Transcript & Video: Kansas State press conference
Thank you to K-State Athletics Communications for providing the following quotes from today's Kansas State press conference.
Videos provided by KSO's Grant Flanders and Matt Hall.
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
“Good afternoon everybody. I hope everyone had a good week off and relaxed a little bit. I had the chance to watch some of my daughter’s volleyball, which was a lot of fun. Now we’re back at the grind and have seven weeks in a row of it. What we worked on last week is going to feed us through the next seven weeks. Knock on wood, we were able to stay healthy because we know we got a pretty good grind here for the next seven weeks. I thought last week was a productive week with a lot of things that we did, focusing more on us, K-State vs. K-State, very minimal on TCU, our next opponent. We’re working into that, which started yesterday. Guys had a good bounce in their step yesterday, good practice yesterday, but we know we have to have a terrific week of preparation to play a really good TCU team Saturday.”
On message to team this week…
“Just to get back to the fundamentals, get back to the grind, get back to work on what we can control, and that’s your preparation for today. Be where your feet are and you have to control what you can control today. That’s the message that we’re going to continue to send. Everybody wants to be a race to maturity and a race to the top. We know it’s a process and our guys know it is a process. I know this - we are getting better on both sides of the ball. I saw it over the last week or so of practice. I think things are a just a little bit more crisp. Now, will that translate to Saturday? I don’t guys, but our guys are gaining more confidence.”
On what makes TCU so good defending the run...
“A, they’re very physical. I think that's the first thing that you notice on film is how physical Coach (Gary) Patterson’s defense plays. They hit their fits, they know their assignments, they know where their help’s at, they know if they are a lever player or a spill player. They do all the fundamental things right.”
On young players that stood out during the bye week…
“I don't know if there’s a specific young player. All of our skill kids continue to improve. Those are the ones that have a better chance to see the field. Keenan Garber continues to get better. We still want to redshirt him, but he’s a possibility to get some playing time. Chris Herron continues to improve. That’s where we need to find some guys, in the skill position. Joe Ervin continues to improve. I’m excited about the progress that all of our young players are making, and the ability for those guys to go against some of the older guys in a highly competitive situation is going to benefit them.”
On the status of wide receiver Malik Knowles...
“He didn’t practice yesterday, and I don’t foresee him practicing today. They said there's an opportunity as we continue on to mid to late week where he can do some things. I knew that a couple weeks ago, so it’s up in the air right now.”
On improving tackling during the bye week…
“We hope it improves. We emphasized it. We did a lot of tackling things. It still has to be proof in the pudding on Saturday, that’s the bottom line for us and we know it. We have to be much better tacklers. We have to grab cloth and wait for the cavalry to arrive when it’s a bigger body. It's something that we are emphasizing on a daily basis.”
On what he’s seen from wide receiver Phillip Brooks throughout the season…
“I don’t want - and I told Phillip this when I met with him in the spring - I didn’t want him to be known as just a jet sweep guy and a return specialist because I have very high expectations for Phillip. It’s a confidence thing with Phillip as far as knowing our offense, running good routes, coming up with big catches, coming up with catches in traffic. I see that gaining that confidence he did a week ago against Baylor, catching the ball in traffic and making some plays. I’m sure hopeful and plan on him taking that and fueling him and having a really good rest of the season.”
On what stands out to him on TCU’s offense…
“The backs are tremendous football players, for starters. They want to run the football. They’re no different than a lot of other schools of thought of run the football to set up the play action pass. I think they’re really good up front. They have some really good skill kids on the outside. Playing a freshman quarterback, (but) they’ll mix in (Alex) Delton now and then as well. So, they’re well rounded, but, without question, we have to be able to control, as much as we can, their run game.”
On the ability of TCU quarterback Alex Delton…
“I don’t know Delton, probably, as well as you guys do. On the limited snaps that we have seen him play this year and just listening and talking to the GA’s and guys around, he’s a really good football player. He makes things happen. He’s a spark for them. I think he throws the ball better than, probably, most people give him credit for, but he’s so dangerous running the football, and we know that. I fully expect to see both of them. We’ve seen both of them in multiple games this year. I don’t know how much more that we’ll see him than we will the freshman. Without question, we have to be ready for his package.”
On he’s been impressed with in TCU quarterback Max Duggan...
“I think he’s got really good poise. I really do. He was under a lot of duress against Iowa State, and he delivered the ball well. He made the correct reads on some of the RPO’s. It’s tough as a true freshman to play that position. I’m familiar with him through the recruiting process. I think he’s a terrific football player. His future’s really bright, and for him it’s great because his future’s now.”
On defensive back Logan Wilson and how close he is to helping in the secondary…
“He’s close. He’s a guy that we have to make some decisions on with the four-game rule because he’s right at it right now. There’s some things that Logan does really well and we’re excited about. There’s some things from an experience standpoint that we’re still hopeful that he continues to grow and gain. Knock on wood, we’ve stayed relatively healthy at that spot with Kevi (Kevion McGee), Walt (Walter Neil Jr.) and AJ (Parker) that he hasn’t been able to play as much. He’s done some really good things on special teams. So, Logan’s somebody that, this week, we’re having a bigger evaluation on to see if we’re going to continue on with him or are we potentially try to redshirt him.”
On TCU’s third-down defense…
“No easy throws. I think that’s the biggest thing. When it’s third down for those guys, they don’t void zones and give you easy throws. They’re contesting every throw. They’re physical on wide receivers, tight ends, backs. They do a really good job in the pass rush game, they always have done an exceptional job rushing the passer. To convert and move the chains against these guys, you’re going to have to make contested throws and contested catches.”
On Iowa State’s ability to run the ball against TCU…
“I think they confused them a little bit with some formations and some motions. The quarterback run hurt them a little bit. They had a bye week, so I’m sure they shored a lot of their things up just like we’re trying to do as well. Some of it’s match ups. Maybe Iowa State found a match up that they liked, I don’t know that, but Iowa State’s a really good offensive football team too.”
On TCU running back Darius Anderson…
“He can hit a home run, no question. He can beat you outside, beat you inside, beat you with speed, he can break tackles. That’s where we have to do a really good job of playing with great leverage and making open field tackles.”
On TCU’s defensive scheme compared to what was seen against Oklahoma State and Baylor…
“Probably a little different schematically, but still very aggressive. They’re not going to sit back. They’re going to be more of an attacking style of defense. They do run more four down. They do run three down, but they conventionally run more four down. They may switch to a little three down. We’ve been preparing for both. They’re an attacking-style defense, and when you have that, you cause a lot of negative plays and disruption. The things that we have to avoid that we’ve stubbed ourselves in the foot a little bit is having those negative plays. We have to avoid those.”
On the progress of the offensive line during the bye week…
“It was the same as it’s been. We’re continuing to progress and learn our scheme, continuing to work some different blocking schemes, whether it’s three down, four down, pressures, those things. Working some of the guys that haven’t played as much. We went hard with the Duff’s (Christian Duffie), and Adlers (Ben Adler) and Rivas (Joshua Rivas) and Noah (Johnson). Those guys kind of scrimmaged a little bit against some of the other defensive guys that maybe didn’t play quite as much. Not just freshmen, but all the guys scrimmaged unless you’ve played a significant amount in games, just to evaluate and continue to evaluate because I’m really concerned about this seven-week stretch we’re going in to. We have to have more depth and more guys that we can count on.”
On Samuel Wheeler’s progress at tight end…
“He’s made great leaps from August 1 to where we’re at now. I think everybody saw some glimpses in the spring that we were excited about. I think probably, even as coaches, we maybe had some unrealistic expectations early for a kid that made (the switch) three or four practices in on how far along he would be. I think the two open weeks have helped Sammy, quite a bit, learn our offense more, learn how to block at the point of attack. We don’t just have conventional tight ends. They’re on the ball, they’re off the ball, they’re flexed, they’re in the backfield, they’re motioning, they’re shifting. All those things that you kind of take for granted that somebody like Blaise (Gammon) just knows because he’s played the position. I’ve been really impressed with Sammy, once again, a young player that’s going to have an exceptional career at that position.”
On how fired up the team is to bounce back from the last two games...
“Obviously, they’re excited because it is game week, we talked about that. You’re going to have disappointments in life, and, boy, you have to be able to move forward. You’re going to have adversity in life. You can’t dwell on that. You have to attack the adversity, keep moving forward and grow from it. If you’re not learning and growing from the adversity, then it’s going to destroy you. I’m convinced that our guys are learning, they are growing. Once again, will that mean we’re going to have a way different outcome on Saturday? I don’t know. I just know we’re getting better on both sides of the ball, and the guys are believing in each other and have never stopped that.”
On two bye weeks in a four week span...
“Not a fan of it. I don’t know how this will play out in years to come or what it’s been in the past. Football is a rhythm sport, and you need to be able to play to continue to improve. You can only practice so much with the NCAA guidelines and rules. You get better by competition, bottom line. I’m glad we had two bye weeks. I would have loved one in week four and week 10, or week four and week nine or something. To have them as close they are back to back, some guys like a Sammy (Wheeler) could be a benefit for it. Other guys like Wayne (Jones) and J-Mac (Jahron McPherson), guys that are playing well but new to a position, those guys just need to keep playing games.”
SKYLAR THOMPSON, JUNIOR QUARTERBACK
On the TCU defense being physical…
“Their linebackers are not huge, but they are fast. Their nickel is kind of a true hybrid guy. He can play coverage really well and can get in the box, but he’s not the biggest guy in the world. But they are all great players and play fast for sure. Their D-line is big and can play physical. So that’s a pretty accurate description that they want to play fast and play hard and physical. So that’s pretty accurate.”
On how fired up the team is after the bye week…
“I think this bye week kind of came at a good time for us coming off of two losses like that. Being able to have time to truly focus on the things we need to work on that kind of got exploited the past two weeks, and things that we have kind of been struggling with and get better at. It gave us a week to really focus on those things and it kind of rallied us together. Anytime you lose it’s frustrating, and it’s tough and we have a lot of competitive guys on this football team that want to win. So, it was important that we got everybody together and the season isn’t over, there’s a lot football to be played. We have some great opportunities ahead of us. We just have to capitalize on those things and focus on one game at a time and one play at a time and not look ahead at things.”
ADAM HOLTORF, SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
On the motivation following the bye week…
“Everybody is extremely excited and hungry for this opportunity we have this week. Being at home and coming off a bye week, everybody is ready to get back out there and show what we worked on.”
On the run game…
“It’s going to be extremely important as is every game, being able to come out and run the ball early, control the clock, and everything that comes with an effective run game. It’s going to be huge.”
JAMES GILBERT, SENIOR RUNNING BACK
On the motivation following the bye week…
“We are all hungry and itching to get back out there. There’s a lot of football left. Seven games, that’s a lot of stuff we can play for for this football team. So we are eager to get back out there.”
On TCU’s run defense…
“They run a different defense, a 4-2-5 up front in their defense, so it’s a different look than we have seen before, but we’ve had two weeks to prepare and we are ready for it.”
HARRY TROTTER, JUNIOR RUNNING BACK
On establishing the run game…
“It’s very important. Establishing the run game sets up the rest of the offense, and it’s very important for us to do that so we can help Skylar (Thompson) out and help the receivers. The running game is where you can establish that and set up the pass game.”
On what stands out about TCU’s defense…
“Their ability to run to the football. Their defense is pretty athletic, and they have a great front seven and great secondary. So, they are just great at running to the football. It’s a pretty good defense.”
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