3 key injured Kansas State players ahead of Texas football matchup

What could be the toughest road game of the regular season lies ahead this coming weekend for Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian against the No. 14 ranked Kansas State Wildcats and head coach Chris Klieman. Texas will be looking to get its sixth straight win over Kansas State, which would continue the program’s longest winning streak over the Wildcats in the history of this series.

Yet, Sark and the Longhorns clearly have their work cut out for them in this game. Kansas State looked incredibly good in a thoroughly dominant win last weekend over the Oklahoma State Cowboys and head coach Mike Gundy. Kansas State topped Oklahoma State in Manhattan on Oct. 29 by the final score of 48-0.

A team that just beat the Longhorns was handled by the team that Texas plays this coming weekend. At first glance, that doesn’t bode well for Texas.

But Texas did have the bye week to get right and prepare for a difficult matchup against Kansas State on the road at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan under the lights on Nov. 5. And Kansas State is still a little bit banged up heading into this game, while Texas had the bye week to rest up.

Adrian Martinez and the key injured Kansas State players vs. Texas football

Here’s a look at three key Kansas State players dealing with injuries heading into this matchup against Texas in Week 10.

Josh Hayes, S

I would definitely say the least concerning injury, at least from Kansas State’s perspective, coming into this game among the players on this list is the issue that senior defensive back Josh Hayes is dealing with. Hayes was questionable last weekend heading into Kansas State’s matchup against Oklahoma State.

But it didn’t look like Hayes was having all that many issues keeping up with the Oklahoma State offense in that game. Hayes did take fewer defensive snaps than usual last weekend, but that could be due to a variety of factors.

I would imagine Kansas State’s staff didn’t want to push Hayes too much when they didn’t need to in a blowout win over the Pokes.

Hayes took just over 40 defensive snaps last weekend against Oklahoma State, which is a couple dozen fewer than his usual tally. It also helped that Oklahoma State couldn’t get anything done on offense last weekend.

It looks like Hayes will get the green light for this weekend. But it’s worth noting that the starting free safety for the Wildcats was on a more limited pitch count than the other starting defensive backs against Oklahoma State.