Kansas State quarterback Jesse Ertz flying under the radar heading into 2017
Kansas State’s old-fashioned offense features a modern flair. Quarterback Jesse Ertz fit it perfectly resulted in a three-win improvement from 2015.
Outside of Bill Snyder, Kansas State is most known for its throwback, run-heavy, clock-controlling offense. In 2016, quarterback Jesse Ertz was the Wildcat attack, and he proved proficient. Ertz and the Wildcats went 9-4, and although his numbers don’t show it, he was the biggest reason for their success.
In 2015, Kansas State struggled through just its sixth losing season of the Bill Snyder era. The offense was inconsistent and inefficient under quarterback Joe Huebner. Starting him was not by choice for the Wildcats. They were forced to when Ertz suffered a season-ending injury on the first play of the year.
The Wildcat faithful would have to wait a full year and a 6-7, 2015 campaign before they could see Ertz in action. He didn’t disappoint taking the Wildcats back to respectability. This past season, he didn’t set the world on fire through the air, but he did execute the offense efficiently throwing for 1,755 yards, nine touchdowns and just four interceptions.
Ertz was more deadly with his legs, rushing for 1,012 yards and 12 touchdowns. He capped his solid season with a brilliant dual-threat showing against Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. He completed 70 percent of his passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
The Kansas State quarterback is deceptively fast and can break long runs. He’s similar to Collin Klein in terms of his rushing ability. However, his arm shouldn’t be discounted either. His pedestrian 57.6 completion percentage came with a lot of bumps and bruises early on. Outside of the TCU start, he completed at or above 64 percent of his passes in six of his final seven starts. He showed the tools down the stretch to lead this offense to a possible top-25 finish in 2017.
Ertz certainly won’t be as accurate or strong from the pocket like Jake Waters, but he could match Klein. The former starter completed just 57.3 percent of his passes in his first year as a starter. He upped that number to 64.8 in year two and the same can be said for Waters who went from 61.2 to 66. Just like any offense, experience is always better and Ertz is no exception in Kansas State’s quarterback-led attack.
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A lot of the reason he didn’t get the publicity was because of his numbers and the offense. Neither are seen on national television unless the Wildcats are a ranked team. They also hovered around the top 25 but were hardly a must watch this year. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t sleep on the gritty 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback.