K-State Battered With Injuries Entering West Virginia Matchup
The Kansas State Wildcats are battered, but not broken.
They are dealing with a series of injuries entering Saturday's matchup at West Virginia following the 31-28 win against Colorado last weekend.
Among the players banged up include cornerback Jacob Parrish, safety Marques Sigle and cornerback Keenan Garber. Garber briefly left due to cramps but returned. Parrish and Sigle didn't play much due to unknown injuries.
All three are key defensive backs.
Quarterback Avery Johnson had to hold off running the ball after he was slammed in the side on a play.
Afterwards, Chris Klieman defended his players amidst allegations they were faking injuries.
“It's our best players." he said. “They wanted to stay in the game. They were legit. Jacob’s injury was really legit. Marques Sigle’s was really legit. And then Keenan Garber, he cramped up. So, yeah, that was that. That was a poor drive by us on defense, after we had an eight minute drive by us on offense to score. We kind of let him off the hook a little bit. We didn’t play very well that drive.”
Nevertheless, Klieman expressed confidence his players are ready for Saturday.
“Nobody is ruled out, which is good,” Klieman said. “I don’t think many will practice today, but nobody has been ruled out. We probably got better news on a couple of the guys. It may be closer to Wednesday before we know. But I anticipate everybody having a really good shot to play.”
West Virginia is dealing with injuries, too. Wide receiver Jaden Bray is out due to a leg injury he sustained against Oklahoma State. Defensive players TJ Jackson, TJ Crandall, and Aubrey Burks are listed as questionable.
Zachary Draves is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at zdraves1013@gmail.com and on Instagram @zdraves0633.
Follow our coverage and updates on Facebook
X: @KStateOnSI
