K-State Q&A: Will Howard, transfer options for Jerome Tang, Sean Snyder at KU and more

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

We have lots of fun topics to cover this week on the Wildcats, so let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

Will Howard is turning into a beast.

The senior K-State quarterback entered spring practice listed at 6-foot-5 and 242 pounds. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if those numbers are now a little low for him.

To put that in perspective, has nearly 60 pounds on freshman Avery Johnson. Howard is starting to look like a tight end.

That honestly isn’t a surprise. His younger brother is on track to play offensive line for K-State in future seasons. Howard comes from a family of large humans.

It’s fair to wonder if there is a weight limit that is considered too big for him.

Offensive coordinator Collin Klein was asked about this earlier this spring, and he said the goal for Howard was simply to maintain his current body composition, regardless of weight.

“We wouldn’t want Will’s weight to change drastically either way,” Klein said. “We are continuing to work with him on the quickness of his feet and dropping a little bit of body fat and making that weight a little bit leaner. That is something he is working on and something that should help his game.”

My answer would be about the same. I think he’s fine at his current weight. There is nothing wrong with being a big quarterback, so long as you don’t enter “Hefty Lefty” territory, especially when your play-caller likes to use QB Power.

I don’t see a few extra muscles making it hard for Howard to complete short passes next season. I do think they will help him fight for extra yards on the ground.

This could be the best NFL Draft for Kansas State since 2002 when the Wildcats saw six players get selected by professional teams.

It should be the team’s best draft since 2003 when the Cats sent four players to the NFL.

It absolutely will be the best draft since 2013 when they had three selections.

Felix Anudike-Uzomah will probably be the first K-State player off the board. The only question is whether he gets picked in the first or second round.

Julius Brents is my bet for the No. 2 selection. Tall cornerbacks don’t grow on trees and he tested well at the NFL scouting combine. It won’t be a surprise if he goes in the second or third round.

Next up should be Deuce Vaughn. I could see him going as early as Round 3 or as late as Round 5. It really just depends when certain teams decide to go after a running back.

I don’t know that any other former K-State player is a lock to be a draft pick, but there are several other candidates for late-round selections.

Just how good of a draft it will be for the Wildcats depends on when or if players like Malik Knowles, Ekow-Boye Doe, Josh Hayes and Ty Zentner get drafted.

E-MAIL QUESTION: How can Kansas State continue to allow Bill Snyder to have special access to the football team now that his son is working as an assistant coach for our biggest rival? That seems like a huge conflict of interests. Gene Taylor needs to block him from all of the football facilities for as long as Sean remains at KU. - Jim H.

The thought of Bill Snyder showing up as a spy at K-State football practices to feed information to his son, who is now a special assistant to Lance Leipold at KU, is not something I ever expected to see mentioned in this mail bag.

What a time to be alive.

I guess I see how it could be considered out of bounds for Bill Snyder to hang out at K-State practices while Sean Snyder coaches at KU, especially the week before they play. But it’s not like the elder Snyder is a regular at K-State football workouts these days. He made the wise decision to give Chris Klieman and his team a wide berth after he retired for good a few years ago.

In other words, he stays away.

Bill Snyder typically only shows up on Saturday to watch home K-State games and drink wine in his family suite high above the field. I’m not sure how much secret info he could send to Lawrence, even if that’s something he wanted to do. And I very much doubt that is high on his to-do list.

Call me naive if you must, but I assume both sides will treat this situation as professionals.

This doesn’t seem like much of a concern to me.

K-State has watched assistant coaches leave for other jobs within the Big 12 before and everyone survived without banning everyone who knew those coaches from stepping foot on campus. Heck, I once wrote about a K-State assistant going head-to-head with his wife when she was the recruiting coordinator at Oklahoma. Talk about awkward. But nothing scandalous happened.

The bigger question is: Who does Bill Snyder root for when KU and K-State play next season?

His name is on the stadium in Manhattan. His son coaches in Lawrence. Now that will be interesting.

L.J. Cryer is the biggest fish in transfer portal pond.

The former Baylor guard is looking for a new home after averaging 15 points last season and shooting better than 40% from three-point range over the course of his college career.

He would be a sensational addition to the Wildcats as a potential replacement for Markquis Nowell. He can clearly shoot the ball at an elite level and he wants to play point guard.

Jerome Tang has a previous relationship with him, as he is the coach who recruited Cryer to Baylor when he worked for the Bears as an assistant under Scott Drew.

He is reportedly looking into making a visit to K-State next week. It seems like the Wildcats will have a legit shot at landing him.

Only problem is Houston and Kansas are also both pushing hard for him. The same can be said for Oklahoma State and pretty much every team in the Big 12.

There isn’t a team out there that doesn’t want him.

Houston transfer Tramon Mark is another guard to keep an eye on. He has K-State in his top four along with Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M.

His experience in the NCAA Tournament with the Cougars would be a valuable asset to the Wildcats.

Max Abmas from Oral Roberts would also be a nice addition addition for the Wildcats, or any team looking for a guard. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Tang and his coaching staff get in the mix with him, but nothing firm has been reported there.

Hofstra transfer Aaron Estrada is another name to monitor.

In terms of big men, Michigan center Hunter Dickinson would be the ultimate prize. But I’m not so sure the Wildcats will be in that sweepstakes. Virginia center Kadin Shedrick is also in the portal, along with LSU center Shawn Phillips.

There isn’t much to update on the recruitment of David Castillo.

The touted basketball recruit from Bartlesville, Oklahoma has taken official visits to Kansas, K-State and Oklahoma State. He holds scholarship offers from many more schools and is no rush to announce a commit while most college coaches are focused on the transfer portal.

My guess is his choice will come down to the three places he has already visited.

It might be a battle to the end between KU and K-State.

I do watch the Masters every year.

My kids don’t love it being on the TV for four straight hours on Sunday, but they tolerate me tuning in for a few minutes here and there.

After picking Connecticut to win the NCAA Tournament, and recommending San Diego State as the best long shot in the Field of 68, I was eager to see if I could keep my hot streak going with future bets. So I made a few wagers before the Masters.

Unfortunately, I didn’t put a single cent on Victor Hovland or Jon Rahm. But some of my picks did well on the first day.

My favorite darkhorse candidate was Brooks Koepka at 44-to-1. He’s coming off a win at his last LIV event and he’s healthy for the first time in ages. I liked him at that number. Then he went out and shot a 65 to tie Hovland and Rahm at the top of the leader board. Bless him for that.

I went with Rory McIlroy as my preferred favorite in the tournament at 10-to-1 odds. Hey, he’s got to win in Augusta at some point, right?

I also threw one dollar at both Gary Woodland and Bubba Watson at 220-to-1. Do I expect either of them to win? No. But when you get a chance to win that much on the most famous basketball player in Washburn history you have to to do it. Watson also hits the ball a country mile and knows everything about Augusta National. There are worse ways to spend a buck.

Woodland opened with a 68, so that ticket may have some life. Watson probably won’t make the cut. There’s 100 pennies I won’t see again.

In any case, I’m all aboard the Koepka train. His odds are now teetering around 6-to-1 if anyone wants to join me.