SLATE: Kansas State football passes out team awards

Late last week, there was an controversy. An uproar. A hullabaloo. Why, one might even call it a kerfuffle. Sean Snyder tweeted some stuff, and it was all very cryptic and obviously intended to accomplish something, but we don’t know what. Moreover, we don’t really care because any speculation on our parts as to the meaning of his tweets would be speculation without any actual insight -- when we speculate, we prefer to have a clue as to what it is we’re speculating about — and as such we tend to feel the whole incident was a big to-do over nothing.

(And, as it happens, it was; Snyder was referring to opportunities on the recruiting trail and performing well in Phoenix in a couple of weeks.)

We are, however, super confused as to why he’s blocked half the BotC staff, which none of us even realized until this dust-up because none of us even knew he had a Twitter account. Don’t get the wrong idea: we’re not mad. In fact, it’s sort of funny in the way that things which are complete sources of bemusement often are.

Well, maybe we’re a little disappointed. After all, we only tweet #FireSeanSnyder when K-State downs a punt at the two-yard line or runs back a kick for a touchdown.

Anyway. On to the actual news:

Basketball

Remember when K-State lost by a bucket to Arizona State... on a neutral court? Imagine how Kansas feels after losing to Arizona State by double digits... at Allen Field House.

Today’s Sports Extra from Corbin McGuire focuses on Xavier Sneed.

Football

We’ve got some recruiting roundup content coming tonight, we hope. The biggest news: Cartez Crook-Jones, a three-star defensive end who’d committed to That School Down the River, has flipped to K-State. Crook-Jones is bringing along his teammate from Grandview, Mo., offensive tackle Shane Cherry.

K-State held its annual football awards ceremony at McCain Auditorium yesterday. Some people view this as just an excuse to give everyone some sort of award, but there are quite a few players who were vitally important to the team this season who didn’t get one, so that’s a false assumption. These awards are very important to the team.

Wide receiver Byron Pringle and running back Alex Barnes shared the offensive MVP award, while cornerback D.J. Reed claimed the defensive award for himself and shared the special teams MVP award with kicker Matthew McCrane.

The outstanding offensive lineman award went to Dalton Risner, while Trent Tanking and Will Geary shared the award for outstanding player in the defensive front seven.

The most improved awards on each side of the ball were shared by a player we watched grow through the season and one who sort of sprung out of the gates early: quarterback Skylar Thompson and wide receiver Dalton Schoen on offense, and linebacker Jayd Kirby and safety Kendall Adams on defense.

Wideout Zach Reuter, who’s an academic all-Big 12 selection while majoring in freakin’ biochemistry, walked off with the Scholar-Athlete award. The Red Raider award, which recognizes the best effort on the scout team, went to quarterback Nick Ast and defensive lineman Mitch Copeland.

The Kevin Saunders “Never Give Up” award was shared by quarterback Alex Delton and running back Dalvin Warmack. Three players shared the Ken Ochs Courage Award: quarterback Jesse Ertz and defensive linemen Tanner Wood and Reggie Walker.

The Overachiever award, which goes to the freshman who puts in the best effort in the weight room, went to wide receiver Bernard Goodwater. Defensive back Colby Moore earned the Purple Pride award, given to the walk-on who best exhibits leadership.

The remaining awards are all memorial awards given for general leadership. Defensive lineman Davis Clark won the Bob Cope Memorial Award, fullback Winston Dimel captured the Nancy Bennett Memorial Award, Tanking and tight end Dayton Valentine shared the Joan Friederich Award, defensive back Brogan Barry earned the Anthony A. Bates Memorial Award, and the Jim “Shorty” Kleinau Award was shared by long snapper Drew Scott and punter Nick Walsh.

Track and Field

Following Friday’s 2-3-4 finish in the Carol Robinson Pentathlon, the rest of the squad went to work on Saturday at the K-State Invitational. Because of the level of competition, placements aren’t particularly meaningful, but it’s worth noting that a couple of Wildcats who advanced to Eugene for the NCAA Outdoor championships back in June set personal bests in their events Saturday: Mitchell Dixon in the weight throw and Brett Neelly in the shot put. Quite a few freshmen also made big Wildcat debuts.

Next up for the tracksters: the Wildcat Invite on January 6.