As promised to those of you who read all the way to the end of Tuesday's post about freshman, it's time to take a look at the guys who showed potential their first year but never panned out. As I mentioned before, this will be shorter, because more often than not Bill Snyder's magic works.
In the cases where it didn't, I think it's only fair to try to determine what went wrong. This is generally pretty easy. Keep in mind we're only going back to 2000, and I'm not counting punters or kickers, since kicking/punting in high school is relatively identical to kicking/punting at the Division I level.
Before we move onto the disappointing cases, let's start with the guys that don't really belong in this group. That would be freshman running backs Rashad Washington (2000) and Jarell Childs (2009).
Both of them got a few carries and somewhere around 100 yards rushing before it became clear that the guys ahead of them on the depth chart were much better. Those guys were Josh Scobey and Darren Sproles for Washington, and Daniel Thomas for Childs. Maybe you've heard of them?
Fortunately, Childs and Washington were athletically gifted enough to move to defense, where Washington became a pro-level safety and Childs has grown into a solid linebacker. The other guys on this list weren't so lucky.
First up is Allen Evridge, who also deserves a bit of an asterisk. He was by no means an outstanding quarterback - as evidenced by his freshman numbers and the fact that he struggled at Wisconsin as well - but he basically got told he was no longer wanted when RP and his new toy, Josh Freeman, moved to town.
Yet another running back to make the list is Carlos Alsup, who looked like he could be a decent power back at times during his freshman year in 2002. However, he was never going to touch Sproles on the depth chart, and fellow freshman Ayo Saba and fullback Victor Mann made sure K-State had the power back thing pretty well covered.
Alsup might have had a chance to legitimately compete with Thomas Clayton for a starting spot, but it was injury issues that really did in the tailback from Liberal. He finished his career with 208 yards rushing, two touchdowns, and plenty of lost dreams.
The last spot on this list goes to Jesse Tetuan, who had two interceptions as a freshman in 2002, including one that he returned for a touchdown. Unfortunately, if my memory and the limited statistics and game notes I could find serve me correctly, he never really progressed beyond a hard-working safety who was good to give the starters a break from time to time.
Tetuan was sort of an Alex Hrebec-type player who served as a great representative of Kansas State University, especially since he was born and raised in Topeka. But sadly, both of those guys proved that it takes a little more than just heart to truly succeed at the Big 12 level.
I think that about covers it, and let's hope Tyler Lockett, Curry Sexton, and B.J. Finney don't end up in any future versions of this post.