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| Klein's an old school quarterback tearing it up in a completely different generation. |
Somewhere out there in the heartland of America Fran Tarkenton is cracking a grin. Or at least he had to after watching Collin Klein led his Wildcats in the type of all out assault on the Mountaineers that has somehow brought the basketball powerhouse Kansas State into the discussion for national title hopes in football.
Why would Tarkenton be smiling about a kid he has absolutely no affiliation with? Well because Klein reminds us of the former Vikings quarterback who led his team to four Super Bowls in the 70s. There's something about Klein that elicits memories of an old school quarterback like Tarkenton. When he came onto the scene last year, I immediately thought back to all the NFL Films tapes of Tarkenton and found a pretty solid connection. He plays with this tame intensity that makes him such a likeable guy. But just because he internalizes his intensity doesn't mean he is soft. He's the kind of player that will take a monster hit, get up, shake your hand and then run you over on the next play. Tough as nails and takes the "play til the whistle" moniker to heart. Tarkenton used to get abused, abused and abused some more but he just took it and kept playing. Klein's exactly the same. Their games are both equipped with an unstoppable motor that is exhausting for defenses. Every time defenses lay the hit stick on these guys, they just get up and look them in the eye, probably even crack a smile. It's not even like their skill set is even the same, Tarkenton might have scrambled a lot, but he was certainly a passer. Klein is a pure option quarterback who's more interested in putting that linebacker he's staring at through the ground. But it's how they go about their play that makes them so similar.
Whether it's for the love of the game or just how Klein is as a person, the guy has Kansas State in actual national championship contention. When's the last time you heard that? Never. KSU's last (and probably only) great moment was when they destroyed a heavily ranked #1 Oklahoma team 35-7 in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. Last night he showed up to a shootout with 11 Mac-11's, about eight, .38's, nine 9's, ten Mac-10's, while West Virginia showed up with a busted BB gun. Klein then proceeded to make his counterpart Geno Smith completely irrelevant and stamp his own name at the top of the Heisman Watch list. There might only be a quiet TD-to-INT of 10-to-2 on his resume this year, but he's got an eye popping 14 rushing TDs (had 27 last season) and has shown even greater versatility than last year. They might have only beaten #6 Oklahoma 24-19, but it was on the road. Last night though? A road slaughtering of the newest member (ranked 13th) of the Big 12 that thought it was going to win the league in its first year. Klein said no, a defiant no at that. He let them know that the Big 12 is his conference and he's going to win playing smashmouth, old school football, a direct antonym of the West Virginia offense.
In Klein, we don't have anything we haven't seen before. He's not Robert Griffin III, he's not Vince Young and he's certainly not Cam Newton. But you've got to like it. He's a guy that just looks like he enjoys playing the game, plays it with a burning passion and plays it like a man. How could you not like that? Well it's easy if you're a WVU fan, he just made your Heisman candidate look like John Kerry. Anyways, we know he's not going to be a high draft pick, at least not at the QB position. He's a pure college football stud that takes advantage of his size and toughness allowing him to be a dual threat. Honestly, he really can't sling it at all. That's because he doesn't need to. This is college football and anything goes at the quarterback position in this tier of football. Want to make an accurate comparison of his game to another Heisman winner? Eric Crouch. Plays are made with pure athleticism and a little flaunting of the manhood. When they say he's carrying the team, he's carrying the whole damn team.
Will he lead his Wildcats to glory? It remains to be seen and we'll be one major step closer to figuring that out if he can shellack the 17th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. All I know is there's a lot of old school in Klein's game and it's quite a treat to watch. Enjoy his style of play and especially enjoy it because it doesn't come with all those Tebow-antics on the side.
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