Chris Klieman has unique plan for Kansas State’s backup quarterbacks this season

Chris Klieman will be a happy football coach if Adrian Martinez is able to take every snap as Kansas State’s quarterback this season.

But he is smart enough to understand that the Wildcats may need to use a backup, or two, during certain games. Heck, they might send other quarterbacks onto the field in their season opener against South Dakota on Saturday, even if Martinez stays healthy.

K-State could need another passer if Martinez loses his helmet after the end of a run and is forced to exit the field for the following play. The Wildcats could also use a backup if they are up big in the fourth quarter and Klieman wants to give a young QB some experience in a live game.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Will Howard would step in for Martinez in those situations. He is the team’s No. 2 quarterback, after all. And he has started 10 games for the Wildcats over the past two seasons.

But Klieman has different plans.

“If a helmet pops off, Jake Rubley is going in the game,” Klieman said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday.

That is a notable piece of information for several reasons.

For starters, it means that the Wildcats are going to try their best to preserve Howard’s redshirt this season, leaving him with three more years of eligibility to potentially take over as the team’s starting quarterback. Secondly, it means that Rubley has leapfrogged Jaren Lewis on the depth chart and is currently operating as QB3.

Fans have been eager to see Rubley in action since he arrived on campus and participated in spring practices last year. A former four-star recruit from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, he chose the Wildcats despite holding scholarship offers from blueblood football programs like LSU.

Rubley spent his freshman season on the sideline with a redshirt, but he has made progress since then. So much so that he will have at least a small role within the offense this year.

“Jake Rubley has really impressed me this fall camp,” Klieman said last week. “He’s just going about his business. He knows he’s got to continue to fine tune some things. But he’s throwing the ball really well. I’m excited about Jake, because Jake is gaining confidence and understanding of what we’re doing offensively.”

As the season progresses, Howard could be used in certain situations behind Martinez. His eligibility status won’t change if he plays in four games or fewer.

K-State would also presumably put the offense in Howard’s hands if Martinez suffered a serious injury and the Wildcats needed their next best quarterback on the field to win games.

But Klieman would rather not use Howard in mop-up duty.

Howard saw action in nine games as a freshman and then in six games as a sophomore, as he filled in for an injured Skylar Thompson. That first season didn’t count against his eligibility because of the coronavirus pandemic. The second season did, because he started the season-finale against Texas and then played sparingly in the Texas Bowl.

If they can help it, the Wildcats would like to limit him to four games until after Martinez finishes his lone season in Manhattan this year.

That means Rubley will operate as the team’s primary backup QB in some situations.