Senior defensive back Colby Moore was a late add to K-State's Big 12 Media Days roster - replacing Duke Shelley - but the Texas native had plenty of interesting things to say in his time in Frisco.
Question: You as an individual and the team as a whole has done a great job of covering kickoffs. I'm curious on your thoughts on the new kickoff rule.
Answer: For us, we're coached to be a really aggressive unit. There are different strategies on kickoff, and ours is we are going to run full speed until we meet a guy and then drive him back and keep going. Last year anybody who returned against us averaged getting to the 16-yard-line. This year it will be different, as a lot of teams might take a fair catch as opposed to returning it from the 2-yard-line. I don't know how it's going to go. I'm curious myself. My biggest thought on it is that I'm almost a little worried about the fair-catch rule, because it's kind of hard to see. On punt it's just you and one guy straight ahead, and you can see a guy throw his hand up. In the Spring Game we kind of practiced it, the fair catch, and I told coach it was hard to see. You're looking through a big wedge guy, and you can't see the hand. I think some teams will use it to just move the ball up, but we're an aggressive team that's going to run down there no matter what until the whistle blows to stop it. If not, we're going to go hit you in the mouth.
Q: On the defensive side, of course it will still be Bill Snyder's team and his style of defense, but what kind of wrinkles could we expect with Blake Seiler and Brian Norwood running that unit?
A: Our defense, it's the same defense. It's a lot of the same guys coming back, too. I think what could be different is the approach in how we attack certain teams now, since you've got different eyes on it. Each game could vary a little bit depending on how they want to use our strengths. I'd say with the new coaches, for me I notice I lot of energy from the group.
Q: You had a chance to go play at places like Army and Air Force, right?
A: I did, but K-State, with the whole family and opportunity to play big-time football, I dove in on that.
Q: What are the expectations for K-State coming out of the spring?
A: Our expectations are just to try and go 1-0 every game, really in every single workout. We want to take a 1-0 mentality to every play and game. If we can do that one play at a time we will be able to just build and become a better team every day.4
Q: Are you excited to get to play Mississippi State in the non-conference?
A: I'm very excited for them to come to our place. But before we get there we have South Dakota first. So I'm more focused on South Dakota first, but as soon as we play South Dakota all of my thoughts will go to Mississippi State. They're still in the back of my mind, but I want South Dakota, first. We have to give all we have to them.
Q: People have picked you as high as third in the league; is that a good spot or should you be higher?
A: I don't really worry about the whole ranking thing. If the pick us third, cool. But I'm just focused on one game at at time and focusing on teams as we go.
Q: When did you find out you were coming to Frisco, and how big of an honor is it?
A: So, I found out I was coming last week. Coach called me and asked if I wanted to go to the media day, and I thought it would be great. I really appreciated being able to to. It was a great honor to be selected by coach and to be one of the guys who gets to represent K-State. At the same time, I have to do a good job here.
Q: You guys did bring in a new kicker this off-season in Maxwell Poduska. Have you had a chance to see him yet?
A: Maxwell made it a few weeks ago and is doing a great job kicking the ball. A Colorado kid. He's been doing a great job, and that will be an interesting battle to watch unfold. It's a toss-up between anybody. I know all the kickers are working extra hard this year, spending more time this year than I ever have before. A lot of it is not having Matt McCrane as our kicker, knowing that will be the guy, and knowing you have a chance.
Q: Thoughts so far on Kevion McGee?
A: He got here in the spring and did a great job jumping in. I know our off-season is very difficult and he did a great job just jumping in to the role of what we have to do and learning the defense. He had a great spring, stepped up a lot. He's a great DB as it is, so I think he'll be a guy competing for a spot. I think he can help the defense but also playing special teams like I do. He's an athlete, and he'll be committed to whatever he's asked to do. I don't know what units he'll be on, but he's a guy that buys in to whatever he's doing.
Q: How about Walter Neil?
A: So, Walter Neil is the fastest guy I think in our program. I'd like to see him run against Tyler Lockett. That's the kind of speed I think he has. I'll give him credit, he'll say he's not, but he's a very fast guy. He's gotten a lot stronger in the weight room. He's putting up serious weight in there. He was able to be a walk-on, take his work ethic and move up the ranks. I know it's hard being a walk-on and working your way up against ones and twos all the time. He's on special teams, too. He's got a lot of energy and is a great guy. He brings so much energy to us and is a great guy to be around.
Q: One more guy in your backfield I'm curious about would be Darreyl Patterson.
A: Darreyl has done a great job. He was here two years ago, and I was here at the same time. I can tell his attitude has changed tremendously since then. He wasn't sure of things then and didn't have his work ethic down. I can say Darreyl is committed to working hard and becoming better for the team.
Q: You went on scholarship this past off-season; how did you learn of that? Imagine it had to be pretty special for you.
A: I was at home (in Texas) with my dad working on a race car. Sean (Snyder) called me up said, "Hey, what are you doing?" My first thought was somebody was stuck at the airport and I needed to go get them. He said, "No, that's not it. We're putting you on scholarship. You've earned it, and we're proud of you." I was so happy, so happy for my parents to not have to pay for another year of school for me. As soon as I got off the phone I told my dad, then we told the whole family. It was a great, humbling experience. I wish every walk-on around the country could get to experience it.
Q: You mention Sean. I'm curious to hear how you compare him to his dad. Are they more different than similar, or vice versa?
A: There's a lot of similarities sure, like father like son. But there are a lot of differences. At the end of the day really, though, they both just care about the game and care about us as people.
Q: Another guy I see a lot doing a nice job on the kickoff unit with you is Brock Monty. Can you talk about him a little bit?
A: Brock is a tremendous guy. A smart guy in the classroom, too. Somebody joked after workouts the other day they were failing a class and they would need Brock to tutor them. We were like, 'It's okay, Brock will take care of you.' Brock has a lot of energy. He's passionate about what he does. Whatever he does, he gives 100 percent. And when I say 100 percent, I mean nothing less. He's going to give great effort to get the job done."
