Kansas State has found an ‘identity’ on offense thanks to running back DJ Giddens

DJ Giddens isn’t the face of Kansas State football.

That honor belongs to Avery Johnson, the charismatic sophomore quarterback with long blonde hair who makes highlight plays and drives a lavender Corvette.

DJ Giddens isn’t even the most popular running back on the K-State roster. Fans cheer loudest for Dylan Edwards when the speedy playmaker gets the ball in space or comes onto the field for a punt return.

Perhaps that is why some use the word “underrated” to describe Giddens, even though the junior from Junction City averages 7.3 yards per carry and ranks third in the Big 12 with 604 rushing yards. Even when he plays his best, such as when he had 188 yards and two touchdowns at the Pop-Tarts Bowl last season or when he amassed 209 yards and a touchdown against Oklahoma State last month, someone else seems to shine brighter.

He was also snubbed from the preseason all-conference team.

But make no mistake, no one is discounting his talents within the K-State locker room.

“Our identity is 31 right now,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said in reference to Giddens’ number. “As he goes, it opens up everything else. That is why Avery has been more successful throwing the football, because we have been able to rush the football. It opens up everything if you can run the football.”

Giddens has been Mr. Reliable for the Wildcats this season.

He has rushed for at least 86 yards in all five of K-State’s games, and he has cleared 110 yards in three of them. Giddens was at his best two weeks ago when he torched Oklahoma State for several big plays, including a 66-yard touchdown run that made the Cowboys look like they were wearing cement shoes as they tried to tackle him.

Johnson later won Offensive Player of the Week honors from the Big 12 because he threw for 259 yards and played a role in five touchdowns. But he got an assist from his running back.

“The biggest thing DJ does is, he doesn’t let one person bring him down,” Johnson said. ”It’s going to take more than one guy to get him on the ground. His yards after contact has to be insane, because he’s really effective after that first tackle and he always makes that first tackler miss.”

Added right tackle Carver Willis: “The first guy is never going to be the one to take him down. So even if I completely botch a play and I don’t get my first guy down, I know if I go find a second guy that we’re going to be all right. He’s one of those guys.”

Giddens is such a consistent runner, in part, because he doesn’t play with much emotion.

K-State coaches like to joke about how they rarely see their star running back get down on himself or “turnt” (as Giddens likes to say) on the football field. It doesn’t matter if he just lost a fumble or scored on a long touchdown run, his body language stays the same.

That makes him one of the most valuable players on the K-State football roster, even if he doesn’t get many accolades.