Kansas State Wildcats still trying to figure out who will start at safety this season

The biggest question mark on Kansas State’s football roster can be found in the secondary.

K-State coach Chris Klieman likes to have three safeties on the field at most times, and the Wildcats are currently working to replace Ross Elder, Jahron McPherson, Reggie Stubblefield and Russ Yeast at that position. Not an easy task, considering those four players accounted for a combined total of 181 tackles and five interceptions last season.

Who will start in their place when K-State opens the season against South Dakota on Sept. 3? Excellent question. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and cornerbacks coach Van Malone both think it’s too early to speculate on the answer.

“Man, that is an intense competition,” Malone said earlier this week. “Each one of those guys kind of brings a different facet to the game. We don’t know at this moment who will start, but I think all of those guys are putting themselves in a position to help us at different times throughout the season.”

There appears to be no less than eight candidates in consideration for three starting spots.

Perhaps that means K-State has more quality depth in the back end of its defense than we have seen in previous years. Or maybe it means the Wildcats don’t have as much top-end talent.

In any case, coaches have praised the play of Drake Cheatum, Josh Hayes, Hunter Henry, Cincere Mason, V.J. Payne, Kobe Savage, T.J. Smith, Hunter Henry and Jordan Perry throughout preseason camp.

Based on the intensity of their comments, one can assume two favorites are Hayes, a transfer from North Dakota State/Virginia who has been practicing at free safety, and Savage, a junior-college transfer who arrived on campus in the spring.

Hayes previously played for both Klanderman and Klieman when he was a freshman at North Dakota State. That gave him a head start.

“I knew what to expect from the coaches when it came to the details, the little things like that,” Hayes said. “There are a lot of programs that don’t focus on that so much. Having that experience coming from North Dakota State, it was easy to adjust and fit right in.”

But Cheatum has been turning heads. It’s also hard to discount the experience advantage Mason and Smith bring to the field as returners.

Perhaps fans should expect to see them all in some capacity.

“We have got a lot of competition in that room and that is going to continue throughout the year,” Klanderman said. “But it is really going to continue right up until we play South Dakota.”

He views that as a positive, even if choosing three starters will be a difficult task.

“I feel like we struck gold with Drake Cheatum, Josh Hayes and Kobe Savage, three transfers that are all very much in the mix,” Klanderman said. “Obvioulsy with TJ smith and Cincere Mason and Hunter Henry, some of these guys who have been in the program, we have some depth there that we haven’t had.”