Fielder's Findings: Hope springs eternal as K-State begins camp

Kansas State football is back.

Well, sort of back.

The games do not officially begin until September, and there are still a ton of practices that Kansas State will have to work through before game preparation begins, but helmets will be put on this week, and that's exciting.

March 5 will officially mark the start of Kansas State's spring practice, as the team will begin in a helmet and shorts practice in the morning. The team will then take some time off for spring break before returning to the facility to finish practice.

While the calendar is broken up, head coach Chris Klieman is hopeful that the first two practices will help acclimate some players to the layout of practices.

"One is all the new guys, whether they're transfers or mid-year guys, getting them to understand how we do things and how we practice," Klieman said. "Getting [offensive coordinator Matt] Wells up to speed on how we practice being the new full-time coach."

Spring practices are also a time for Kansas State to shift its focus to on-the-field tasks.

The layout of the college football schedule (more on that later) makes most of the early part of the year managerial time. Whether it's focusing on the transfer portal or recruiting for next year's class, January and February don't offer much time to focus on football.

It's likely why Klieman is excited to get on the field.

"The month of February, for the most part, was good because of not being off campus, recruits not being on campus," Klieman said. "Just trying to recharge ourselves, and we did some professional development. ... It'll be fun to just get out there and practice."

The recruiting calendar is already pretty weird, to be blunt.

There are two National Signing Days (one in December and one in February), and the summer recruitment can get weird with 7-on-7 going on across the country.

To some degree, managing a roster and recruiting board is its own full-time job, which is why you've seen college coaches, especially coordinators and position coaches, move from college to the NFL, where the schedule is more defined.

In hopes of taking some stress off of a college head coach's plate, many schools have begun hiring general managers.

Washington (and now Alabama) under Kalen DeBoer was among the pioneers of this role, as Courtney Morgan holds the title for DeBoer. Texas Tech, however, might have been the first to hire a "general manager," as head coach Joey McGuire hired James Blanchard as his general manager.

Klieman appears to be following in their footsteps, promoting Clint Brown from offensive analyst to Director of Roster Management.

In this role, Brown will act as the general manager, managing the team's roster and helping the team scout and acquire new talent through the transfer portal and recruiting trail.

"Found out in the month of December that I couldn't do all the stuff by myself with all the coaches on the road. We were missing a key piece, probably, in what we're calling the roster management job," Klieman said. "Clint's been a coach, a well-respected coach ... Something that I was pushing for during December is getting another person in administration to help myself out."

Brown's responsibilities might become critical as NCAA officials look to add a signing period in late June.

Coaches have been vocal against the proposal, believing it would hurt overall recruiting and high school athletics.

Klieman, however, disagrees, mentioning that the additional period would keep Kansas State's efforts on the trail focused on a smaller group of players.

"I think it's a great idea for a variety of reasons," Klieman explained. "The easiest thing would be the fact that these kids, for the most part, know where they want to go. All of them are making their visits in the summer. I think it would clean some things up for everybody if we had that signing period."

Klieman continued, explaining how a June signing period would allow Kansas State's tracking list to go from 300 players to closer to 60 between the players they sign and those they want to add.

It's unclear if said proposal will pass. If it does, I'm sure Klieman will be celebrating.

Kansas State pursued a lot of receivers via the transfer portal, striking out on most of them before landing on Penn State transfer Dante Cephas.

Cephas played under K-State wide receivers coach Matt Middleton at Kent State before transferring to Penn State. Cephas didn't play much at Penn State but should see a bigger role in the offense at K-State.

While the staff might be excited about the addition of Cephas, Keagan Johnson drew the praise during the press conference.

"We saw glimpses of a guy that could be as good as there is in the Big 12, and I think Keagan would tell you that," Klieman said. "It's just him getting healthy and staying healthy. I think him knowing what we're looking for all year now ... He knows what to expect in every phase we're doing."

Johnson played in 11 games last season, starting five of them. He finished with 227 yards and two touchdowns on 24 catches.

Outside of Johnson, Klieman mentioned that Kansas State needs to be able to move their receivers around and become more versatile in the room.

"We feel like we have enough bodies there, enough talented guys there," Klieman said. "We've got to do two things. We've got to move guys around to get them in the best spot to be successful. And we've got to simplify some things in the wide receiver room. That's something where we spent the most time on [from] an offensive standpoint."

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