The buildup: Palpable. The wait? Almost over.

In relative terms, this has been one of the shortest off-seasons in Kansas State history after a Jan. 4 bowl game. The wait, officially 242 days, is now down to a matter of hours for the Wildcats to charge onto the Astroturf surface of Bill Snyder Family Stadium before a near-sellout crowd.

A shorter wait hasn’t lessened eagerness for a fired-up fan base. Just enough new faces have built anxiety around the program directed to an extent of the unknown entering Saturday against South Dakota. A new quarterback in Adrian Martinez. The return from injury, linebacker/hybrid rush Khalid Duke. Key offensive line shift. A highly-anticipated return engagement of Felix Anudike-Uzomah.

This could be the most anticipated home opener since the 2013 debut of the West Stadium Center, with Coach Chris Klieman in command of the program for Year 4. A year ago, K-State had a game under its belt when the team opened at home against Southern Illinois University. This year’s opponent, the South Dakota Coyotes, played in the 2021 FCS playoffs and were defeated by SIU.

The 2022 opener means a fresh start for Martinez, who garnered some labels at Nebraska that he’s eager to shed. Duke’s return after missing 11 games is another among the anticipated facets for Saturday’s 6 p.m. kickoff at Snyder Stadium. With no Vegas line for the FCS-FBS matchup, K-State is an approximate 20-point favorite. Since 1990, Kansas State is 28-4 in season-opening games.

Under Klieman, the Wildcats are 2-1 in openers including a 24-7 win in 2021.

The number of position battles was less intriguing this fall than was the contemplation of position moves such as Cooper Beebe (tackle-to-guard) and Duke back to linebacker or what’s expected to be a hybrid role. Last year, K-State wanted to stick to a newly implemented 3-3-5 scheme but was prepared to ditch the new front altogether if things had gone poorly at AT&T Stadium last Sept. 4, 2021. Against Stanford, coaches were prepared to rush back to a 4-2-5 and take stock before Week 2.

The switch was effective and K-State stuck with 3-man for about 97-98% of the season’s plays. Anudike-Uzomah emerged as a big-time playmaker and the Wildcats hope they have more defensively in Nate Matlack, Daniel Green and Joshua Hayes. Not to mention Duke, who is big, fast, and a bit of an unknown coming off of ACL surgery from one season ago.

As much as any change, Beebe’s move to left guard could predicate great things for the Wildcat running game and all-Big 12 selection Deuce Vaughn. Now, it’s a matter of putting the plan into action and making it work. As for Beebe at guard, he’s basically, not to mention subtly, played out of position for two seasons and now moves to a natural position. Inserted at left guard in the 2020 Baylor road game, Beebe turned into part Randy Cross, part John Hannah with an added dose of Will Shields. A beast.

The Piper pummeler “enjoys manhandling” people in the trenches. Playing guard gives him a better opportunity to mix it up. Beebe says: “It’s a little easier than going against the quick guys on the outside.” K-State’s offensive line should be a mostly veteran crew with the return of Taylor Poitier at right guard, though Hayden Gillum hasn’t seen an abundance of live-round snaps at center.

From Beebe: “We’re trying to run down people’s throats if we can. Keep the defense on their heels and keep pushing the tempo. We’re gonna make dudes quit this year. It’s going to be fun to watch.”

Vaughn surpassed 2,000 career yards on his penultimate carry of the 2021 season, a 48-yard jaunt that dented the psyche of the LSU Tigers. In the off-season, Vaughn from Round Rock, Texas, simply went to work to improve his body, balance and bulk. Mission accomplished in all three areas. Bigger, faster, better.

Vaughn says: “Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) would have a specific workout for us to attack the upper body, lower body … also grab a little PB&J after to make sure you gain a little bit of weight. I was able to do that.” Nothing seems to be out of reach for the 5-foot-6, Atom Vaughn. Two hundred fifty carries; 8 yards per … 2,000 yards?

Don’t doubt Deuce, who intends to “make sure I’m just pouring everything I can into getting ready for the season. (Going dark on social media) is something that really propelled me into this season. I’m ready to go.”

The injury situation looked like it could be dire back in March as with “The Pit” filled six months ago, the Wildcats had an eye on Sept. 3 and beyond. The Pit became the tag for an area off the field where the surgically repaired gathered during practices. It was a crowded bunch and included Martinez, Duke and Anudike-Uzomah. The Cats have nursed players back to health – kudos go out to head athletic trainer Mindy Hoffman and strength and conditioning guru Trumain Carroll for their roles – and all are available Saturday except for linebacker Will Honas, the Wichita native who spent four seasons at Nebraska.

A 442-yard, Texas Bowl performance was a great start for Collin Klein’s promotion to offensive coordinator. Now Klein needs to break in a new quarterback and find reps to build value in a backup running back. Not to mention discover the proper offensive sync on opening night at the Bill. Oh, and calm the nerves after his name goes up on the Ring of Honor with QB predecessor Ell Roberson III, Tyler Lockett and three other former Wildcat greats. Other than that, just a normal ballgame.

“It’s our job to go out there and maybe ease his nerves,” Martinez said Tuesday. “I’m sure he’s gonna be going through a lot of emotions and we got to go out there and do our jobs for him.”

Klein on the offensive approach: “A nything and everything new that we’ ve asked them to do, they’ ve dove in, attacked it, prepared extremely hard. That’ s where my excitement and confidence come from is just their mindset, their approach, their mentality and hunger to get after it.”

Klein and three other Power 5 coordinators direct offenses at the same schools at which they played. The others: Tavita Pritchard (Stanford, fifth season), Tommy Rees (Notre Dame, third) and Brandon Streeter (Clemson, first). Like Klein, Streeter coached in Clemson’s 2021 bowl game and moves into a full-time role. The kid from Loveland, Colo., is ready to cut it loose.

The statistics are sound; the end results … desultory. Adrian Martinez hauls a lot of baggage across the border from Nebraska. In every story, there are binary outlooks. From one perspective, Martinez was a warrior, an exemplary teammate and an extraordinary athlete. From another, he underachieved, turned the ball over too much and never lifted a team on his shoulder to overcome obstacles.

The jury is out, even as he’ll be entering his 40th college contest for the K-State Wildcats. Martinez’s story is well-documented. He underwent off-season surgery last November on his throwing shoulder. He played with a broken jaw … he played with a broken jaw!?!

Martinez has averaged nearly 2,700 total yards per season, with almost 220 passing each week. No. 9 in purple will bring it, it’s simply the turnover issue that hangs above his shoulders. He threw two picks in a Week 11, 35-28 loss to Wisconsin, and four in a 14-of-29 showing against Purdue (2 TDs). The ledger shows an INT in every 35 throws. Martinez must wash that element from his system, like the contents of a cooler that overturn at Blue Rapids and float downstream.

“I’ve been very impressed with his football knowledge and football IQ, work ethic and level of understanding,” said Klein, o-coordinator and QB leader for the Wildcats. “We know he has great physical tools to work with. I’ve just been so impressed with his character and how good he’s been for our team.”

In 30 years, USD alums will still be buying Carson Camp beers at the Main Street Pub between Center and Prospect streets in Vermillion, S.D. Last November, Camp’s 57-yard fling to wideout Jeremiah Webb beat intrastate rival South Dakota State, ranked fourth in the FCS. The play started with :01 on the game clock after a fourth-down pass launched by SDSU was intended to run out the clock. It didn’t. Camp eluded a three-man rush and nearly shot-putted the ball 55 yards from his own 40 … about five yards short of the end zone. Two tips helped the ball find Webb, no longer with the Coyotes, at the 1 and Webb took one step into the end zone.

Camp is … and in his third season as a starter though just a sophomore eligibility-wise, after a 2,252-yard campaign. Left tackle Alex Jensen (6-7, 290) has FBS size and leads a front-five with four returners. A pair of Floridians, Myles Harden and Cam Tisdale are the secondary stalwarts that Martinez must solve.

South Dakota coach Bob Nielson has won 215 games including 45 in the last nine seasons at the FCS level (Western Illinois and USD). Nielson’s head-coaching career intersects with Bill Snyder’s first season at K-State, as Nielson launched his 30-year career in the captain’s chair at tiny Ripon College, a D-III school in Wisconsin whose mascot is the Red Hawks.

The Wildcats made a wholesale dive into secondary additions. The transfer portal was like an open ship porthole, and DC Joe Klanderman’s plan is that K-State doesn’t take on water with a group weakness. Early assessments – albeit before a single live snap – show a veteran group, one that even edged TJ Smith out of the 1’s group. To be clear, there will be plenty of rotations in the back-three as Joshua Hayes, Kobe Savage and Drake Cheatham combine with freshman VJ Payne, Smith and Cincere Mason. The portal also saw the addition of 2-deep corner Jordan Wright out of Collierville, Tenn. (Fullerton College).

Klanderman and associate head coach Van Malone will be busy making adjustments with an entirely new group alongside starting CBs Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents. Keep an eye on the deep ball and intermediate mesh routes for a few games to test the safety unit and see if they’re up to the challenge.

“I’m eager to see what they do on game day, but they’re certainly impressive at practice,” Klanderman indicated.

More than a year ago, Oregon fans were in a frenzy when coaches announced Kayvon Thibodeaux would move from a rush-end spot. The whole truth was Thibodeaux would be used in a more dynamic role, and that’s the expectation for Kansas State and Khalid Duke. First, Duke must show that he’s fully back from an ACL tear suffered in the Nevada game on Sept. 18, 2021.

Duke is a bit of a mythical legend in Manhattan, as he’s played a mere 12 games. But oh, how mammoth the Atlanta native has been. He was monstrous in a first-career start two years ago at Oklahoma. Duke recorded a sack in each of his first two 2021 outings and with Anudike-Uzomah’s and Green’s emergence, coaches are eager to cut him loose.

“He’s played enough football that now we just got to get him into game shape,” Klieman said of the listed junior who has made eight starts and only began to practice in the last 10 days of August. “But he knows what he’s doing and players like that, you just got to cut them loose and let them play.“

A couple of generations of K-State football will take a bow with the 2022 rendition of Ring of Honor. The players’ names will grace the west “alumni” side, below the suite level of Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The one name unassociated with the Snyder era is Larry Brown (1967-68) who played during the Vince Gibson era and went on to running back stardom with the Washington Redskins.

The others: Darren Howard (1996-99), Ell Roberson III (2000-2003), Collin Klein (2009-2012), Arthur Brown (2011-12) and Tyler Lockett (2011-14) played for Snyder in the last 25-year run of occasional excellence for the Wildcats.

Klein of Brown who was a linebacker standout and Miami transfer: “Just such a steady presence. He never said too much but everything he did say, everybody listened because it was from his heart.”

Klien on Lockett: “Just so raw, genuine, unbelievable leader, unbelievable talent and unbelievable teammate.”

Welcome to this episode of GoPowercat.com's Powercat Pregame Podcast featuring GoPowercat publisher Tim Fitzgerald, GPC's Ryan Wallace, football analyst Brien Hanley, a starting offensive lineman on the 1997 and 1998 K-State teams, and Ryan Gilbert, who reviews the gambling odds heading into the weekend. This week, Kansas State opens the 2022 season by playing host to the South Dakota Coyotes. The Powercat Pregame Podcast is proudly sponsored by  Robbins Motor Company.

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