Latest news with #KState
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
13 DAYS TO 2025 KICKOFF: Blake Barnett
Goal No. 13: EXPECT TO WIN. And truly believe we will. Position: Quarterback Previous College: None Projection: Third-String Status: On Scholarship Blake Barnett (b. Dec. 9, 2005) is a talented young 4-star quarterback from Erie High School in Colorado who is majoring in business administration. He enrolled in time for 2024 spring practices at K-State. Last season, Barnett redshirted and did not play in order to learn the playbook. But there has been a lot of positive commentary about him from the coaches and he could well end this season as the primary backup to Avery Johnson, who had a lot of praise last October for his possible future understudy: The dude is a competitor, and he works really hard. He doesn't want to lose in anything he does, and that''s a great trait as a quarterback. You can get caught up in all the stats, but at the end of the day, you just want a win in that column, and that''s how he is. He works hard, he''s really smart and he has a really strong arm. He''s really talented. He definitely is going to be a player to watch in the years to come. 'Blake makes plays. He's got to minimize some mistakes, as do all the quarterbacks,' Chris Klieman said in July. Back in the spring, new offensive coordinator Matt Wells said, 'Blake finally getting in and being healthy showed great improvement.' You can read more here about how Barnett impressed the coaches last October as he became more healthy, but here's the highlights from Klieman: Blake Barnett was fun to watch because we missed him during the spring. He missed all of spring football, so for him to truly get an opportunity — he just first learned the offense in fall camp — for him to now run scout team and then play quarterback and do K-State stuff, that was fun for us to see. We saw some really good things out of Blake, but that was fun because we hadn't really had a chance to see that yet. A four-year letter-winner and two-year team captain at Erie under head coach Jeff Giger, Barnett was rated the top overall player in the state of Colorado for the Class of 2024 by Rivals, while the organization viewed him as the seventh-best dual-threat quarterback in the class. He also was rated the top overall prospect in the state by On3, in addition to being ranked as the 17th-best dual-threat quarterback in the country by ESPN. A three-year first-team all-state player by the Colorado High School Activities Association, Barnett also was named Class 4A Player of the Year as a senior after he started all 43 career games and led the Tigers to a 36-7 record, including a state championship as a senior. He broke the Colorado state record for overall touchdowns with 159, a record that previously was held by current San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (141). Barnett threw for 7,518 yards and 88 touchdowns in addition to running for 3,420 yards and another 68 scores during his prep career, when he was a high school teammate of K-State offensive lineman John Pastore, who could be the starting left tackle at some point this year. He also was a three-year letter-winner in track — winning state championships in the 100-meter dash and 4×200-meter dash — while he was a two-year letter-winner in basketball. Barnett chose K-State over offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Kansas, Oregon State and Washington, as well as interest from Georgia and Illinois. His primary recruiter was former offensive coordinator Collin Klein. (P.S. Best wishes for a continued recovery from cancer to Barnett's father, Steve.)
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
34 DAYS TO 2025 KICKOFF: Weston Polk
Yes, I know today is actually 33 days until kickoff. Please bear with me this week as I work to catch back up. I had a medical emergency Friday night and have been out of commission for the past three days. In order for me to keep up with the Countdown, I will be taking an indefinite hiatus from the Protest Playoff posts until I'm feeling better. Position: Linebacker Previous College: None Projection: Redshirt Status: On Scholarship Weston Polk (b. Jan. 17, 2006) is a speedy young linebacker from Coppell (Texas) High School who plans on majoring in agribusiness. He is likely to redshirt and not play in 2025. Polk prepped under head coach Antonio Wiley at Coppell, where he was rated the 24th-best inside linebacker in the country for the Class of 2025 by ESPN. Named the district defensive player of the year as a senior, he also was a first-team all-district honoree as a junior and an honorable mention pick as a sophomore. Polk tallied 183 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, seven sacks, an interception, four passes defended, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries in his career, which included an 86-tackle, 15-TFL effort as a senior, leading Coppell to the regional round of the state playoffs. He also competed in track and field in high school. Polk signed with K-State over offers from Arkansas State, California, Houston, Iowa State, Memphis, North Texas, Oregon State, TCU, Texas State, Tulsa and UTEP, as well as interest from Notre Dame. His lead recruiters were defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and his new position coach, Steve Stanard. Said Gabe Brooks of 247Sports, regarding Polk's athletic potential at the next level: Athletic second-level defender with experience at linebacker, safety, and even edge. Perhaps his most impressive trait is ability to suddenly redirect in pursuit. Combine testing data reflect that attribute as well. More of a space defender than man defender at this point, but owns the athletic makeup to succeed in both in the long term. Instincts. Simply put, Polk is a natural at his position. You don't rack up the statistics that he did at that level in Texas without having a true feel of the game. Physical between the tackles, Polk processes his angles quickly and times his blitzes well. Watching his game is incredibly fluid for a high school linebacker. Rarely makes the wrong read.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. News & World Report ranked 2 Kansas universities higher than last year
Two colleges ranked higher on a national ranking list than last year. U.S. News & World Report ranked 436 national public universities based on class sizes, graduation rate and other factors. Out of the four Kansas Universities, Kansas State University and Wichita State University ranked higher this year than last year's list, and the University of Kansas and Baker University ranked lower. U.S. News is a media company that publishes independent reports and rankings in education, travel, cars real estate and other topics. It annual posts a ranking for colleges and universities at a national, regional and state level. K-State, located in Manhattan, was ranked 170th nationally last year. This year the university is ranked 165th nationally and second in Kansas. It's also ranked 91st in the Top Public Schools category and 130th in the Best Value Schools category. KSU has a 47% four-year graduation rate, an 18:1 student to faculty ratio and 47% of the university's courses have fewer than 20 students. Wichita State, located in Wichita, ranked 332nd nationally last year but went up in score to a tied 296th place nationally this year. The university also placed third in the state and 161st in the Top Public Schools category. It has a 31% four-year graduation rate, a 20:1 student to faculty ratio and 48% of its courses have fewer than 20 students. KU, located in Lawrence, ranked first in the state and 151st nationally last year. The university went down one place this year. It also ranked 81st in the Top Public Schools category and 96th in the Best Value Schools category. The university has a 54% four-year graduation rate, a 17:1 student to faculty ratio and 42% of the school's courses have fewer than 20 students. Baker University 345th in the nation last year and dropped to 371st this year. The university has a 47% four-year graduation rate, a 12:1 student to faculty ratio and 76% of its courses have fewer than 20 students in them. The universities didn't provide comment. This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How four Kansas universities fared on U.S. News' national rank list
