Malone Sees “Pieces Coming Together” for K-State Football
May 21, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Van Malone wears many hats. A builder of culture, he enters his sixth season coaching the cornerbacks at Kansas State in 2024, and he is also in his fifth season as the program's assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator.
On Monday, he was asked to hypothetically construct a 2024 K-State team for EA Sports with his top five players.
Malone, busting with personality and dry wit, obliged. And he couldn't just pick five players. He chose seven.
"Avery Johnson would be on there," Malone said. "He's definitely my starting punter. You have DJ Giddens, of course. You have Dylan Edwards. DJ and Dylan in the backfield at the same time is pretty deadly. Avery, I'll give him a little time at quarterback but he's starting out at punter. We're going to run the ball on my team. The receivers, you can throw anybody out there. We're probably not throwing any passes.
"On defense, EA Sports does not care about the offensive or defensive lines, but I'd take Austin Moore as a linebacker and Chiddi Obiazor as defensive lineman and Jacob Parrish and Marques Sigle. Those would be my guys."
Bottom line, K-State has talent. That's probably why the Wildcats came in at No. 17 in ESPN's college football post-spring power rankings, as announced on Monday. ESPN believes that K-State will be among the top contenders for the Big 12 Conference title.
K-State comes off a 9-4 season in which it finished No. 18 in the AP Top 25.
"It's cool to be thought of in those polls and rankings, but at the end of the day, our players and we as a staff understand that the work is done on the practice field," Malone said. "It starts there. It doesn't start with the poll, and it doesn't finish with the poll. We've started in those positions before, and we've started unranked before and none of it ever matters. It's cool, though."
Malone came away from the end of spring practice pleased with the progress of the team.
"I'm a doom-and-gloom guy at this time of the year," he said. "I'm thinking, 'Man, we need to get to work. We need to make sure we're 9-deep at every position.' Then when you start to practice you feel good, but you don't say it. But I've watched our team over the years, I've watched them grow, and I feel good about where we are and where we ended this spring. I feel good about the transfer players that I haven't even had the opportunity to have a relationship with yet, but I feel good about what we did in that realm. I feel good about a couple guys who are coming onto the campus here in a couple weeks.
"I feel like our pieces are coming together as far as what we did in the spring and as far as what we have coming onto the team, but I know that's only the start."
Malone spoke at the Manhattan Catbackers annual event in the outdoor portion of the Shamrock Family Practice Facility on Monday.
These days, Malone isn't always in Manhattan.
"I'm out on the road recruiting," he said. "The areas I recruit are Texas and Georgia and there are some teams that practice in the morning so for me to have an opportunity to get out and watch them practice, there's a 5 a.m. wake-up call, and pretty much when I'm on the road, man, I go hard. My wife sometimes gets on me because I won't stop to eat. If I stop to eat, that's a school that I've missed. A lot of guys operate that way. Man, you're trying to cover as much ground as you can each day."
On the field, Malone is comforted in knowing he has a pair of cornerbacks who can cover a lot of ground in junior Jacob Parrish and sixth-year senior Keenan Garber.
Parrish, a 5-foot-10, 183-pound native of Olathe, Kansas, earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades after recording 44 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, a half sack, four interceptions and a team-leading 13 passes defended last season.
Garber, a 6-foot, 184-pound native of Lawrence, Kansas, saw action in all 13 games, including starts in four contests, while recording 22 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception and five total passes defended.
"When Keenan told me he was coming back, I was really excited because Keenan is a guy who doesn't say much, he's a quiet worker, he works really hard, he's very competitive, and his natural skillset lends for him to be successful," Malone said. "No, he's not Julius Brents from a stature respect but he's very competitive. Between he and Jacob, they're two very competitive dudes. Now he gets an opportunity to stand in the front of the line. He's never had that opportunity here at K-State where you know you're the guy. I'm excited for him to do that."
As for what stands out the most about Parrish these days?
"His leadership," Malone said. "That's the thing that I've wanted to see from him is more leadership where you are in charge of the room. The way I coach my players is I coach them to lead, and I push them to grab the reins. He's clearly been one of the better players in the room, but he's always had Julius or Ekow Boye-Doe in the room. Now he's in the room. He's not a senior but as soon as a young guy is in that role they play with more confidence because they know I have confidence in them. That's where I am with him.
"He has continually gotten bigger, faster and stronger. He and Keenan are amongst the fastest guys on our roster and day in and day out when they're out competing, we have some pretty good receivers, so the challenge for him day to day is to eliminate those guys. That's what we ask our cornerbacks to do in the game is to take the receiver out of the game. He's showing that he can do that play after play. It's impossible to do that every play but you want your best players to do it as much as they can."
As far as which K-State defensive player he'd choose to build a team around on a computer game?
"I'd probably take Jacob," Malone said. "Why? Because of the fact that he can play cornerback, safety, he could be an all-over guy. He'd be one of the guys I'd take. Sure, I'm partial."
Malone laughs.
"If he ever read that I didn't take him, I'd never hear the end of it."
Van Malone wears many hats. A builder of culture, he enters his sixth season coaching the cornerbacks at Kansas State in 2024, and he is also in his fifth season as the program's assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator.
On Monday, he was asked to hypothetically construct a 2024 K-State team for EA Sports with his top five players.
Malone, busting with personality and dry wit, obliged. And he couldn't just pick five players. He chose seven.
"Avery Johnson would be on there," Malone said. "He's definitely my starting punter. You have DJ Giddens, of course. You have Dylan Edwards. DJ and Dylan in the backfield at the same time is pretty deadly. Avery, I'll give him a little time at quarterback but he's starting out at punter. We're going to run the ball on my team. The receivers, you can throw anybody out there. We're probably not throwing any passes.
"On defense, EA Sports does not care about the offensive or defensive lines, but I'd take Austin Moore as a linebacker and Chiddi Obiazor as defensive lineman and Jacob Parrish and Marques Sigle. Those would be my guys."
Bottom line, K-State has talent. That's probably why the Wildcats came in at No. 17 in ESPN's college football post-spring power rankings, as announced on Monday. ESPN believes that K-State will be among the top contenders for the Big 12 Conference title.
K-State comes off a 9-4 season in which it finished No. 18 in the AP Top 25.
"It's cool to be thought of in those polls and rankings, but at the end of the day, our players and we as a staff understand that the work is done on the practice field," Malone said. "It starts there. It doesn't start with the poll, and it doesn't finish with the poll. We've started in those positions before, and we've started unranked before and none of it ever matters. It's cool, though."
Malone came away from the end of spring practice pleased with the progress of the team.
"I'm a doom-and-gloom guy at this time of the year," he said. "I'm thinking, 'Man, we need to get to work. We need to make sure we're 9-deep at every position.' Then when you start to practice you feel good, but you don't say it. But I've watched our team over the years, I've watched them grow, and I feel good about where we are and where we ended this spring. I feel good about the transfer players that I haven't even had the opportunity to have a relationship with yet, but I feel good about what we did in that realm. I feel good about a couple guys who are coming onto the campus here in a couple weeks.
"I feel like our pieces are coming together as far as what we did in the spring and as far as what we have coming onto the team, but I know that's only the start."
Malone spoke at the Manhattan Catbackers annual event in the outdoor portion of the Shamrock Family Practice Facility on Monday.
These days, Malone isn't always in Manhattan.
"I'm out on the road recruiting," he said. "The areas I recruit are Texas and Georgia and there are some teams that practice in the morning so for me to have an opportunity to get out and watch them practice, there's a 5 a.m. wake-up call, and pretty much when I'm on the road, man, I go hard. My wife sometimes gets on me because I won't stop to eat. If I stop to eat, that's a school that I've missed. A lot of guys operate that way. Man, you're trying to cover as much ground as you can each day."
On the field, Malone is comforted in knowing he has a pair of cornerbacks who can cover a lot of ground in junior Jacob Parrish and sixth-year senior Keenan Garber.
Parrish, a 5-foot-10, 183-pound native of Olathe, Kansas, earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades after recording 44 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, a half sack, four interceptions and a team-leading 13 passes defended last season.
Garber, a 6-foot, 184-pound native of Lawrence, Kansas, saw action in all 13 games, including starts in four contests, while recording 22 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception and five total passes defended.
"When Keenan told me he was coming back, I was really excited because Keenan is a guy who doesn't say much, he's a quiet worker, he works really hard, he's very competitive, and his natural skillset lends for him to be successful," Malone said. "No, he's not Julius Brents from a stature respect but he's very competitive. Between he and Jacob, they're two very competitive dudes. Now he gets an opportunity to stand in the front of the line. He's never had that opportunity here at K-State where you know you're the guy. I'm excited for him to do that."
As for what stands out the most about Parrish these days?
"His leadership," Malone said. "That's the thing that I've wanted to see from him is more leadership where you are in charge of the room. The way I coach my players is I coach them to lead, and I push them to grab the reins. He's clearly been one of the better players in the room, but he's always had Julius or Ekow Boye-Doe in the room. Now he's in the room. He's not a senior but as soon as a young guy is in that role they play with more confidence because they know I have confidence in them. That's where I am with him.
"He has continually gotten bigger, faster and stronger. He and Keenan are amongst the fastest guys on our roster and day in and day out when they're out competing, we have some pretty good receivers, so the challenge for him day to day is to eliminate those guys. That's what we ask our cornerbacks to do in the game is to take the receiver out of the game. He's showing that he can do that play after play. It's impossible to do that every play but you want your best players to do it as much as they can."
As far as which K-State defensive player he'd choose to build a team around on a computer game?
"I'd probably take Jacob," Malone said. "Why? Because of the fact that he can play cornerback, safety, he could be an all-over guy. He'd be one of the guys I'd take. Sure, I'm partial."
Malone laughs.
"If he ever read that I didn't take him, I'd never hear the end of it."
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