Get a quick look at what Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman had to say in today's press conference, followed by our immediate thoughts, in Rapid Reaction.

A complete transcript of Klieman's full comments will be provided later today on K-StateOnline.

Opening Statement: We're excited to be back at home after being on the road the last couple of weeks. We've got a good opponent, and we had to wipe it clean and go back to work. We had a really good day of practice yesterday. Wykeen Gill would be the only guy added from an injury perspective the last week, and he'd be questionable.

Question: On RB injuries...

Klieman: Joe (Ervin) will be available for sure. He's cleared. James (Gilbert) didn't move around much yesterday. It's an ankle not responding as well as we hoped. Jordon (Brown) nicked his up in the game last week, too. We need to see how they practice as well as how they respond.

Reaction: Bluntly, this doesn't sound awesome. It's honest, and it's good to hear the two top backs are "available," to practice this week, as well as Ervin, but I think this group is still pretty beat up.

Question: On the 'Cats' logo...

Klieman: We are celebrating the 150th year of college football throughout the season. One of our ways to do it, is for this game to wear a throwback with the Cats on the helmet. I'm on board. It had been planned a long time. We're just doing it for this game; we aren't changing the logo. It's good for recruiting. We said we'd change up a couple of things this year from a uniform perspective, and this is one of those things.

Reaction: I think, personally, it's a really cool looking secondary logo, and K-State is using it well.

Question: On Redshirts...

Klieman: The two I can think of are Khalid (Duke) and Joe (Ervin), that are right on that, and our plan is to play those guys. They're ready and we still have four more games. I think that's quality for those guys. Injuries impact, too, and we're beat up at running back. We have to focus on the 2019 season for these seniors, as well.

Reaction: Kicker Ty Zentner is one more player right at the four game number, and we anticipate him redshirting. I also think, for what it's worth, K-State is making the right call to continue to play Ervin and Duke.

Question: On Malik Knowles health...

Klieman: He's probably about 85 percent.

Reaction: There was more said in this answer, but I wanted to get in the part where Klieman estimated where Knowles is. He thinks he's getting better from a health perspective, and that showed up last week.

Question: On Sammy Wheeler...

Klieman: He tore his ACL against Kansas. It's sad, as he was coming on and playing good football for us. He'll miss spring ball as well.

Reaction: Derek Young reported this injury at KSO two days after the Kansas game two weeks ago. A loss, for sure.

Question: On Youngblood's kickoff return...

Klieman: I thought Josh did a really good job of running through an arm tackle, similar to Malik did at Mississippi State. We held blocks, and there are a lot of players on that kickoff return who play a lot of big snaps for us on other special teams units. Ross Elder, Brock Monty... Harry Trotter made a great block on that. For us to be successful, we have to continue to play well on (special) teams.

Reaction: I'm SO impressed with the play of K-State's special teams this year. I wrote, so many times, I had no idea how K-State could be better on special teams this year without a dedicated coordinator or the amount of practice time spent on the unit as it was in the past. Despite all of that, K-State is - clearly - better on special teams this year than a year ago.

Question: On Wykeen Gill's injury and the hit that caused it...

Klieman: I saw it on replay and asked the officials to look at it. He was great and said he'd go up and look at it. It was unfortunate. Away from the play, and Wykeen is going to probably miss the game while the other guys misses a half. I don't know if that's fair.

Reaction: Very, very respectable answer. Simply put, I can say it's absolutely not fair. I'm not sure the last time I saw a more blatant, needless, violent, cowardly hit from a player. Texas should not play him this week, at all, at least.

Question: On the defense holding teams under scoring averages...

Klieman: The guys are buying in and learning more and more each week. We're improving with the knowledge base of our bread and butter base defense and make more adjustments each week, as opposed to early in the season. Now, when an issue comes up, we work on it in practice and it makes sense to them. Great defenses know where their piece is at, and where the other piece is at. Are we there yet? Not even close. But, for our first year, I'm really excited about where we are going.

Reaction: Impossible to deny the fact K-State's defense continues to get better as it learns this defense more, and there's reason to believe the trend could continue.

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