The post-Brooks/SInnott era begins. Are the Cats in trouble?
Kansas State’s receiving corps was a bit of a weak link in 2023, and the unit’s performance in 2024 is mostly going to rest on improvement among the returning pieces.
There was attrition in the unit, but with a couple of exceptions the impact should be surprisingly small. Phillip Brooks and Seth Porter, both of whom had seemingly been in Manhattan since dinosaurs walked the earth, graduated. Brooks departs as a clear top-ten all-time receiver at K-State, while Porter may very well be the best non-kicking special teams player in school history.
RJ Garcia, who had a hand in some of Will Howard’s most inexplicable moments last season, read the tea leaves and decamped for Bowling Green. Xavier Loyd, who never saw much action, transferred to Illinois State. Wesley Watson followed Collin Klein to Texas A&M, and Erik Pizarro has graduated and may be arresting you in Manhattan someday soon as he’s joined the KSPD. Finally, Shane Porter moved on to North Texas after his brother graduated.
The largest problem here, of course, is the loss of Brooks. Of course, that would be more of an issue if it was Will Howard looking for a replacement target, but Avery Johnson had more success throwing to people who weren’t Brooks so it might not have much impact, and there’s already a piece in place which might end up being an even better version of Brooks.
The starters, then, will be the same guys we saw on the field most of the time over the final half of last season. Before getting to them, it’s worth noting that K-State’s third-leading receiver behind Brooks and Ben Sinnott was running back DJ Giddens, who’ll be returning to provide more outlet options for Avery Johnson.
Keagan Johnson returns after a 2023 that was a bit of a struggle. Johnson, a junior transfer from Iowa, started last season nursing injuries and never really found a groove with Will Howard until mid-season. On paper, Johnson hasn’t been a big play receiver; nine Wildcats had longer receptions than Keagan’s longest of 2023. It’s not irresponsible to presume that he’ll take over the Brooks role in its entirety going forward as a steady possession receiver.
Jayce Brown should be the guy on the opposite side of the field in a two-receiver set. Brown didn’t emerge until mid-season, but he was very impressive and developed a solid rapport with Avery Johnson. Despite only playing in ten games and not breaking into the starting lineup until after mid-season, Brown was fourth on the team in receptions, more than any other returning wideout, and had more receiving yards than anyone who’s still on the roster. To put this in real perspective for you: his true freshman season, amazingly, was statistically better than Tyler Lockett’s.
Dante Cephas, a senior transfer from Penn State who started his career at Kent State, is atop the depth chart in the three slot. He wasn’t all that impressive in State College, but he had over 2,000 yards receiving in his last two seasons at Kent and apparently showed enough chops in camp to snatch a #1.
The majority of breather snaps are likely to go to senior Jadon Jackson, who transferred in from Ole Miss two years ago and looked like The Guy early in 2023 when Keagan Johnson was still being used cautiously. Also expected to get a lot of play is senior Ty Bowman, playing the role of this season’s Seth Porter.
The last two spots on the official depth chart are taken up by redshirt freshman Tre Spivey and sophomore Sterling Lockett, neither of whom got a ton of play in 2023.
There are ten more dudes on the roster, and if any of them see snaps on offense it either means they played their heads off in practice or K-State is having serious problems. BYU transfer Quenton Rice (a cornerback in Provo), sophomores Isaac Koch and Erwin Nash, and redshirt freshman Andre Davis — zero career receptions between them — are joined by true freshmen Trae Davis, Zayden Martinez, Bryce Noernberg,’ Jacque Spradley-Demps, Jackson Voth, and Cooper Warren.
As for the tight ends, the most obvious absence is that of Ben Sinnott, who declared for the draft and was snatched up in the second round by the Washington Commanders. Jake Huggins (Eli’s younger brother) graduated and Christian Moore wandered off to UNLV, but they didn’t get a lot of action and the rest of the unit is intact.
Sophomore Garrett Oakley was the best non-Sinnott option in 2023 as a true freshman, and figures to be the primary target at tight end. Senior Will Swanson will join Oakley in two-TE sets. As receivers, none of the other tight ends on the roster have tallied receptions. Sophomore Brayden Loftin did see action as a tight end in 2023, while Will Anciaux and Andrew Metzger are redshirt freshmen who’ve made their way to the official depth chart.
Senior Justin Wolf has not; the transfer from Wagner does have some pass-catching experience but his FCS career was riddled with injuries. Junior Andrew Sonner has seen no game action yet in Manhattan; redshirt freshman Garrett Harstad and true freshman Blake Turner round out the unit.
Ultimately, the receiving corps will mostly be on par with 2023, presuming Keagan Johnson does fill the Phillip Brooks role. Replacing Sinnott’s big-play ability will be difficult, although Oakley has demonstrated that he might be able to step in there. The issue, then, is the effectiveness of the unit in 2023. We can’t sugarcoat this: for the most part, it wasn’t great. Brown’s emergenced helped a great deal later in the season, but many of the problems attributed to Will Howard were just as much (if not more) a result of poor route running and an inability to break free of coverage. Improvement over last year is going to be vitally important to make this unit work, especially with a quarterback whose arm remains to be tested.