K-State Q&A: Deuce Vaughn, spring football and Jerome Tang’s patient recruiting style
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
We’ve got tons of great topics to cover this week, so let’s dive right into your questions. No need for a lengthy introduction this time around.
Thanks, as always, for your participation.
It’s reasonable for even the most optimistic of fans to feel a little bit concerned about what has happened during the first few weeks of the Jerome Tang era.
But I would give him a little more time before you hit the panic button and move on to seriously concerned.
Since Tang was hired as coach, the Wildcats have lost eight players to the NCAA transfer portal without replacing a single one of them on the roster.
That’s ... not good.
The volume of departing transfers isn’t a huge cause for concern. Outside of Nijel Pack and to a lesser extent Selton Miguel and Davion Bradford no one is sad to see those players leave. Bruce Weber didn’t have an abundance of quality Big 12 players on his final few teams, and that is one of the main reasons why he is no longer coaching the Wildcats.
The beauty of the transfer portal is that it can give and take. Fans overreacted last season when below average players transferred away from K-State. But the team improved thanks to the additions of Markquis Nowell, Mark Smith and Ismael Massoud.
Tang and his staff can upgrade most of the spots on K-State’s roster via the transfer portal. It just hasn’t happened yet.
That is a little concerning. Missouri hired Dennis Gates at the same time as K-State hired Tang, and he has already excited that fan base with an influx of incoming recruits and transfers.
I would have predicted that Tang would have landed at least one new player by now.
Not doing so has taken away some of the excitement he built at his introductory news conference.
But he will probably start adding players in the near future.
K-State seems in good shape with Cleveland State guard D’Moi Hodge (15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds last season). Much like Tang, he was born in the Caribbean. I won’t be surprised if he commits to K-State in the near future.
The Wildcats also seem to be trending up with Bradley transfer Terry Roberts ( 14.5 points, 4,9 rebounds last season).
If Tang adds both of them by the end of the month, concerns will dwindle. After all, you don’t get bonus points for speed in recruiting. If Tang is still looking for his first new recruit in May, we will all be wondering what the heck is going on.
In short: It’s a situation to monitor, but it’s not worth getting worked up about just yet.
E-MAIL QUESTION: Do we have any idea what Kansas State’s basketball schedule will look like in Year 1 of Jerome Tang? - Jeff M.
Here is a list of the known opponents that K-State has lined up for nonconference play next season:
Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Wichita State, Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Nebraska (KC) and Radford.
The Wildcats will also play three games in the Cayman Islands Classic with a field that includes Akron, Illinois State, Rhode Island, LSU, Tulane, Nevada and Western Kentucky.
And we can’t forget about the Big 12/SEC Challenge (home) and the Big 12/Big East Battle (away).
That leaves two openings for Tang to add to the schedule. I’m guessing the Wildcats will look to schedule two more easy home games, but we shall see. The occasional true road game can also help.
I totally understand where Chris Klieman is coming from when he says he doesn’t like the idea of a traditional spring game. There is no reason to push an injured roster beyond its limits and risk more setbacks for the sake of holding a glorified scrimmage in front of fans.
The old format Bill Snyder used to have for spring games (four full quarters of action that lasted three hours) felt like torture for everyone involved.
I am happy never to cover that again.
But I also don’t see the harm in opening up one practice for curious fans. Or putting on some type of skills challenge. Or holding an autograph session.
I like the idea of doing something each spring for the fans, especially for recruits to see the support.
I also don’t think it’s a big deal that Klieman closed all 15 of his practices to fans this spring, because of unique circumstances. The bits and pieces of practice I watched this spring were rather boring.
So I guess I don’t have a strong opinion either way.
Yes and yes.
Given everything Deuce Vaughn has accomplished during his first two seasons as Kansas State’s lead running back (2,046 yards and 25 touchdowns as a rusher, plus 74 catches for 902 yards and six touchdowns as a receiver) I would honestly be surprised if he has a strong junior campaign and then decides to return to college as a senior.
He has already earned consensus All-American honors as an all-purpose player.
He has already helped K-State win a bowl game.
He has already proven his doubters wrong.
Three years of college football might be all he needs before he makes the jump for the NFL.
If he stays on his current trajectory, he will very much have a decision to make about his pro future at the end of the 2022 season. For now, let’s just enjoy that we get to watch him play at least one more year in a K-State uniform.
Vaughn can also enter the Heisman conversation this season, but becoming a finalist for the award will be quite a bit trickier than simply establishing himself as a NFL Draft candidate. A player needs team success to be taken serious in the Heisman race. K-State will probably need to win 10 games next season for him to have a shot.
While that is certainly a possibility, it is far from a given. It’s also worth noting that Vaughn hasn’t earned first team All-Big 12 honors as a running back yet. It’s not like voters will be looking for reasons to consider him.
Vaughn could still make a Heisman push on an average K-State team next season, his stats would just have to be out of this world.
Will Howard answered this question for me last year when he agreed to burn his redshirt and play in the final game of the regular season against Texas.
The Wildcats didn’t know if their quarterback of the future was already on the roster or in the NCAA transfer portal at the time. Howard wanted to try and prove to everyone that he was ready to lead the offense and win.
A good showing against Texas would have solidified his case as the heir apparent to Skylar Thompson and made K-State coaches hesitant about exploring transfer QB options during the off season.
Then he went out and threw for just 65 yards. Texas won 22-17. It was such an ugly performance that Courtney Messingham lost his job as offensive coordinator a week later and Collin Klein was having dinner with Adrian Martinez the day he announced he was transferring away from Nebraska.
It was beyond clear that Howard wasn’t ready to take control of this offense. Martinez is a major upgrade in the short term.
Howard may still be the quarterback of the future. He remains significantly ahead of Jake Rubley and Jaren Lewis. Believe it or not, he can redshirt this season and still play three more years afterward.
They are all being developed right now. That won’t stop because Martinez leads the offense next season.
M - Pace of play. Klieman actually had some insightful things to say in response to that question. He wants the Wildcats to go no huddle some of the time and run more plays than they did last season. But if K-State jumps out to a 14-point lead, it makes sense to go a little slower. He wants to find a happy medium.
F - Backup QB. As someone who thinks it would make a good story for Will Howard to become a quality quarterback in 2023 and beyond, I don’t hate hearing about Klieman talk him up.
K - Anything about uniforms. His answers don’t do anything for me. He always says he would like to wear new uniforms, but NIKE is too busy with other things to ship new uniforms to Manhattan in a timely fashion. What a bunch of malarkey. If that were the case, then why is just about every other NIKE school churning through new uniforms every week? I think that answer is just a cover. I don’t think he cares about new uniforms, because every time the Wildcats tried to wear something new during his first season they lost.
In my family, the only thing you really want on Easter is a pack of Cadbury Cream Eggs.
Those are probably my favorite chocolate candies of all time.
As long as those are in your Easter basket, you’re happy. Ham is good for dinner. But it’s nothing without those delicious eggs!
I hope this mailbag was good enough to tide everyone over for a while, because I am taking next week off. It’s been a wild first four months to the year on the K-State beat, and I need a few days off.
See you all again in two weeks!
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 5:00 AM.