Another year, another question about depth.
It’s a running theme lately. Kansas State’s secondary comes with more questions than answers. Of course, that was the case last year and for the most part the unit vastly exceeded expectations. Will they repeat that in 2024?
After last season, the Wildcats lost some major contributors in the secondary. Star safety Kobe Savage transferred to Oregon. Will Lee, who had flashes of great mixed with flashes of Iowa State, left for Texas A&M. Jordan Wright took off to Connecticut. Matt Maschmeier, who did some good work as a reserve at safety as a junior, graduated early.
The guys who’ll be starting have plenty of experience, but as usual depth is going to be the question.
The starting corners will almost certainly be junior Jacob Parrish and senior Keenan Garber. Olathe native Parrish earned All-Big 12 honorable mention, racking up four interceptions and 13 pass breakups. Like Lee, he was at times great and at times maddening, but that year of experience will likely result in more of the former than the latter. Garber, the former wide receiver from Lawrence, bulled his way into the starting lineup after converting to corner and looked very good.
The main backups will be redshirt senior Justice James, who saw some action last year, and senior Tyler Nelome, a transfer from Southeast Missouri State whose only gametime last year was against Southeast Missouri State. Junior Jordan Dunbar transferred in from Rice after taking a redshirt year in 2023; he’d been an All-CUSA honorable mention in 2022 and will likely contribute. Sophomore Kanijal Thomas and redshirt freshman Donovan McIntosh are probably next in line based purely on talent; between them the only game action in the secondary was Thomas appearing against Troy.
Also on the roster: sophomore Joe Hall III, who has some special teams experience, redshirt freshman Jayden Cook, true freshman Zashon Rich, and junior Darell Jones, who’s been in town for three years without seeing a snap.
There’s more experienced depth at safety, despite the loss of Savage and Maschmeier. Marques Sigle returns for his senior season having grown an awful lot over the 2023 campaign. Early on, the North Dakota State transfer’s play was severely problematic. By the end of the season, he’d grown dramatically; he picked off a pass to ice the win at Kansas and earned himself honorable mention for both All-Big 12 and Big 12 defensive newcomer.
Across from Sigle, VJ Payne returns. The junior started all 13 games last year, mostly at nickel. He had one interception on the year, and posted ten tackles in K-State’s bowl win.
The third starter at safety in the Wildcats’ 3-3-5 alignment is still in question. Jordan Riley, a senior transfer who started 24 games at Ball State in 2022-23, is fighting it out with redshirt freshman Jack Fabris, son of former Wildcat coach Jon Fabris. Jack played in four games last year, preserving his full eligibility, and had a couple of tackles in the bowl win.
The two guys who should get most of the time behind Sigle and Payne are redshirt freshman Wesley Fair and sophomore Colby McCalister, who started the season opener last year while Sigle was recovering from injury, as well as the Pop-Tarts bowl in Savage’s absence. He played well in the bowl game, and will certainly get a lot of snaps in 2024.
Junior Dante Thomas, a transfer from Southwest Mississippi JC after three years of reserve action at Northwestern State, leads the pack of reserves. Redshirt sophomore Daniel Cobbs is also in the mix, as well as redshirt senior Nickendre Stiger. Filling space for now are true freshmen Ben Wheeler and Callen Barta (no relation to Brooks, apparently), redshirt freshman Mikey Bergeron, sophomore Jet Dineen, and junior Trey Krause. Kam Sallis, a redshirt freshman who was listed as a safety last season, is now listed as a linebacker and could move back in need.
Again, the expected starters in the secondary are all returners, all experienced, and all serviceable. If they can all make it through 2024 in one piece, it should be a good year, and the limited extent to which Chris Klieman, Joe Klanderman, and Van Malone attacked the transfer portal for help at corner and safety may speak to their confidence in the depth of the unit. But if injuries start taking their toll it’s still liable to be hairy, and K-State will have to hope the reserves step up the way they did in 2023. Keep your fingers crossed.