not that optimistic about where they stand from a football standpoint. To replace Luke Fickell with Scott Satterfield is a bit of a head-scratcher, as Louisville was ready to part ways with him anyways. Like Colorado, the Bearcats are rising as a basketball program.
For that reason, I’m probably the most complimentary about the current path and future upside of UCF when it comes to football. They have an excellent coach, have seen their recruiting successes soar and are in a great place for more resources down the road as well.
With that being said, they are going to be met with a lot of struggles on the basketball court.
I’ll share my rankings from most success to least for both football and basketball.
Football: UCF, Colorado, Arizona State, Cincinnati
Basketball: Cincinnati, Colorado, Arizona State, UCF
Chris Klieman/Kansas State Athletics
6. How close is Bill Snyder to the Kansas State program these days? Do he and Klieman regularly communicate?
DY: I know that it is difficult for fans to understand, but I don’t think Bill Snyder and Chris Klieman ever spoke regularly, to be honest. Calling it ill will between the two would likely be hyperbolic, but Snyder was never going to have an ideal relationship with Klieman or Gene Taylor after he stepped aside.
Taylor is the one that ushered him out of his head coaching position even though he wasn’t ready to surrender it, and his replacement at Kansas State (Klieman) was not willing to give his son Sean Snyder an on-field coaching position.
The post Mailbag: Insight on the Kansas State defensive line appeared first on On3.
