‘Unselfish quarterback.’ TCU should be fired up for Alex Delton, former teammate says
Offensive lineman Dalton Risner didn’t give up a sack in his past two seasons at Kansas State. It helped having a mobile quarterback like as Alex Delton behind him.
“Shoot, you can get beat in half a second and Alex is probably going to juke out the D-end. I love it, man,” Risner said, chuckling during a Senior Bowl interview session.
“No wonder I didn’t give up any sacks.”
All joking aside, Risner feels TCU should be fired up about landing Delton as a graduate transfer.
Delton may not be the household name new Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts is, but there’s no reason to think he won’t succeed with the Frogs. Delton should benefit by playing in TCU’s Air Raid offense compared to the pro-type power offense K-State ran.
Delton will also have more outside weapons such as Jalen Reagor and Taye Barber.
At the very least, Delton joins the program as a high-character player who will be a good mentor for young quarterbacks such as Justin Rogers and Max Duggan.
“You can expect one of the best leaders on a football team, a guy that takes a lot of pride in doing so,” said Risner, who served as a team captain alongside Delton for the Wildcats last season.
“A very unselfish quarterback, which is hard nowadays to have an unselfish QB. That’s exactly what you get with Alex Delton. He’s going to do anything he can to better the team.”
Risner pointed to the TCU-Kansas State game last November. K-State’s starting quarterback that game, Skylar Thompson, was knocked out with a concussion.
Delton stepped in and handled himself well. He threw for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown, leading a fourth-quarter scoring drive that would have tied the game had it not been for a missed point-after attempt.
“Alex started the season [as our starting QB] and most QBs, when they get put in the backup position, they call it quits,” Risner said. “But Alex knew the whole game plan. He got in there and led us on a comeback and almost came back to win the game. We missed an extra point.
“He’s that type of guy and that means a lot.”
Delton finished his K-State career playing in 20 games, including six starts, over four seasons. He had a 56.1 completion percentage for 1,202 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions. He also had 868 yards rushing on 213 carries with 11 TDs.
He rushed for eight TDs in 2017, including earning Cactus Bowl (since re-named Cheez-It Bowl) MVP honors at the end of the season.
Last season, Delton played in seven games, completing 55 percent of his passes (44 for 80) for 554 yards passing with two TDs and two interceptions.
