Rapid Recap: Kansas State defensive ends shine

Big night for Kansas State defensive ends

The Kansas State defensive ends were a major bright spot in the 41-6 win over UT-Martin. K-State was consistently getting pressures and hits on Skyhawks quarterback Kinkead Dent . Two players in particular given strong praise by Chris Klieman in postgame were Brendan Mott and Tobi Osunsanmi .

Osunsanmi and Mott played their tails off getting to Dent. Mott got home once for 0.5 sacks on the night and Osunsanmi had 1.5 and added another hit on Dent. A plus for the Kansas State pass rush was forcing UT-Martin into several third-and-long situations.

The Skyhawks couldn’t run the ball effectively, so the Wildcats were able to pin their ears back and force pressure.

Glowing praise for a linebacker

Perhaps the player praised the most in the postgame press conference was K-State linebacker Desmond Purnell . The Topeka native was flying all around the field and led the team with eight tackles. He was also tied for the team lead in tackles for a loss with 1.5.

Klieman called the junior linebacker a stud and someone who is still underrated and under-appreciated on a national level. Purnell was dinged up a bit towards the end of last season and is fully healthy now and poised to have a big season.

No worry from Klieman

Kansas State was not perfect in the season opener versus UT-Martin.

The Wildcats had two turnovers and struggled to get into a groove for a bit on offense. However, there is no worry from the K-State head coach. In fact, he was glad his team was able to face some adversity in the game and play through it.

UT-Martin has won their conference the last three seasons and played Georgia to a 17-3 halftime score a year ago. At halftime Klieman challenged his players to respond, and he thinks they played a much crisper second half aside from the fumble on the opening kickoff by Jayce Brown .

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