COURTNEY MESSINGHAM, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

On the start of the spring and the install of the offense…

“First off, the one thing that made it easy for us was our players really understand work ethic, and they understand the grind, and they understand how each day, mentally, you have to be engaged, but also physically. They’ve done a great job. Offensively, for us as coaches, it’s a juggling act. We have to set mindset, we have to set everything from fundamentals - as far as how you carry the ball, what your steps are, how you’re shooting your hands, where your eye placement is - you’re trying to teach a bunch of fundamentals. But we also have to put a lot of scheme in. From our standpoint, I am kind of heavy-loaded on the front-end, so we’re trying to throw a lot of stuff at them early. As we get going through practice five, six and seven, we start to slow down. Those first four or five practices we are putting a lot of offense in and we are putting a lot of scheme in, even though we are still trying to teach fundamentals. It’s a juggling act that, thankfully, our players have done a great job of being all-in and being engaged. That is a big part of learning. You have to truly be engaged. It’s a big learning process right now.”

On the offensive personality…

“The biggest thing that we’re going to try to get across to them from a personality standpoint is being hard-nosed, tough and physical, and then respect the football. Those two things have to happen. You can still be a hard-nosed, tough team and throw the football, and throw it well. You can be a hard-nosed, tough football team and get out on the edge, but we also have to run the ball between the tackles and respect that ball. When we talk ‘respect the ball,’ we are talking taking care of it and not turning it over. Part of taking care of the football is also the o-line doing their job and the running backs in pass protection doing their job. A lot of times turnovers happen because somebody else didn’t get their job that relates to the ball getting turned over.”

On K-State being ranked 10th in the Big 12 in scoring last year...

“I think the biggest thing from my standpoint is not harping on that, not dwelling on that and not worrying about what the past is. It is more us understanding how each guy fits in their new role and then taking advantage of the opportunity and being prepared to take advantage of opportunities they get.”

On switching Samuel Wheeler to tight end…

“After two or three practices, we really looked at him and said, ‘Sammy, we see you probably as the third or fourth quarterback.’ Yet I think in the tight end situation and fullback - because our tight ends and fullbacks are really somewhat interchangeable - we felt like he could put himself into the mix. I am not telling you he is already the third guy by any means, but put him in the mix of trying to figure out how we use the best athletic skill set that we can find. He’s a guy that I think has a very good skill set.”

On the talent level here compared to North Dakota State…

“I think it’s still quite a ways away. When I say that, just outside looking in, I thought there are really, really good wide receivers from a skill standpoint; an o-line that comes back that a lot of guys have played quite a bit of football. The o-line part fits right in with what we would have had at North Dakota State. The wide receiver skill set is much better than what we had at North Dakota State. That being said, we’re not as deep at tight end and fullback as we probably were at North Dakota State, and we’re not as deep at tailback as we were at North Dakota State. I am smart enough to understand that you cannot put a square peg into a round hole. We are going to have to use the skills that each guy brings to the table, yet we are still going to have that mindset that the style of football is going to be very similar to what we did at North Dakota State. We are not going to play as many tight end/fullback formations early as we would have at North Dakota State.”

On running back James Gilbert...

“I am very happy with James. He is a guy that understands that part of his game is still pass protection, and he has done a good job of trying to learn that part of the protection aspect. He is also a guy that is dynamic when you put the ball in his hands. Obviously, we are very happy with him and glad we have him.”

On wide receiver Wykeen Gill’s spring and his switch a few years ago from quarterback…

“I’ve been very impressed with him. Obviously, (Isaiah) Zuber is not practicing right now. He has taken full advantage of his reps and his opportunity. We, as a staff, have looked at it and said, ‘There is a guy that we have to keep developing.’ I think we are going to be able to say that we will be able to count on him and put him in the mix.

“Honestly, from my standpoint, being a new guy to some of these guys as far as seeing what they bring to the table, I would have no doubt thinking that the guy played wide receiver since the first day he stepped on the field. What I am getting at is he has attacked it. He has shown a skill set from a receiver standpoint that you would expect out of a receiver. I have been very happy with him.”

On the FCS talent compared to FBS talent...

“I think the talent discrepancy comes to when you start talking about the second, third and fourth guy in your position group. FCS programs over the years, generally speaking, their top-11 you’re rolling out there are probably pretty darn close to what we would have. The problem is, when you play a 12-game schedule, you are not worrying about the number ones; you are worrying about those twos and threes being able to contribute when they get put into the opportunity to play.”

On true freshman quarterback Jaren Lewis…

“To be honest with you, it’s kind of surprising because I would have assumed that it would be, ‘Hey man, prom is coming up.’ But he has not thought that way and he has not attacked it that way. From the very first start of winter conditioning stuff, he jumped in and did it no different than any other young man that is here. His learning curve actually is very, very good. Now, he has shown the overload, meaning practice one and practice two were really, really strong. Practice three it was all of sudden, ‘Oh wow. We got a lot of stuff in.’ It was true, we did have a lot of stuff in.

He swam a little bit on practice three, bounced back in practice four, and I really felt like he did a good job. The thing that he has done the best at, whether he knows it or doesn’t know it, he’s convincing in the huddle that he does know it. That is a huge key because when your quarterback comes in, the o-line is looking at him and that o-line thinks, ‘I am not too sure this dude has any idea what is going on.’ His demeanor, his control of the huddle has been very good for being a high school senior right now.”

On how the offensive line is progressing…

“Really good, part of it is because there are quite a few guys that have played a bunch. They understand the style of offense we want goes through the offensive line, and they’ve done a great job just embracing Coach (Conor) Riley and taking the coaching. I have not seen one of those guys have a reaction like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this, Hey, I understand this.’ All of them are really going at it from the standpoint of, ‘I do know how to play, but I’m willing to listen and learn and take it from a new perspective,’ which has been really refreshing. It’s been great.”

On quarterback Skylar Thompson…

“It’s been impressive. He’s been similar to the o-line. As much football as he’s played, as much as he’s played in the Big 12, at times you would anticipate that he’d have that, ‘Hey, I’ve got this, I understand this,’ but from a coaching perspective, not once has he done that. I’ve felt like he’s truly trying to learn a new offense and learn it from the ground up, right from base one and keep building on it. A lot of times you’ll find someone and, right, wrong, or indifferent, I’ve ran into a couple situations where it’s a new offense with an older team. A lot of the times, those guys want to put things in their terminology, where Skylar’s done a great job of putting it into ‘our terminology,’ not what he used to do, not what it used to be, this is what it is. In my mind, he’s done such a good job in a short time frame of being a good leader, because he’s trying to help everyone learn who we are, not who it used to be or what it is, it’s who we are as a whole group.”

On offensive lineman Adam Holtorf…

“Not just him, but there’s a number of them that are really good leaders. Worry about what I can control, but then go out and tell the guy next to you, ‘Hey, this is how we’re gonna get it done,’ and he’s really done a nice job. He’s one of those guys they respect.

“For what we’re going to do, your center has to be a guy that understands the schemes because it’s important that he’s able to communicate on both sides, meaning it’s not real easy for the right tackle to truly communicate to the left guard. But it’s pretty easy for that center to be able to communicate what the right tackle’s issues are to the left guard, and he’s done a nice job of that.”

On what physically has impressed him about Skylar Thompson…

“Honestly his arm strength. For being a guy that’s probably 215 or 218 pounds, he’s got a very strong arm and it comes out in a hurry. He’s thrown the ball very, very well. Knock on wood, we’ve done a nice job taking care of the football in the passing game.”

On the install process…

“It’s been smooth but not easy by any means. Smooth from the standpoint of our guys have spent the time and done a nice job trying to learn it. The snap happens and now you have to play and it is fastball. Those d-linemen and linebackers are going full-out. There is a lot of thinking that is going on and we have got to keep progressing to where we can just go play and not have to think. That might not take place until 10 practices into fall camp before it really starts slowing down because of the number of things that we do.”

On being a unique offense in the Big 12...

“I think so because not everyone in the Big 12, but a lot of people, are going to be in shotgun 75 to 80 percent of the time. I do not see us in the gun 75 to 80 percent of the time. I see us as a little bit more of 50-50, 60-40 being under center more than in the gun.”

On the other quarterbacks...

“All four of the guys that you just mentioned have done good things in different times. The best thing that all of them have done is they have taken care of the ball, and that has been an emphasis from the first day we all got here. We have got to be efficient passing the football. John (Holcombe II) has a very, very strong arm. He understands the game probably better than I expected him to and has done a nice job with that. Obviously, he is a big, raw athlete, but he is a quarterback. That is the thing I am probably the most impressed with him. He does not go rely on his athleticism. He has operated from a quarterback standpoint. Ryan (Henington) has got to keep coming along. He has got to understand that the run game is just as important as the passing game. We do not run zone read or power read as much as a lot of people in the league do, but when we do run it, we have to do a great job of taking care of the football. The hard part about zone read and power read and that type of offense, is it is really option football. There is a read key and I am either keeping it or I am handing it off. You’ve got to really understand ‘respect the football.’ Taking care of it has to be a high priority and each practice it has to be a high priority. I think he will keep understanding that.”

On wide receiver Malik Knowles…

“When he walks through the door, I think everybody would say that guy’s going to help us. There is nothing that has been shown so far that he will not. I think he will help us, and I think he will be a guy that will show up early. He is still young and he is still a long ways from as ready for the Big 12 as some of the other guys are. (Hunter) Rison is a new guy here, from the standpoint of being on the field, but he is not young. You can tell he has been in the fire a few times. Malik still has some room to grow as far as just understanding the importance day-in and day-out that each down is an important down.”

ADAM HOLTORF, SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN

On the transition from last season…

“There is a lot going on between the coaching staff and the playbook changing. Going into my fifth year like this I would like to think that I can try to focus on the football side of things as much as I can. The X’s and O’s. Getting that hammered down the best I can.”

On the main difference in blocking…

“We are going to have a lot of similar type plays. I think the tendencies might change a little bit. Without getting into too much detail, a lot of the plays are going to have different names and you might see a little bit of different actions. But at the end of the day, the plays are going to be a lot of the same things you see. Maybe which plays we run first and how often we run certain plays are going to probably change.”

On his relationship with Coach Messingham…

“He is always down there in the huddle. I just got done visiting with him before I came in. Continuing to build those relationships with all of the offensive coaches, as well as some of the defensive coaches.”

JONATHAN ALEXANDER, JUNIOR DEFENSIVE BACK

On the coaching staff…

“They’re really energetic, Coach (Chris) Klieman and Coach (Van) Malone. They talk a lot of trash to the offense, so they really hype us up too and get us going. That’s my game. The thing about them too is how they act on social media, that’s how they are in person too. That’s one of the fun things about them. One of the first practices, we were kind of dry and when he (Coach Malone) got to talking trash, it makes us talk trash and it just brings the energy and makes you want to play harder.”

On learning the new schemes…

“It’s definitely not easy. Filling up the holes, transitioning to fitting up in the pass game, it’s definitely not easy. Multiple reps and the walk throughs help a lot.”

On the receiving corps…

“They compete. I like competing against (Hunter) Rison, (Wykeen) Gill too. Gill has nice feet. I think a dude a lot of people are sleeping on right now is Seth (Porter). Seth is really speedy, that’s a dude I’ll be watching out for, as a safety he eats up the cushion. He’s a problem.”

On wide receiver Hunter Rison…

“Electric. He’s electric. He’s different, for sure. His catch radius makes him different. The ball will be way out in front of him and he’ll slip out and go get it. I’ve seen DB’s slow down because the ball is out of reach and he’ll just reach out and go get it. He’s a problem for me.”

WYKEEN GILL, JUNIOR WIDE RECEIVER

On practice so far…

“It’s going pretty great, just taking it day-by-day. Obviously, we’ve made vast improvement with the playbook and our bodies, both mentally and physically.”

On staff helping his development…

“With a new coordinator and position coaches, they brought me to feel more comfortable and try different things out. They put a lot of confidence in me and my abilities. Breaking down the fine details, details are always most important, and that’s how it was with my old coaches also. Attention to details is the key to success and victory. They bring in the same attitude and environment with that. They bring more energy and it makes it feel like the sky's the limit.”

On his challenges with switching positions to wide receiver…

“It’s a whole different environment out there as a receiver, mentally and physically with your body. The running and drill work you do often, getting in and out of breaks, different reads you have to make with the coverages. Seeing things from a different perspective, but it also helps me being used to seeing coverages. It helps me gain a little insight with being a receiver already.”

MARCUS HAYES, SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE BACK

On how things are different here compared to New Mexico…

“The people are a lot different. I love the people, I love the community, I love the guys. They’re all nice. Weather is the biggest thing, I’m so used to being warm every day. The weather is amazing back in New Mexico, but out here feels like home, so I’m feeling comfortable, feeling a lot better and just real good.”

On the defense’s identity…

“Attacking. We’re really just attacking. I’m an attack guy and aggressive, and I feel like Coach (Scottie) Hazelton is going to bring that to the table each and every game, each and every play.”

On his transfer process from New Mexico…

“I knew I wanted to play for Coach (Chris) Klieman as soon as I got my release papers. I was ready to come right away. I wanted to get in spring ball because we knew about the waiver, and we knew that could be a possibility. Me coming early was the plan.”

On offensive players that have stood out…

“James Gilbert, the early enrollee with me. He’s really good, he’s a dude. I see what he brings to the table and I see what all the receivers and running backs bring to the table. We’re looking forward to a great offense.”