Two Former Kansas State Teammates Reunite In Oregon-Ohio State CFP Matchup
Oregon squares off against Ohio State Wednesday night in the College Football Playoffs.
It features Ducks safety Kobe Savage facing Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard. Howard and Savage were Kansas State teammates from 2022-2023.
Savage said it's "amazing" to get this opportunity against his former Wildcats teammate.
"He's a great competitor, great guy, great leader, great teammate, somebody you always wanna go out there and compete with," Savage said. "It's really cool just seeing him on the other side, competing with him for the past two years and at practices at Kansas State. It's really cool to finally play him again, and it's crazy I get to play him twice this season."
Savage said he knows Howard can produce at the highest level. The quarterback has thrown for 3,171 yards, 29 touchdowns and nine interceptions in his first season with Ohio State.
"Without a doubt," Savage said. "He always rose to the occasion, especially at Kansas State playing in the Big 12. Filling in that backup role, I think he's always done a good job at performing at the highest stage."
Meanwhile, Savage talked about what Oregon's defense can do to perform better in their first postseason game.
"Really just finding our edge with details," Savage said. "We lost a lot of battles, there's a lot of key details we could've fixed. Just the little things in our preparation will help."
Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.