K-State Recruiting: Prep Update Week 6

Well we missed last week. Sorry about that. But that means you get two weeks worth of games this time, including a very special look at Anthony Payne as covered live by our very own Gracey Terrill. So sit back and enjoy your look around the country at what the currently committed newest Wildcats are up to during their final year at their current school.

We will do our best to keep these as updated as possible, but not every school or area gets covered the same way. And not every local paper, school, or service even puts stats online (what do they think it is, 1996? Geez)

Ben Adler, OL, Trinity Academy, Wichita, KS -- Trinity Academy continues to hang right on to .500 in 2016. After losing to Conway Springs 54-14 two weeks ago, the Knights bounced back and beat Belle Plaine 61-8 last week. The Knights put up only 152 total yards in their loss, but put up over 450 in their victory.

Harrison Creed, OL, Ulysses, Ulysses, KS -- Ulysses, coming off a 2015 that saw the Tigers finish 8-2 and dominate their league and district, have had a rough go of 2016. They are now 2-4 on the season after getting smashed on the road in Scott City 53-17, and then losing at home to Goodland 26-17. They will face a 4-2 Mulvane team this week, but face two win-less opponents in their final two games, Winfield and Wellington.

Wyatt Hubert, DE, Shawnee Heights, Tecumseh, KS -- Shawnee Heights has been oh-so-close in their last three games, falling by 4 points or less against Topeka-Seaman, Topeka High, and Topeka-Hayden. Their game last week was lost on a last second 46-yard field goal by Hayden. Hubert notched 12 tackles, and a team-high 4.5 tackles-for-loss and 3 sacks against Topeka High, as well as a one reception for 11 yards and a touchdown. Against Hayden Hubert notched 15 tackles, 1.5 for-loss and a sack, and forced one fumble. The T-Birds are now 1-5 on the season.

Aidan Mills, OL/DL, Newton, Newton, KS -- Newton picked up its first victory of the 2016 season two weeks ago against a surprisingly hapless Salina Central, but fell back to earth last week against Andover. The Railers combined for 632 rushing yards in their last two games.

Josh Rivas, OL, Hutchinson, Hutchinson, KS -- Hutchinson moved quickly past its lone loss, to 6A #1 Derby, to put up big victories over Goddard-Eishenhower and Salina South. The Salthawks, now 5-1 on the season, combined for 821 rushing yards in their two victories.

Sammy Wheeler, QB, St. James Academy, Lenexa, KS -- After getting back to .500 as of our previous update, the Thunder have dropped their last two, 45-0 to Blue Valley (6-0) and 24-7 to St. Thomas Aquinas (5-1). It’s not easy facing 6A #2 and 5A #2 in back-to-back weeks, and that showed in the stats. Wheeler went a combined 8-29-1 for 226 yards and one touchdown (both the INT and TD were against Aquinas) and 37 yards on 16 carries in the two losses. St. James will have a chance to get back to .500 in its final two games of the regular season against 2-4 Kapaun-Mt. Carmel and 1-5 Blue Valley West.

Joshua Brown, DB, Langston Hughes, Fairburn, GA -- Langston Hughes stretched its win streak to four games winning 35-34 two weeks ago and 55-7 last week on the road. Brown recorded 9 total tackles two weeks ago, but did not record any stats last week.

Eli Huggins, DT, West Forsyth, Cumming, GA -- West Forsyth also stretched its win streak to four games with a 26-21 victory two weeks ago, and 31-6 road victory last weekend. The Wolverines, 5-1 (1-0), report their offensive stats very well, but don’t seemed as concerned with reporting their defensive stats.

Drew Wiley, DT, Vinton-Shellsburg, Vinton, IA -- September was not a kind month to the Vinton-Shellsburg. The Vikings won their only game in August, before losing 5-straight in the month of September, losing their final game of the month 27-12. But October has already been far kinder, as V-S won it’s first game of the tenth month 39-0 to improve to 2-5 on the season.

Bill Kuduk, OL, Marist, Chicago, IL -- Marist continues their roll through 2016, winning their last two games 41-13 and 44-14. The RedHawks are sitting at 6-1 overall, and 5-0 in their conference.

Dewayne Betts, QB, KIPP Academy, Memphis, TN -- KIPP has continued its hot streak headed in to this Friday’s regular season finale, winning it’s last two games by a combined 98-13. Betts went 4-6-0 for 140 yards and one touchdown, with no rushing stats, two weeks ago, and went 13-18-0 for 197 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 62 yards on 9 carries, last week. KIPP heads in to their finale at 5-3, but haven’t lost a game since the end of August.

Bernard Goodwater, RB, Carter, Dallas, TX -- Carter had a bye week two weeks ago, so we only get one game worth of data for Goodwater this week. He was the lone bright spot in Carter’s 31-7 loss last Friday, notching 86 rushing yards and scored Carter’s only touchdown on a 60 yard run. Carter is now 4-2 on the season.

Elijah Walker, DB, Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA -- Cerritos was off last week, but Walker was credited with eight total tackles and pass-broken-up in the Falcons 31-16 loss on October 1st. The loss moved Cerritos to 2-3 on the season.

Anthony Payne, DE, Raymore-Peculiar, Peculiar, MO -- Two weeks ago Ray-Pec fell to 4-3 with a 31-26 loss to Park Hill. Payne picked up 5 tackles, one for-loss, in the loss.

The following is Gracey’s report from the Ray-Pec/Lee’s Summit game on 10/7.

The 2017 Kansas State commit, Anthony Payne, was a force to be reckoned with through an otherwise lopsided game for Raymore-Peculiar on Friday night.

At the :36 mark on the above video, you can see one of a few highlights Payne had for the evening. With his numbers rounding out to 3.5 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a recovered fumble it is easy to see why K-State coaches are excited about this defensive end. Overall, I was impressed with Payne’s ability to read the offense and react accordingly. In fact I was so impressed, I decided to tweet about seeing better abilities from high school defensive ends than I’ve seen with Dee Ford of the Chiefs. Don’t @ me on that one.

• Agility: There’s no doubt about it, this kid is laterally gifted. Payne’s ability to keep the quarterback contained is second to none. Not only was Payne able to break loose of double coverage, he out ran the corner for a sack on the same play.
• Bull rush: Clearly Payne is not skipping time in the gym with his ability to overpower the tackle on almost every single one on one. Payne’s strength is a major advantage, the only area for improvement has to be staying lower than his target. A few times during the first half he went a little too high and wasn’t nearly as strong yet still completed the task.
• Speed rush: Payne had multiple plays that blew up the running back and stopped the ball carrier. In addition to those plays, he also did a great job beating the tackle to the corner consistently.
• Run defense: This is one area of improvement that I think would be easily fixed with some coaching and more efficient overall line. Payne’s tendency to play high leads to problems (at times) to break up double teams. Even though there were multiple times that Payne broke up double teams and stopped the ball carrier, the few times he was beat was due to playing too high against the run.
• Pass defense: This is one area that Payne needs to just keep up the good work. On almost every play that he wasn’t already bringing down the quarterback, Payne had his hands up in the air and was trying to make a big play on defense to help the offense get their feet under them some more. Payne’s stellar defensive play was encouraging to see from a commit coming into the 2017 class that seems to be stacked with talent on both sides of the ball.
• Read & react: What I was most impressed by with Payne’s style of play has to be his ability to pressure the quarterback and his outstanding lateral movement. You can tell that he is a play maker from his speed and strength translating to recovering fumbles, tackling for a loss and assisting his teammates in shutting down the passing game.

The reason Lee’s Summit won? Speed. Their receivers and backs were just simply too fast to shut down completely. In the first quarter alone Lee’s Summit scored 20 unanswered points that were all incredibly high energy and fast plays on their part. K-State fans should definitely check out a Raymore-Peculiar game to see Anthony Payne’s talents in person if they have the chance. While the K-State defense seems to be a well-oiled machine, Payne is going to be an outstanding addition to the squad next year.