Dylan Edwards treats fans to ‘surreal’ debut in blowout win for Kansas State Wildcats

The decibel levels inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium didn’t hit their peak following a sack or touchdown during Kansas State’s 41-6 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Saturday. They maxed out when Dylan Edwards was announced to the home crowd as he took the field for a punt return.

K-State fans were so eager to see Edwards make plays in a purple uniform that they roared at the mere sight of him. Then they booed until their throats were sore when UT Martin punter Jaren Van Winkle booted a short punt out of bounds. Nobody cared that the Wildcats were getting excellent field position. They wanted to see Edwards do his thing.

“It was a surreal feeling being on the field,” Edwards said, “finally in the purple.”

Luckily, he would get other opportunities.

Edwards went on to electrify EMAW nation by rushing for 43 yards and a touchdown on five attempts on top of catching two passes for 19 yards and a touchdown.

It wasn’t a perfect debut for the sophomore running back who grew up making big plays at Derby and began his college football career at Colorado. But it was close.

He did a little bit of everything. Edwards scored on a short touchdown run. He also caught a 15-yard pass for a score. Perhaps his best play of all came on a jet-sweep handoff that he turned into a gain of 17 yards while running behind lead blocker DJ Giddens.

Edwards was such a big part of the game plan that it’s almost hard to believe he has only been on the roster for a few months.

“We put him in a whole bunch of different positions,” K-State quarterback Avery Johnson said. “We can split him out. Sometimes he’s in the backfield and we do a little two back. Him being able to know where to line up and what to do on every snap in such a short period of time is impressive.

“A lot of people might overlook that, but just his knowledge of our offense has definitely increased. He’s always been that type of player on that field since I played with him and I played against him. When he gets the ball in his hands, he’s hard to stop and he’s hard to tackle. I’m just happy that he’s on my side this year.”

This type of game was a long time coming for Edwards.

At one point, he was committed to K-State, but his recruitment quickly turned into a circus. After he announced his intentions to play for the Wildcats, he changed his mind and pledged his loyalty to Notre Dame. After that, he decided to follow Deion Sanders to Colorado.

It seemed like he would never reunite with Johnson, his childhood friend, or the Wildcats. But he decided to transfer to K-State after a rocky freshman season in Boulder in which the Buffaloes lost their final six games.

He was elated to end that streak.

“Just looking up at the scoreboard and seeing it was 41-6 and we got a win,” Edwards said. “I ain’t won a game in a while, and it just felt really good.”

K-State football coach Chris Klieman could tell how much this meant to his newest playmaker.

“I know he was excited,” Klieman said. “He came up and showed me a big smile a couple times. I told him I love him and appreciate him. And he said, ‘Coach, thank you so much for this opportunity, man, this is what I dreamed of.’ It’s cool stuff. This kid grew up with Avery and grew up watching K-State football. Now he got to play (here) and make some big-time plays. I think it’s going to continue to get better and better.”

There are reasons to think this could be the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship between Edwards and K-State.

Edwards was admittedly nervous heading into this game. If not for the pregame support of fellow running back Giddens, who rushed for 124 yards, he might have had trouble focusing. But he learned how to control his emotions and embrace the moment.

He is better at that now than he was at Colorado.

“I have definitely developed mentally,” Edwards said. “I have developed physically, too, but more mentally. The coaches definitely pushed me this offseason to handle adversity, because they know in the game adversity is going to come. I want to keep a level head and keep striving for what me and the team are trying to do this season.”

So far so good.

He made big plays in his debut, just like the home crowd desired.