[DC Cat]

My takeaway from that description is Kansas State lacks quality depth.  Every team suffers injuries to some degree.  And though Stanford has in general stayed healthy this decade, without good depth, it's tough to win conference championships.  It's not just having your starters stay healthy.  It's having enough guys to play to spell the starters without much of a drop-off, particularly on defense. And I would imagine that because KSU relies on JC transfers so much, that depth is never going to be a strong suit for the program.

To me the challenge KSU usually presents is a running QB.  How good of a runner is the projected QB?

This is 100% true. When we have been successful it is because we have managed to stay healthy. To me this is a major reason why we have such a poor record in bowl games. Luckily for us we get Stanford in our first game instead of some sort of mid-season matchup. So hopefully that means we can avoid fielding a team lacking our best playmakers.

Because I haven't seem him play more than two snaps as a QB I don't know whether Ertz is explosive as a runner. So, I posed the question to our message board and the first and probably most accurate response was:

"I hear he is pretty good, when his knee isn't exploding into a million pieces."

While we won't know exactly how well Ertz will run, I guarantee you that our offensive philosophy will have him running straight at the defense a lot. There is also word that he has an above average arm and is the most accurate passer on the team. Alex Delton (RS Fr. QB), who is also back this year from injury, is said be our best runner. He is quick and very elusive.

[DC Cat]

My takeaway from that description is Kansas State lacks quality depth.  Every team suffers injuries to some degree.  And though Stanford has in general stayed healthy this decade, without good depth, it's tough to win conference championships.  It's not just having your starters stay healthy.  It's having enough guys to play to spell the starters without much of a drop-off, particularly on defense. And I would imagine that because KSU relies on JC transfers so much, that depth is never going to be a strong suit for the program.

To me the challenge KSU usually presents is a running QB.  How good of a runner is the projected QB?

This is 100% true. When we have been successful it is because we have managed to stay healthy. To me this is a major reason why we have such a poor record in bowl games. Luckily for us we get Stanford in our first game instead of some sort of mid-season matchup. So hopefully that means we can avoid fielding a team lacking our best playmakers.

Because I haven't seem him play more than two snaps as a QB I don't know whether Ertz is explosive as a runner. So, I posed the question to our message board and the first and probably most accurate response was:

"I hear he is pretty good, when his knee isn't exploding into a million pieces."

While we won't know exactly how well Ertz will run, I guarantee you that our offensive philosophy will have him running straight at the defense a lot. There is also word that he has an above average arm and is the most accurate passer on the team. Alex Delton (RS Fr. QB), who is also back this year from injury, is said be our best runner. He is quick and very elusive.