MEMPHIS - Watch Kansas State Wildcats football coach Chris Klieman's AutoZone Liberty Bowl press conference in its entirety.

KANSAS STATE HEAD COACH CHRIS KLIEMAN OPENING STATEMENT:

“Thank you so much for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl people for the hospitality. Our guys came in here, we arrived on Thursday and we’ve had activities every night. Had a lot of fun things for the guys to do. Hospitality has been phenomenal. The people have been great. I know our kids have enjoyed it. We’ve been able to get some practices in. Had some adverse conditions yesterday, but the guys had a blast. We practiced in a downpour yesterday, but needed to get some work done. Excited about being here and representing the Big 12 against a great Navy football team and a great Navy program. I have so much respect for the Naval Academy and Coach Ken. He and I have known each other for a while and been on some committees. He’s done a terrific job there. We have our hands full come tomorrow afternoon, but we’re excited about the challenge. We have our last walkthrough today and more meetings tonight. We’ll get more into our ‘Friday routine’ today and we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.”

ON THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE OF BOWL PREP:

“Just the repetition that both our developmental offense and defense are getting and special teams. We’ve designated every day that we’ve practiced to a period of developmental team periods and individual and then some different special teams. Just the constant coaching and the constant work on fundamentals within our offensive and defensive schemes. I know that those guys have appreciated that, getting coached rather than being on scout team all the time. I know we’ve made some improvements.”

ON WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN:

“It would finish the chapter, finish the story. We talk about the journey we’ve been on and we have one more chapter, one more story to write with our seniors. We know it’s going to be a difficult task, but if we continue to prepare, give us a great chance to be successful, but without question, it would end the journey.”

ON PREPARING FOR A BOWL GAME:

“It’s been different. Everything that I’ve done since I’ve taken over this position a little over a year ago now has been a first for me. From the first spring ball to a first media day to a first bowl experience. For starters, I couldn’t be more thrilled that we’re a part of a bowl game. There wasn’t a ton of expectations, other than the people in our locker room, that we would be playing postseason football. I’ve reached out to a number of colleagues that have helped me in my path along the way. Obviously, it’s different because of the developmental side of things, continuing to try to work on your future of your football team. Where when you’re preparing for a national championship or a playoff game, you only have that on your mind, so that’s been a little bit different. Not only that, but when you go to a national championship game, you are only there for a couple of days. We’ve been here quite a bit longer, so there are more activities. It’s such a reward for the guys from a season of a lot of success.”

ON FRESHMEN BACKS:

“They’ve done a nice job. Joe Ervin who has played his four games and we’re not going to play has done a really nice job of simulating some of the Navy stuff, being a slot back. He’s really quick and really good cut blocker, so he’s really done a nice job for us. I think Clyde [Price] and Thomas [Grayson] are continuing to grow and develop. They have a long way to go, but we’re seeing really good improvement. Obviously, Jacardia [Wright] is going to see some time tomorrow.”

ON POSSIBLY BEING THE FIRST THE BIG 12 TEAM TO WIN A BOWL THIS SEASON:

“I don’t get caught up with that to be honest with you. We have a job to do with our team and in our preparation, so whether or not we’re the first or the next, we just want to do what we can to be successful for Kansas State.”

ON IF OKLAHOMA’S LOSS TO LSU DIMINISHES KANSAS STATE’S WIN OVER OKLAHOMA:

“It’s never going to diminish the win we had over Oklahoma because it was a statement win for our program. I think Oklahoma is a tremendous program, tremendous team. Licoln Riley has done a phenomenal job to get to the playoff as many times as Oklahoma has, him in particular. LSU is a pretty good football team, that quarterback won the Heisman for a reason.”

ON PREPARING FOR THE TRIPLE OPTION:

“It’s a total different preparation. There’s not one call that we’ve made throughout 12 games and X amount snaps that we’re going to make on Tuesday. It’s a brand new defense. I think the fortunate thing is we didn’t play them on Dec. 17 or have three days to prepare. We’ve had ample time to prepare to try to come up with plan A and plan B so to speak. They’ve seen everything. Nothing is going to surprise Navy. Nothing surprises any team that runs these offense. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to play against a number of schools that have run the option. No matter what you throw at them, they just open up the page and say this is how you attack it. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge. The guys have bought into what they’ve been teaching them. It’s assignment football. It’s eye discipline. It’s reading your keys. All those things that we can talk about until you get into and see the speed of play. I think our scouts have done a really nice job of showing pictures, but you can’t emulate the speed of play we’re going to see tomorrow afternoon. I think, for us, the biggest challenge will be to get to understand and being able to get the speed of the game.”

ON DEFENDED THE TRIPLE OPTION:

“They’re going to run it more than they throw it, so we better be respecting the run first to be honest with you. Everybody has a job. It’s not like you’re sitting in a three-deep shell and just letting the ball get thrown in front of you. If they throw it 10 times, I’ll be surprised. You have to be able to defend everything. I’m a big proponent of if you defend everything, you defend nothing, but you better be able to slow down the quarterback. He’s been the focal point.”

ON HOW IMPORTANT A BOWL WIN IS FOR THE PROGRAM’S MOMENTUM:

“Really important. Every game is important. We’ve had a lot of highs and a lot of lows this season, but we continue to improve every week. I talked to the guys about being the same player, being the same coach, being, as assistants, the same guy from day one when we took this job to day 365. We’re not going to be a rollercoaster as coaches. We don’t want those players to be as well. We’ve had a winning streak followed by a losing streak and winning streak followed by a losing streak. I firmly believe we’ve been getting better every game. We played two really good games to end the season. Now, we’ve had a month off. For me, it’s let’s reward these seniors that have put so much time and effort into their four and five years here. That’s what we want to do, is try to go out and win for the seniors.”

ON HIS FIRST SEASON AT KANSAS STATE:

“I can’t point to one thing, I point to the full year that all the newness that I had, that the coaches had, that the team had. They bought in. They listened to and bought into the new voices in the front of the room. They held each other accountable. They believed in stacking great days upon great days. We’re laying a foundation with our staff that we hope the younger guys can latch onto and continue to build upon that foundation. I’m not saying the foundation was poor, this is just our staff. We’ve got a great foundation from what Coach Snyder has done for years and years, but this is a new staff. That’s all I’m trying to do--make sure our guys buy into what we do as a staff.”

ON THE FUTURE OF THE QUARTERBACK POSITION:

“We have Skylar Thompson. I promise you we always have a chance to win. That kid has played great football for us. He’s become a leader and makes everyone around him better. He’s a servant leader in my mind, which makes everyone that he comes into contact with better. The fact that we have him one more year, we have a couple of young players that are doing a nice job. We recruited a young player that we think is going to be a special player. To have Skylar around those guys, it’s going to make them better.”

ON HIS SENIOR CLASS:

“In the landscape of Power Five football, you don’t see very many big senior classes, especially five-year guys. It just doesn’t happen, whether they leave early, they transfer out, whatever it may be. These guys stuck together and that tells you how much they love each other, how much they appreciate each other and how much they have each other’s backs. That’s what I remember most from this senior class, from the first day when I had those individual player meetings with those guys and the relationships that myself and the staff have built with these guys. It’s been pretty unique. I know that we’re in the position we are today because of that senior class.”

ON DENZEL GOOLSBY:

“A guy that is one of the best leaders and one of the best leaders by example vocally in how he does everything off the field and how he attacks life and how he prepares to be the best version of Denzel on a daily basis and how he challenges other guys to be their best, not on the field, off the field. I will remember Denzel more for the things and what he’s established within our culture off the field and how he’s conducted himself, how he’s held guys, especially young guys, to the standard he expects Kansas State football to be a part of. That’s what I’ll remember about Denzel. Terrific football player, but better person and better human. He’s going to be so successful in life.”

ON AUSTIN MOORE:

“He’s done a great job. He’s one of those guys in the developmental. He was a school start walkon for us that you’ll hear his name. He’s got a chance to help us on special teams until he can learn what we’re doing at linebacker, develop, get bigger and stronger and all those other things. A guy that plays the game the right way, reminds me of a younger Brock Monty in the fact that he plays his tail off, keeps quiet and just does things the right way and has some really good ability.”

ON IF NAVY HAS AN ADVANTAGE BECAUSE THEY PLAY IN MEMPHIS EVERY OTHER YEAR AGAINST MEMPHIS:

“I really don’t see any advantage one way or another. The field is going to be the same length and width, you just have to tee it up and play. The team that is prepared the best, the team that blocks and tackles the best is going to be the team that’s going to be the one that is successful.”

ON THE HEALTH OF THE OFFENSE:

“He’s [Malik Knowles] healthy. It’s been nice, that month off, for he, for Wykeen Gill, for all of our running backs to get healthy. This is the first game I think we’ll have all the running backs healthy, as well as Malik and Wykeen and Dalton [Schoen]. That side of the ball is probably as good as we’ve been.”

ON IF PREPARING FOR THE TRIPLE OPTION GIVES THE DEFENSE ANYTHING TO APPLY TO NEXT SEASON:

“No, from the standpoint of all the calls that we’ve made for 12 weeks that you don’t make any of them on this game, but yes in the fact that if you don’t have great eye discipline, understand your responsibility and where you fit in the 11-piece puzzle, you’re not going to be successful. I think if you’re a corner or safety, they’re involved in every play. In most games there’s potential when the play is away from you, you’re not really involved in it. Those kids having to understand that they’re held just as accountable as the three technique, as the outside linebacker, as the defensive end or linebacker, to everything from a run fit to a pass fit point of view. I think our defensive backs have a greater appreciation of how they fit into the entire scheme. We’re hoping that that’s a great learning experience for them.”

ON THE IDENTITY OF KANSAS STATE’S OFFENSE:

“If we can run the football, especially like we were able to run it against Iowa State. It wasn’t just under center, it was in the gun, it was with jet motions, it was Skylar running the football. That was what I envisioned, and I know that’s what Coach Messingham would say the same thing. When you’re multiple in how you run the football and running the football is one thing, that’s why Navy is so good, they’re multiple in how they run the football. Everybody knows about the quarterback, but the quarterback is so good because of what the full back can do and because of the ability to have the pitch.”

ON WHAT HELPED HIM ESTABLISH HIS CULTURE AT KANSAS STATE:

“A couple things, the leadership council we created, giving the kids ownership in the program, wanting their opinion, wanting them to have a voice in the program so that they could hold each other to high standard that’s expected. I don’t think it should always come from a coach or a strength coach. I think it should come from your peers. It should come from each other.

When you have an older guy telling a younger guy, ‘No, that’s not the way you do things. Here’s how you’re doing it and this is the culture that we’re establishing.’ It’s an ongoing process for us. We’re improving at it, but that’s probably the biggest thing. As well as, the senior class of those guys coming together and basically saying, ‘We want to play in the postseason. We know the disappointment we had after the 2018 season of being so close and not playing in the postseason.’ They were on a mission to play in the postseason.”

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