The fall weather could not be more perfect to kick off the home portion of the Big 12 schedule. I hope everyone is pumped and ready to cheer on the Cowboys tomorrow. Each week, the games get increasingly more meaningful and important as the Cowboys continue to build and grow as a team this season.
Earlier in the week, we looked at the K-State offense and paid tribute to Coach Snyder. Just as the case with the Wildcats on offense, their defense does not beat itself with big breakdowns and mistakes. In order to beat them, your team has to win individual matchups and play fundamentally sound football.
In watching the Wildcats on film this year, it is again striking how well their staff does in identifying players that they can develop and plug into their system with little change or drop off. Each position group has one standout that sets the tone and example, and everyone else follows their lead. Let's take a look at their personnel starting in the defensive interior.
Just so that we can pay honor to the way Coach Snyder has built and sustained his program, let's begin with mentioning Will Geary, a 6 foot tall, 290-pound fireplug redshirt sophomore who came to Manhattan as a walk-on. The 1st team Academic All Big 12 performer emerged last year as a very active play maker for the Wildcats, registering 30 tackles and eventually moving into the starting lineup at the end of the season. This young man has incredible physical strength and plays with great leverage. He has developed a reputation as a weight room freak that has now emerged as a leader on this team. Unfortunately, things are not going to be any easier for the much maligned Cowboy guards. Geary, although slightly undersized, will be one of the more difficult defenders they face this year in terms of moving him out of his gap. His emergence has really helped the young linebackers. He is sixth on the team in tackles, but only two away from being third.
Travis Britz starts alongside Will Geary, and he is a rock in run defense for them. The 6'4" senior is probably not quite an NFL caliber player, but he is close enough to garner some looks as an undrafted free agent. He has a pair of sacks, 3 tackles for loss, and 10 total tackles so far this season. He has pretty good quickness and length, doing a good job of keeping gap integrity, shedding blockers, and knifing into the backfield. These two DTs are likely the best run stopping pair in the Big 12.
Building the defense from the inside out, Jordan Willis provides big play-making skills coming off the edge, particularly in obvious pass rushing situations. He only has 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, but has been in position for several more. His quickness around the corner is going to be a handful for OSU's offensive tackles. His play against Louisiana Tech was really instrumental in keeping the Bulldog quarterback from being able to set up comfortably in the pocket. He is the most talented member of their defensive front four, and will be back for another season next year. His partner on the other side is senior Marquel Bryant, a steady and competent defender that doesn't have the same level of athleticism.
MLB Will Davis is the guy that the Cowboys are going to have to block in the run game to have success. He is a very disciplined player that does a very good job with his run fits inside. He doesn't have great size, so he utilizes quickness and discipline to be in the right spot to make plays. He is not among the best players on the defense, but he is perhaps the linchpin for the Cowboys to get success between the tackles. He has had some struggles with his zone drops on play-action, so that is another area of the field that the Cowboys could attack.
If you enjoy good defensive play, then Elijah Lee is a player for you to watch. He is the most talented linebacker in Manhattan since Arthur Brown. He has very impressive sideline to sideline speed. As a true freshman last year, he was basically a blitz-specialist and hybrid LB/S. (Note: He recorded a sack on his first collegiate play.) He has bulked up this year and is playing great football. His backside pursuit is a critical part of Kansas State's defensive success. For that reason, look for the Cowboys to directly attack him by putting him in run-pass delemmas and keeping him from flowing to the play, much like they did with Malik Jefferson last week. Some of the packaged play concepts with the stick routes to the Cowboy backs and inside receivers with the screens and draws will probably get called several times. In order to get better move chains, Lee's pursuit must be slowed. Charmeachelle Moore on the other side is not nearly the play maker and will get subbed out in preference for a nickel package featuring Donnie Starks.
Strong Safety Dante Barnett was the Wildcats best player on defense when he went down with an injury. It appears that he will be out this week again, which really hurts their defense in the secondary. Barnett had worked his way onto the NFL draft radar with his play. He provided leadership at the safety group, which is really young and inexperienced without him. This obviously becomes a primary part of the defense for the OSU offense to attack, particularly in coverage. Kaleb Prewett at free safety shows good range, but he has been fooled on play action and has struggled some with depth on his drops.
K-State always seems to find quality corners. Danzell McDaniels possesses prototypical NFL corner size (6'1" 205) and played very well last year. For some reason, his play has fallen off a bit this year as he is not quite as crisp in his coverage. He has the potential to be great, but is not as consistent as their staff had hoped to this point in the season. Morgan Burns gives them a speed corner to play to the field side, and he can really run and close on the ball. Look for the Cowboys to try and run bigger receivers towards the field corner and then test the boundary corner, safeties, and middle linebacker vertically down the field.
Overall, Kansas State does not possess a ton of talent, but there are enough players with next level ability for their staff to put the team in position to succeed each week. Kansas State has had a player drafted every year since 1994 which is a longer streak than Alabama and Ohio State. Think about that consistency. They don't put out a ton of first rounders, but they do a fantastic job of identifying and developing talent. This year, they have more of that type of talent on defense.
Earlier in the week, we looked at the K-State offense and paid tribute to Coach Snyder. Just as the case with the Wildcats on offense, their defense does not beat itself with big breakdowns and mistakes. In order to beat them, your team has to win individual matchups and play fundamentally sound football.
In watching the Wildcats on film this year, it is again striking how well their staff does in identifying players that they can develop and plug into their system with little change or drop off. Each position group has one standout that sets the tone and example, and everyone else follows their lead. Let's take a look at their personnel starting in the defensive interior.
Just so that we can pay honor to the way Coach Snyder has built and sustained his program, let's begin with mentioning Will Geary, a 6 foot tall, 290-pound fireplug redshirt sophomore who came to Manhattan as a walk-on. The 1st team Academic All Big 12 performer emerged last year as a very active play maker for the Wildcats, registering 30 tackles and eventually moving into the starting lineup at the end of the season. This young man has incredible physical strength and plays with great leverage. He has developed a reputation as a weight room freak that has now emerged as a leader on this team. Unfortunately, things are not going to be any easier for the much maligned Cowboy guards. Geary, although slightly undersized, will be one of the more difficult defenders they face this year in terms of moving him out of his gap. His emergence has really helped the young linebackers. He is sixth on the team in tackles, but only two away from being third.
Travis Britz starts alongside Will Geary, and he is a rock in run defense for them. The 6'4" senior is probably not quite an NFL caliber player, but he is close enough to garner some looks as an undrafted free agent. He has a pair of sacks, 3 tackles for loss, and 10 total tackles so far this season. He has pretty good quickness and length, doing a good job of keeping gap integrity, shedding blockers, and knifing into the backfield. These two DTs are likely the best run stopping pair in the Big 12.
Building the defense from the inside out, Jordan Willis provides big play-making skills coming off the edge, particularly in obvious pass rushing situations. He only has 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, but has been in position for several more. His quickness around the corner is going to be a handful for OSU's offensive tackles. His play against Louisiana Tech was really instrumental in keeping the Bulldog quarterback from being able to set up comfortably in the pocket. He is the most talented member of their defensive front four, and will be back for another season next year. His partner on the other side is senior Marquel Bryant, a steady and competent defender that doesn't have the same level of athleticism.
MLB Will Davis is the guy that the Cowboys are going to have to block in the run game to have success. He is a very disciplined player that does a very good job with his run fits inside. He doesn't have great size, so he utilizes quickness and discipline to be in the right spot to make plays. He is not among the best players on the defense, but he is perhaps the linchpin for the Cowboys to get success between the tackles. He has had some struggles with his zone drops on play-action, so that is another area of the field that the Cowboys could attack.
If you enjoy good defensive play, then Elijah Lee is a player for you to watch. He is the most talented linebacker in Manhattan since Arthur Brown. He has very impressive sideline to sideline speed. As a true freshman last year, he was basically a blitz-specialist and hybrid LB/S. (Note: He recorded a sack on his first collegiate play.) He has bulked up this year and is playing great football. His backside pursuit is a critical part of Kansas State's defensive success. For that reason, look for the Cowboys to directly attack him by putting him in run-pass delemmas and keeping him from flowing to the play, much like they did with Malik Jefferson last week. Some of the packaged play concepts with the stick routes to the Cowboy backs and inside receivers with the screens and draws will probably get called several times. In order to get better move chains, Lee's pursuit must be slowed. Charmeachelle Moore on the other side is not nearly the play maker and will get subbed out in preference for a nickel package featuring Donnie Starks.
Strong Safety Dante Barnett was the Wildcats best player on defense when he went down with an injury. It appears that he will be out this week again, which really hurts their defense in the secondary. Barnett had worked his way onto the NFL draft radar with his play. He provided leadership at the safety group, which is really young and inexperienced without him. This obviously becomes a primary part of the defense for the OSU offense to attack, particularly in coverage. Kaleb Prewett at free safety shows good range, but he has been fooled on play action and has struggled some with depth on his drops.
K-State always seems to find quality corners. Danzell McDaniels possesses prototypical NFL corner size (6'1" 205) and played very well last year. For some reason, his play has fallen off a bit this year as he is not quite as crisp in his coverage. He has the potential to be great, but is not as consistent as their staff had hoped to this point in the season. Morgan Burns gives them a speed corner to play to the field side, and he can really run and close on the ball. Look for the Cowboys to try and run bigger receivers towards the field corner and then test the boundary corner, safeties, and middle linebacker vertically down the field.
Overall, Kansas State does not possess a ton of talent, but there are enough players with next level ability for their staff to put the team in position to succeed each week. Kansas State has had a player drafted every year since 1994 which is a longer streak than Alabama and Ohio State. Think about that consistency. They don't put out a ton of first rounders, but they do a fantastic job of identifying and developing talent. This year, they have more of that type of talent on defense.
