K-State Q&A: Will Howard, Avery Johnson, football weather, five-star recruits and more

I don’t know about you, but when Kansas State opened up its 41-3 victory over TCU last weekend by asking Will Howard to hand the ball off to Avery Johnson on a jet sweep the only thing I could think about what was how hard offensive coordinator Collin Klein must have been laughing when he came up with the idea for that play.

After an entire week of media and fans debating about Howard and Johnson, it felt like Klein was trolling all of us by starting both of them and beginning the game with a play that none of us had ever seen before.

There is only way that play could have been better: K-State could have asked Jake Rubley to also start as a receiver and Johnson could have thrown to him after getting the ball from Howard. Now that would have really been something.

In any case, I asked Klein about that play this week and he explained its origins.

Surprisingly, he said it has been in the play book since well before Johnson emerged as a potential starting quarterback.

“We’ve kind of had some stuff like that in and around for a minute,” Klein said. “As coach and I were working through it, it was one of the things that came up and we ended up running with it and guys executed it all week so we decided to go with it.”

So maybe he wasn’t trying to have fun with us.

I guess that means we need to be on the lookout for more designed running plays for Johnson, even when he doesn’t line up at quarterback.

And with that, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

There is no doubt the weather forecast for Saturday will help Kansas State more than Houston.

It look like the high will only be 41 degrees and there is a 64% chance of rain. Those conditions should benefit the Wildcats, especially if they continue to run the ball as well as they have in recent weeks.

Houston averages 291 yards per game through the air compared to just 115 yards per game on the ground.

The best chance the Cougars have at winning this game is to throw the ball early and often against a K-State secondary that has been burned at times this season. Take that away and it’s very hard to see the Wildcats losing as big favorites.

But rain isn’t always the offense killer that some believe it to be. Sometimes it can make tackling more difficult and lead to more explosive plays than usual. Strong winds are much worse on a passing game, and those aren’t in the forecast. So it might be silly to assume wet conditions will grind Houston’s offense to a halt.

I will also say that Houston quarterback Donovan Smith is a 6-foot-5 and 241-pound playmaker who is capable of moving the chains with his legs. He had 58 yards in a game against Texas Tech earlier this season. He also ran for 57 yards and three scores against Rice.

It’s not like Houston can only throw the ball.

Still, ideal weather conditions would help the Cougars. Ugly weather conditions probably help the Wildcats.

Scariest name: Shadryon Blanka.

He is a 6-foot-1 linebacker who shares a name with a terrifying character from Street Fighter. Talk about a no-brainer.

Scariest tackler: Kobe Savage.

I can’t begin to image how painful it must feel to get tackled by him when he’s coming at you full speed.

Scariest player to tackle: Ben Sinnott. Not only is he 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, but he grew up playing hockey.

Scariest body: Uso Seumalo. He is a 6-foot-3 and 340-pound defensive tackle who looks even bigger when his huge hair isn’t covered up by a football helmet.

The jury is still out on the K-State secondary. Yes, the Wildcats have played well against the pass of late, but that success has come against some awful quarterbacks.

TCU freshman backup Josh Hoover, Texas Tech freshman third-stringer Jake Strong and UCF sophomore backup Timmy McClain aren’t exactly Heisman contenders.

Amazingly, K-State will probably avoid Quinn Ewers at Texas next week. And no one will be surprised if the Wildcats play Jason Bean instead of Jalon Daniels when they travel to Kansas in November.

Much like TCU last season, K-State might not have to face many healthy starting quarterbacks this year.

To be fair, K-State probably would have beaten TCU last week even if the Horned Frogs had Max Duggan back at quarterback. The Wildcats played really well in that game.

But I want to see a little more from the K-State secondary before I jump to any conclusions on how much they have improved.

I do think special teams is playing at a higher level. Chris Tennant is no longer struggling as a kicker and Jake Blumer has given the Wildcats some really nice punts.

The offensive line is also playing well. That wasn’t the case early in the season when Christian Duffie was missing at right tackle. But now that he is back, and Avery Johnson has added a new running element to the offense, K-State looks like a much more physical group up front.

TCU coach Sonny Dykes said he thought K-State dominated the line of scrimmage last week. That is something you don’t usually hear an opposing coach admit.

Now let’s switch to quarterbacks. Yes, I think K-State will keep rotating between Howard and Johnson. But I expect Howard to go back to being the main guy with Johnson coming in as needed.

Both quarterbacks hate splitting the job evenly. There is no reason to continue doing that.

All I can say about Rubley is that if he is still in Manhattan next season he must really love K-State. Because his options for playing time appear limited.

Let’s not jump the gun and even suggest that five-star recruits “selecting” K-State is going to be the norm.

The Wildcats haven’t landed a five-star recruit in men’s basketball since Wally Judge way back in 2009.

Five-star recruit Patrick Ngongba is visiting K-State this weekend and he has the Wildcats in his final three along with Duke and Kentucky. Even if he commits to K-State it’s going to be hard to go from one five-star recruit every 15 years to “the norm.”

But it is a terrific sign for Jerome Tang and company that the Wildcats are swimming in the same recruiting waters as blueblood programs. David Castillo held an offer from Kansas and K-State convinced him to come to Manhattan.

Tang isn’t afraid to recruit with the big boys, and I do expect the Wildcats to be involved with more elite recruits moving forward.

I’m not sure what impact a commitment from Ngongba would have on K-State recruiting, but I can tell you that recruiting is already on the rise under Tang no matter what Ngongba decides.

Senior wing Nae’Qwan Tomlin was not with the Kansas State men’s basketball team when it traveled to Oklahoma for a “secret” scrimmage against SMU last week.

Nor was he with the Wildcats when Jerome Tang and select upperclassmen attended Big 12 Media Day in Kansas City. Nor was he with his teammates when they attended recent charity events around Manhattan.

That is obviously not ideal.

I can’t tell you why Tomlin was away from the team during that time, other than that he wasn’t dealing with an injury. He is healthy. But I can confirm that he is still on the roster. He attended a preseason photo/video shoot in full uniform for K-State earlier this week. The expectation is that he will play for the Wildcats this season even though he has missed some important practice time this month.

It’s not fair of me to speculate about Tomlin’s absence or if he will be limited in any way when the season begins.

I have asked Tang and others associated with the basketball team for an explanation and they have not responded with any specifics other than to suggest that Tomlin isn’t dealing with anything that will keep him away from the court long term.

K-State plays an exhibition game next week. If there are any newsworthy details worth sharing on this topic we should know about them by then at the latest.

Let me just say this: The bar has been raised across the board within the K-State athletic department lately.

With the football team coming off a Big 12 championship and the men’s basketball team coming off an Elite Eight, every coach on campus is expected to win more than they were, say, five years ago.

K-State hired a new coach in volleyball and women’s golf within the past year. Men’s basketball came right before that.

Most of the other teams on campus have been winning or have shown recent signs of progress.

If a coach isn’t winning, it is difficult for he or she to hang around too long right now.

I am excited for both games.

How could I not be?

K-State at Texas is the game of the year for the football team. A win puts the Wildcats in the thick of the Big 12 championship race. It’s also the last time K-State will probably ever play Texas as a conference rival.

Talk about high stakes.

USC vs. K-State on a neutral basketball court is also huge. Not only is it the first game of the season, but it’s a big game in a unique environment against a team that has the son of LeBron James on its roster.

The Wildcats usually start basketball season with an absolute yawner at home against a school most fans have never heard of. This will be way more fun than that.

I suppose I’m more excited about the football game, but it is a close call. Luckily, I will be at both games and will write all about each of them.