As K-State finishes up the fall semester this week with its finals, it seemed like a good time to dish out final grades for K-State’s season. Each day this week I will give my final evaluations for each group and also take a look at how PFF graded them for the season.
Monday: Quarterback
Tuesday: Running Back/Wide Receiver
Wednesday: Defensive Line/Offensive Line
Thursday: Defensive Backs/Linebackers
Friday: Special Teams
LINEBACKERS: B+
Daniel Green’s ability had started to shine with each year that went on for the Chris Klieman Era at K-State and he continued that upward trajectory this season. Green impressed me all year with his ability to make timely plays and having an awareness of where to be to make plays that improved the win probability for K-State.
The story of the linebacking corps this season was Austin Moore though, who had seen under 200 snaps in his first two seasons as a Wildcat on the defensive side of the ball. This season, Moore played the most snaps of any K-State linebacker, earned the nickname “The Machine” and seemingly was everywhere the ball was.
Khalid Duke made his triumphant return to the K-State defense after missing a majority of the 2021 season with an injury, and he made his worth known early, having a three-sack game against Texas Tech.
The Wildcats were able to work in young faces like Desmond Purnell and Jake Clifton this season, who gained invaluable experience heading toward 2023.
I think the K-State linebackers were what you want out of a group in the middle of your defense — solid. Even though I thought this group was really strong, nothing warrants a higher grade in my opinion.
PFF Grades
| Player | Overall Defense | Run Defense | Tackling | Pass Rush | Snap % of 938 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Moore | 70.9 | 70.6 | 72.2 | 59.7 | 84% |
| Daniel Green | 66.3 | 63.3 | 68.2 | 67.6 | 63% |
| Khalid Duke | 68.0 | 68.5 | 85.8 | 76.9 | 60% |
| Des Purnell | 58.4 | 67.4 | 47.2 | 56.6 | 30% |
| Nick Allen | 59.8 | 59.3 | 73.1 | 57.2 | 30% |
| Jake Clifton | 58.2 | 56.1 | 56.0 | 64.5 | 9% |
| Gavin Forsha | 62.1 | 55.3 | 41.0 | 59.7 | 8% |
| Beau Palmer | 68.7 | 66.8 | 57.7 | 57.4 | 4% |
SECONDARY: A-
Is this grade a little higher than it should be? Possibly. But consider where we thought the Wildcats would be in 2022 in the secondary, completely lost and looking for help at safety. By the end of the season, K-State had more than enough options to step up and patrol the backend of the defense. It also helped to have two talented corners on the edges with Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe.
Brents earned All-Big 12 First Team this season and will have an upcoming NFL career, a lot of which is deserved for shutting down receivers this season. Something that was absent at times in 2021, due to what mostly seemed like bad luck for Brents. His partner, Boye-Doe, had strong moments this season, like his shutdown game against Oklahoma State and giving his arm to stop TCU. Just as much as a pass rush can help create interceptions, a talented unit in coverage can help create sacks. Two things that the Wildcats were among the best in the Big 12 at creating this season.
As I mentioned above, the safeties for K-State were a concern entering the season. No one had a good grasp of what to expect from that spot and gave some worry about what might happen against the high-flying Big 12 offenses. Quickly, those questions went away. Transfers Josh Hayes and Kobe Savage quickly made a name for themselves by hitting hard and similarly to Green and more at linebacker, just finding a way to be involved in seemingly every play.
Drake Cheatum was also very versatile for the K-State defense and became the second straight Prairie View A&M transfer to pay big dividends for Joe Klanderman’s unit. The surprises and overachieving of the secondary helps me boost their grade. Maybe that is fair, maybe it isn’t, but the success of the corners and safeties is one of the main reasons K-State can call themselves Big 12 Champions.
PFF Grades
| Player | Overall Defense | Run Defense | Tackling | Coverage | Snap % of 938 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Hayes | 66.0 | 54.2 | 50.8 | 69.5 | 82% |
| Ekow Boye-Doe | 64.1 | 67.4 | 64.4 | 65.1 | 78% |
| Julius Brents | 75.3 | 81.4 | 76.8 | 75.9 | 77% |
| Drake Cheatum | 67.9 | 73.5 | 76.3 | 62.0 | 67% |
| Kobe Savage | 52.3 | 45.0 | 53.9 | 54.8 | 55% |
| Cincere Mason | 74.5 | 43.5 | 51.5 | 88.4 | 33% |
| VJ Payne | 66.6 | 53.5 | 61.4 | 70.2 | 32% |
| Jacob Parrish | 70.0 | 64.6 | 86.9 | 70.7 | 31% |
| TJ Smith | 55.9 | 52.7 | 69.1 | 57.0 | 21% |
| Omar Daniels | 64.7 | 70.0 | 47.0 | 63.4 | 12% |
