Why Kansas State coach Chris Klieman isn’t ready to commit to a QB plan for Houston
Chris Klieman dodged the question like a smooth-talking politician.
Does the Kansas State football team plan to continue using both Will Howard and Avery Johnson in an even quarterback rotation when the Wildcats host Houston at 11 a.m. on Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium?
“I really don’t know,” Klieman said this week. “We will have to wait until Saturday.”
No one can blame Klieman for playing coy about the K-State quarterback situation. It seems like there is no wrong choice for him to make when it comes to Howard and Johnson right now.
Two weeks ago, the Wildcats pivoted to Johnson during a road game against Texas Tech. The freshman responded by guiding them to a 38-21 victory by rushing for 90 yards and a school record five touchdowns.
Last week, K-State decided to play two quarterbacks against TCU. Howard started the game. Johnson took over on the second drive. Then it was Howard’s turn again. Back and forth they went until the game was over and the Wildcats had won 41-3.
This time it was the veteran Howard who hogged the spotlight by throwing for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
That means K-State could reward Howard for his big game and increase his playing time against the Cougars. Or it could stick with what worked so well last week when the K-State offense rolled to 587 yards.
For now, all options are on the table.
“That’s really hard when you don’t know who’s coming in the game,” Klieman said. “You can make the adjustment and then the other guy comes in and then you have got to (go) back to that. Then that guy runs a series and you have to make an adjustment. Is it what we want to do all season? I don’t know. I don’t think so. But, like last week, it worked because it’s really hard to do what those guys do.”
If Howard and Johnson had their way, it sounds like both players would prefer to revert back to a more traditional QB plan that revolves heavily around one passer.
On Saturday, Johnson said he had never been in and out of a game that much before. Howard compared the QB rotation to playing on his junior varsity team as a high school freshman.
“It’s not up to me,” Howard said. “I just have to control what I can control and help support Avery. He helped support me. That is what we have got to do.”
Howard had an interesting response when asked what he thought he did best against TCU.
“Just the way I handled the situation,” Howard said. “Not being an ideal situation for a quarterback, I think how we both handled it and were able to to kind of feed off each other was the best part of it.”
Maybe K-State coaches will ask them to do the same against Houston. Perhaps they have a different plan in store.
The Cougars will have to prepare for both scenarios.