Spring Game Déjà VU

I know we’re a little late here at jug of Snyder but I wanted to take a look at one specific area that seems to be a reoccurring source of false hope for Kansas State fans. Every spring as football practices begin there’s excitement in the air. News starts pouring in about which newcomers are showing promise, which returners are stepping it up, and how this might be a breakout year for the team we love. This year’s game pushed Arthur brown to the forefront of the Kansas State scene with write-ups about his speed and ability to find the ball. That’s all great, and I think he’s going to be the same throughout the season but there was another “star” that has me worried. Continue reading to find out which player it is.

Last year’s spring game featured a thrashing of the defense. The final score was 79-0 if I remember correctly and the big story taken from the game was the resurgence of Carson Coffman. As summer rolled into Wildcat Nation it looked like we had a solid arm to keep defenses from keying all 11 of their players on the D-Train. Here are Coffman’s numbers from the spring game and his quarterback rating:

38 comp / 51 att, 440 yards, 7 TD, 0 INT….. QB rating of 139.7

Like I said, Coffman seemed to have found his throwing ability during the offseason and cleared up any questions about who would be starting come September. Unfortunately, September actually came and Coffman’s reign as the clear cut starter lasted about 3 games. Here are Coffman’s  total 2010 season stats and quarterback rating:

171 comp / 263 att, 2060 yards, 14 TD, 7 INT…. QB rating of 95.5

Quite a different QB. The biggest shock wasn’t the 44 point drop in the Qb rating either. It was that Coffman only threw 7 more touchdowns than he did in the spring game over the entire season! I understand K-State had Daniel Thomas to smash it in but really?! What had been high hopes ended in a big thud and while Coffman played average enough to co-lead (with Klein) Kansas State to a bowl game it obviously didn’t live up to the spring game hype.

That brings us to this year’s spring game. Enter Collin Klein and throw in the same big output. Here are Klein’s stats from the spring game:

25 comp / 37 att, 358 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT…. QB rating of 138.2

See… déjà vu. I hope beyond all hope this isn’t another Coffman situation. Even more than that, I hope this isn’t signaling that we have absolutely no defense again like Coffman’s spring game performance ended up actually being a sign of. Klein’s stats are a little harder to interpret seeing that he only totaled 18 passes in all of his games last year but let’s not assume anything yet. I’m expecting an average year from Klein and pleading for more.