Replacing Skylar Thompson was one of the top priorities for Chris Klieman and his staff this past offseason. They eventually found that replacement in former Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez.

The first thing that drew Klieman to his new signal-caller was the amount of experience and games he had played for the Cornhuskers. Martinez played in 39 games over the course of four years in Lincoln and set the total offense record for Nebraska with 10,871 yards.

His maturity was also attractive. Martinez was always extremely grounded.

Although he missed all but the final two practices of the Spring, he built a rapport with much of the team, embraced the culture and was a leader in the quarterback room throughout those few weeks.

A substantial development in the offseason was when Klieman replaced offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham with Collin Klein. It was on an interim basis for the bowl game but became permanent afterwards.

Klein earned it after an impressive showing in Houston that Klieman called the team's best performance of the year. The new offensive coordinator commanded his unit with authority and confidence.

His work with the skill position groups stood out to the head coach.

Unlike a lot of head coaches that are considered experts on the defensive side of the ball, Klieman sits in on the quarterback meetings and is very involved in those conversations and preparation.

Through that experience, he's seen how Klein communicates with his players, and that also stands out to the head coach.

The new Kansas State offensive coordinator has been afforded the freedom to put his own spin on the offense. However, they will use some of the same terminology they did a year ago with Messingham.

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KSO has shared a number of times, even before it became a popular opinion, that this year's club in Manhattan is the best roster Klieman and company have had since he took over as head coach at K-State, top to bottom.

With that being said, safety is a question mark and that much was admitted by the Wildcats' head coach.

Kansas State is replacing all three starting safeties from a year ago in Russ Yeast, Ross Elder and Jahron McPherson. They have added a lot of transfers to fill that void, consisting of Drake Cheatum, Kobe Savage and Josh Hayes.

They also still have returners TJ Smith and Cincere Mason.

Klieman is looking forward to fall camp and to the challenge of developing the safeties. In fact, he mentioned that all three of him, Van Malone and Joe Klanderman will have the task of coaching the heck out of that group the next couple months.