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Yesterday we looked briefly at some of the players that have had the biggest impact on K-State since the Big 12 was established in 1994. Today we’d like to open it up to you, the reader, in helping to determine the greatest Wildcat over the past two decades.

While it’s tricky to determine who should and shouldn’t make the cut, we’ve come up with five very solid options. Three of the players were/are coveted by NFL teams (LB Arthur Brown, QB Josh Freeman, and RB Darren Sproles). The other two (QB Michael Bishop and QB Collin Klein) found trouble trying to translate their ability to run the option to perfection into the NFL, but both placed within the top three in Heisman voting their final year and led their teams to top ten BCS rankings.

So here are your options for the top five. And if you don’t like the list, click ‘other’ and say something in the discussion thread below. Additionally, if you’re having trouble deciding, head back over to yesterday’s article for a brief recap of what each player brought to the table when they suited up in the white and purple. (Find that blog post here.)

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David Ubben recently profiled his top ten Big 12 football players of all time, and as most fans expected it was largely a Texas/Oklahoma lovefest (big money athletic departments do, after all, get the big money recruits). I was hopeful that at least one Wildcat would land on the list, but alas K-State was completely overlooked for the list. Which begs the question – what Wildcat in the Big 12 era is the most deserving to be listed among the top ten players in conference history? Here are my candidates:

Darren Sproles

Sproles is among the most accomplished Wildcats in the NFL to-date. After serving as LaDainian Tomlinson’s backup and return man for several years in San Diego, he moved to New Orleans and became one of the most explosive weapons in the league while serving the most dangerous offense in the NFL. Sproles was an absolute star in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game, running all over an undefeated Oklahoma team which including a 60-yard reception en route to a 35-7 victory. During his time in Manhattan, Sproles accumulated just under 5,000 yards rushing. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry and punched in 45 touchdowns during his time on campus.

Josh Freeman

In a list of three stellar quarterbacks, Freeman collected the fewest accolades. However, it’s dangerous to believe this is a reflection on his abilities. Freeman came of age during the Ron Prince era when coaching was lacking, and, let’s be honest, Bill Snyder left a pretty barren cabinet in the mid-2000s. However, before he was a starting NFL quarterback for Tampa Bay, Freeman carried the team on his back at times during three seasons before leaving early for the draft. He accumulated a 125 passer rating (136 his junior year) and threw for 34 touchdowns while rushing for another 20 over 35 games. He was drafted in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft.

Arthur Brown

Brown has a couple issues working against him, the first of which is he didn’t start his college career as a Wildcat, transferring from Miami to K-State and only serving two years on the team. However, he was once of the most ferocious defenders to ever fill K-State’s linebacker position (who else – Ben Leber? Mark Simoneau?). As a conference defensive player of the year, he enjoyed two incredible seasons on campus. As a junior Brown registered 95 tackles, two sacks and one interception. He followed that performance up with a senior year performance of 91 tackles, two interceptions, six tackles for loss and one sack.

Michael Bishop

Bishop provided fans with a tremendous amount of exciting talent without the decision-making abilities to succeed at the next level. The Blinn Junior College transfer came to Manhattan after Bill Snyder was the only coach to offer him the opportunity to play quarterback (everyone else wanted him at defensive back). He started all 25 games during his two years in Manhattan while compiling a 22-3 record. He finished fourth all-time on the team in passing with 4,401 yards and ranked second all-time behind Lynn Dickey with 5,715 total yards of offense. He finished second in Heisman voting to Texas’s Ricky Williams.

Collin Klein

If you’re reading this blog, I’m going out on a limb and guessing you’re a fan of K-State football. Or you at least have an inkling of what happened in NCAA football this year. Which means you know the magical run he had. And if you think anyone has been more valuable to their Big 12 team save maybe Vince Young or RGIII, you’re insane. The briefest of synopses: third in Heisman voting, led team to Big 12 Championship and berth in the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls, 4,573 yards throwing, 2,455 yards rushing over his career while accounting for 85 touchdowns for K-State.

Honorable mentions

Terence Newman, Daniel Thomas, any Lockett to ever suit up

So, EMAW fanatics, whose your pick for greatest Wildcat in the Big 12? And were they robbed a spot in the list of top 10 best Big 12 players?

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Standing at five feet, six inches, the NFL’s Darren Sproles set the standard for small, shifty backs coming out of the backfield to bust huge runs for K-State. Senior John Hubert isn’t much taller at 5’7″. Yet despite their diminutive height, both names have become legend across the state (in fact, as a sophomore Hubert was named the starter over current Eagles running back Bryce Brown in 2011). So it should be no surprise that the player emerging to back up Hubert this only reaches 64 inches on the measuring tape (that’d be the 5’4″ senior Robert Rose).

Rose was the featured back during the team’s annual spring game last Saturday as Hubert was held out with an undisclosed leg injury. Filling in as starter, Rose averaged 8.3 yards/carry by gaining 141 yards on 17 attempts against the second team defense. His long run was 33 yards.

Rose is a different runner than Hubert, and provides some opportunity to serve as a change-of-pace back. Weighing in at 176 pounds, he is much shiftier and looks juke defenders out of tackles – Hubert is more suited to plow through them. Should he see much playing time this year, Rose would provide a different look to opposing defenses.

Rose is among a handful of returning running backs with very little experience looking to replace 2012 back up Angelo Pease. Rose played in the first two games last season but did not see any further action while gaining nine yards on four attempts. He was slightly more productive in 2011 with 35 yards on nine carries for 3.9 yards/attempt.

Hubert was not the only running back held out of the Purple-White game – redshirt freshman Jarvis Levertt and junior DeMarcus Robinson also spent the scrimmage on the sidelines. Robinson was slightly more productive than Rose in 2012 with 25 yards on six carries, with both players getting three carries against Miami as their most active of the season. Robinson, who stands at just 5’6″, is a step behind Rose on the depth chart this year but would love nothing more than to make himself the next great yet compact K-State running back.

As the NFL season comes to a close this Superbowl Sunday, The Jug will be looking back at how Wildcat alumni fared in the 2012 season. For our first installment, we go big with a perpetual fan favorite, New Orleans running back Darren Sproles.

Almost a decade removed from graduation, Darren Sproles remains legend around K-State’s campus. As a senior, Sproles led the nation in rushing yards and eviscerated the #1 Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 championship game, helping the Wildcats to a 35-7 victory while finishing fifth in Heisman voting. After finding his way to New Orleans in 2011, Sproles broke out and demonstrated the same home run threat Wildcat fans fondly remember.

Standing at only 5’6″, Sproles received the nickname “noseeum” after moving to the Saints – a nosseum is a local insect that is too small to see but produces painful bites. While Sproles was part of an offense featuring Drew Brees – who set the single-season passing record in 2011 – while finishing 13-3, the infamous body scandal left the organization emotionally scarred and without head coach Sean Payton, who was suspended for the year. Yet while the Saints dropped to 7-9 this year, Sproles has refused to lose a step and put up another season of fantastic numbers in a system that features several running backs distributes the ball around the team.

Sproles only finished with 244 rushing yards this year, his lowest output since playing backup to Ladainian Tomlinson in San Diego. However, he made the most of his opportunities by averaging a full 5.1 yards per carry with one touchdown in 13 games. The scat back would have been even productive but missed three games towards the end of the season with a hand injury. In addition to his rushing yardage, Sproles caught 75 passes for 667 yards in 2012. Utilizing Sproles in screens and quick passes out of the backfield is where he has proven most lethal, and he averaged 8.9 yards/catch while hauling in an additional seven touchdowns through the air.

Although he’s taken on a much greater role since leaving the Chargers for the Saints in free agency, he retains primary return duties in addition to his job as running back. In his 13 games Sproles returned 18 kickoffs with an average return of 26.8 yards (although Sproles typically handles 40-50 returns each year, the NFL’s new kickoff rules made touchbacks more likely as kick returners around the league experienced significantly diminished total production). Sproles also handled 37 punts in 2012, with 14 fair catches and 23 returns. He netted 183 yards on those returns, for an average gain of eight.

Sproles finished the season strong, with just three carries for one yard but eight catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. He has not indicated any signs of slowing down after eight years in the NFL, and should be even more productive in the 2013 season with head coach Payton calling plays again on the sideline.

How do you guys feel about this deal for the Saints? For the Chargers? Does it do anything to Sproles’s fantasy value? Feel free to discuss in the comment section below.