On playing Alabama

Everybody is excited about the challenge, opportunity. We’re going to get a chance to play against the gold standard in college football, for sure. Over the last few decades, the heart of my career, it’s always been Alabama and everybody else. It’s a gret opportunity. We know the challenge that we’re going to face. But the CFP has the top four. I argue that this might be the best game or matchup outside of the CFP. I know it’s going to be a great challenge but our guys are excited about it.

On what the schedule has been like

We finally get to practice with some consecutive days now because we’ve been on the road the last couple of weeks, so we just come back and practice on the weekends on Saturday and Sunday and head out again. Coach True has been with them a little bit doing strength and conditioning. We’ve had finals, we’ve had a lot of things. We were able to practice on Saturday with a lot of developmental stuff and yesterday we got more into prep work. We’ll practice again today, tomorrow and Wednesday before we give them a little break and reconvene.

On Big 12 title sinking in

Unfortunately, too quickly. I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy it. We go right on the road from that. I was in Vegas with Adrian [Martinez] for the Campbell Award and then from there hit it on the road. It has not hit me; I can’t wait until it does. But it might be February because we got right from playing in the Sugar Bowl to back on the road or with recruiting cycles. I’m thrilled for our players, staff that we were able to do this in the four years’ time that we’ve been here. I know it’s been very, very hard. It’s been very rewarding. I keep telling these guys, these people that the power of belief, belief in those players and the power of player ownership and it’s taken 3-4 years to get to that point. Now, have to find a way to sustain it. And that’s I think sometimes harder than building it. But I think that is what makes it fun and challenging.

On Eli Huggins

Well, Eli’s everything. He’s a captain. He’s one our true leaders on defense. For him to make the plays on the goal line stops in that big game and Eli and I have had some conversations. He came back for reason and that’s not just to compete for a sixth year. It was to win a championship. Eli is a pretty humble guy, he’s not going to be publicly stating ‘this is the only reason I came back, to win a Big 12 championship.’ But deep down I know that is one of the reasons, he felt like we really had the opportunity. It was critical for us that he did come back because he’s been so big for us to get us to where we are at.

On Big 12 title and recruiting

I sure hope so. I think there is some validation that what we are doing here, collectively, with staff, players, support staff is the right way and right thing. I don’t know if everybody outside of this place believed that was the case all the time. It gave us some validation, our own staff, our own people in the building, as well as when we go out to schools to see players that you can go to Kansas State and a champion. Something that we have been talking about since the day I was in here in 2019 and Gene [Taylor] introduced me to the football team that if you believe, take ownership, you can become a champion. I firmly believe that. That was not just me talking to try to get kids motivated. I firmly believed that could happen. Did it happen sooner or later than I thought? That’s life. I don’t know. Did we not have the 2020 campaign? Who knows it could have happened sooner. The amount of injuries we had this year, we played two quarterbacks, both really successful I think our kids always believed that they had this opportunity and it wasn’t easy, but they got it done.

On K-State players opting out

No. I don’t see that happening. I think everybody eligible to play will play. I did see that Alabama had the same thing, which I’m excited for. The fanbase of both teams, the fans in general that, the best players want to play and play with their teammates one last time. I think that’s a good sign for college football in general when you have a game of this magnitude of this when you have two really good teams, two good programs, so much respect for Coach Saban and what he’s done – not at Alabama – but what he’s done for college football in general. That everybody is playing in this game.

On Bryce Young and Will Anderson

I think it’s probably equal. They do so much for their football team on each side of the ball and they’re people you have to prepare for. Luckily, it’s one on one side and one on the other side, but make no mistake, they have a lot of other really talented players on both sides.

On bowl practices

I don’t think you can [split practices]. I don’t want to. I want to keep focus on some of the young player’s development. They deserve that opportunity. Those young offensive linement deserve not to go down to scout team, but to be coached by Coach Riley and do our system and play against some of the younger guys on defense. Last weekend when we were in the middle of recruiting, and we had a couple of practices that was the line share of the reps – offense, defense and special teams. Yesterday was a good chunk of developmental, as well. We flip it a little more today and the next few days, but without questions, we have to give those kids time. We have to evaluate those kids moving into Spring 2023.

On if the 2020 season was actually a blessing

Probably. You had to reevaluate because of how you were going to teach, the learning environments and stuff changed. I think everything happens for a reason; I really do. I knew when I came down here, to follow Coach Snyder was not going to be an easy task because of everything Bill has meant to Kansas State and college football. It’s the greatest turnaround in college football history and all those things. You’d hear all the time. You have to go through some of those rough patches. It’s made me better as a leader, made me better as a mentor, made me better as a football coach, it’s made me age a lot more in the last few years as well. But it probably makes it more rewarding that we had to go through the things that we did to be on that stage in early December thinking ‘holy cow, we got this done.’

On relationship with Saban

No we’ve never done that (compare national title rings). I don’t think coach would be doing that. But I’ve talked to him, I’ve met him. I’ve talked to him over the phone a few times.

On lack of practices

We hope to get some consistency moving forward this week because you don’t get consistency when you practice two days and you’re off five days and the ball is on the ground more on offense. You don’t maybe fit things right on defense. You’re out of alignment and stuff. We need to practice more. We need to go consecutive days to get back into that football realm, and I know we’re going to give them a little bit of a break around Christmas, which the guys need, the coaches need, the support staff needs. But we’re fortunate, we get the normal preparation. We’ll arrive in New Orleans on Monday and start practice. We’ll have a normal Monday through Friday.

On Ekow Boye-Doe

He would be the one that would I probably be, that aren’t season ending, that I’m probably, concerned about the most. He hasn’t practiced at all, yet. I don’t see him practicing before we leave for New Orleans. So that gives him a week from today is when we get to New Orleans, and that will be a better a better tell. He says he’s playing, which I love. He says, ‘Coach, I’m playing.’ But he has to continue to do some rehab, and we’ll see how he feels on Monday.

On Alabama’s Brooks

I haven’t even thought about it.

On small town Kansas players and this opportunity

I think everybody is excited about it, but in the same respect it’s going to come down to our preparation. And we talked about that yesterday after practice that we’ve really got to dominate the details of our game plan because I think Alabama does as good of a job as anybody of attacking your weaknesses and attacking whether it’s personnel, a scheme and what you do poorly, they do a great job of exposing that. We have to do a great job of dominating the details and executing and knowing our game plan. I know all of our guys – no matter where you are from – are really excited about the opportunity, for starters, to be in the Sugar Bowl, a New Years Six game and I know the fan base is excited about going down to New Orleans. We’ll see what happens on the 31st.

On coaching staff continuity

I have no idea. They will come to me. We’ve got a great understanding, our coaching staff does, if they have an opportunity that I can help them with, I want to help them. If they get an opportunity to be a head coach, a coordinator and they’re not one of those right now, I’m in this profession because of what people did for me. I would do the same for them. Right now, all of us are together. I don’t know if there will be any movement, I hope there’s not because we’ve got a great staff. I think everybody will be set through New Orleans.

On the importance of keeping staff

It’s critical to have the same voice, messaging, all that stuff. But you say that in one breath, doesn’t mean that I don’t want somebody to get a great opportunity if they can further their career. I was able to move along and further my career, and those decisions aren’t easy. You’re not just affecting yourself. You’re affecting your wife, your children, family. I know that guys are focused on this game. I am too. I know our coaching staff is 100 percent locked in on preparing our guys to battle a great Alabama team.

On Adrian Martinez’s health

He practiced yesterday, which was good. It was a normal practice, he took reps. Will [Howard] took reps with the ones. He and Jake took reps with the twos. And we eased him into it yesterday. We’ll probably give him a few more reps. I think he came out of it okay yesterday. We’ll probably give him a few more reps the next three days and push him a bit more. I’d love to see him play. Will is going to start. Will is the guy in the bowl game. But I’d love to have Adrian have an opportunity to play in this bowl game, and if he’s healthy that’s the plan is trying to get him some snaps in there. I want to make sure he’s healthy first and we need to probably get through these next three days. Then he’s going to get the next few off before we reconvene in New Orleans.

On Alabama

I know it’s going to shock you when I tell you this, but, to me, football is football – and you’ve heard me say that before. They’re really good up front on each side of the line of scrimmage. Teams in our league are really good up front as well, but in my mind – and I know they have Heisman trophy winners and Bryce Yong and really good skill kids all over the place – but when you watch them over the last decade that I’ve watched them their front seven has always been very disruptive. And it’s no different this year. Their offensive line has always owned the line of scrimmage and that’s kind of where I look at Alabama and say ‘They win up front on both sides of the line of scrimmage.’ I know they have skilled kids all over the place.

On the new indoor

We are in the new indoor. We haven’t opened up the garage doors and I don’t think we will do that today to get to the other part of that. Plus, it’s not quite finished yet. It’s a lot brighter than the old indoor. The surface is different. It’s taken us a bit to get used to that. The turf is a little bit higher, longer. But it’s refreshing to be in there. I know the guys are excited about having a new environment. You can actually coach and talk in there without the lights being too loud. When I say the lights being too loud, the furnace being on or something. It’s really neat to be in there. I can’t thank enough the Ryan brothers, the KC and Shamrock corporation and getting that done and helping us with that because it’s a game changer for us.

On experience playing LSU

I don’t think it’s ever been brough up with our guys, I really don’t. That was last year. That was last year’s team. This is a different team. We are different. Obviously, Alabama is going to be way different. Doesn’t get brought up in any conversations we have with any of the guys.

On players decisions for coming back

We’ve talked to everybody on the team about what their plans are. There are a handful that are unsure that are pretty impactful that I’m going to let enjoy this game and then we will continue those conversations. But we have a good gauge of what is going on with the roster.

On NCAA redshirt rule

I wish they would have announced it on November 5. That was the simple answer. The kids that we didn’t play against Baylor and we were beat to heck. The kids we didn’t play vs West Virginia and we were beat to heck. Or didn’t play against KU and we were beat to heck. We try to save that game for the bowl game was all along the goal. Good number of kids lost out on another opportunity to play in another game and that’s unfortunate. So, saying that, all the kids that were probably going to play in this game are probably going to play because we would have used that game before.

On Uso Seumalo

Uso has not practiced yet, but all indications are that he will be full go next Monday when we get to New Orleans.

On visiting with Darren Sproles

Just said hello to him before the game.

On Sproles being an inspiration

I’m sure he is. He’s one of the greatest players in college football history with him being in the Hall of Fame, let along the NFL. Absolutely. I know that guys like Deuce look up to him. Anybody that is a running back that is not of the prototypical stature would look up to Darren Sproles because the guy was a dude. He was a great player. I’m just happy that he was on the sideline and part of that game and that experience. He’s been to practices of ours. I welcome all of our former players back and I was excited that Darren was part of that a couple Saturdays ago.

On measuring heart in recruiting

When you look at a kid like Deuce Vaughn, you turn the video on and you’re like, ‘We’ll take that kid, that kid is pretty special.’ Then you bring them up and make sure the character and integrity match the ability and they exceeded the ability in my mind. He and his mother came up when he came on his visit. All he wanted was a chance. That’s all he wanted was a chance. I don’t think anybody else in the Power 5 was giving him a chance. And when you flipped on his tape you knew he was good enough to play. It didn’t matter what size he was. When he sat in my office, you saw the same infectious smile that you see every day and a kid of character, integrity and family with character and integrity. It was like, ‘we’re not letting this kid go, and we’re going to jump on him and see if he’ll take it.’ He did. And I think some people probably regret that.

On national honors for Deuce Vaughn

I will say the same thing that Deuce would say, ‘We’ve got an unbelievable offensive line that has worked its tail off, that has opened up a lot holes and we’ve got great tight ends, fullbacks that block. Collin has done a great job of calling plays and Deuce with the football. He wouldn’t say that he’s electric as anybody I’ve ever been around.

On players going to the NFL

We’ll talk about it after the bowl game and we’re already, they’re already gathering that information. I’m going to help these guys make the best choices for them and their families. Everybody would like to see these guys in K-State purple again next year. We know that. But what’s the best thing for their family and their future? That’s the thing. I’ve been doing this for awhile and you get to know these kids so well that you don’t want to lose them. You don’t want them to leave. But you also know that there is an opportunity and sometimes those windows are small for them to go on and have that chance to play at the next level and take care of their family. If that’s the best path for them, we’re going to sure support them in whatever they do.

On Martinez’s desire to play in a bowl game

Well, even after he got hurt against Baylor, and we knew he was going to be out for some period of time, he and I talked in the office. I said, ‘Adrian I know how important it is for you to be ready to play in a bowl game, but I want to make sure that you are going to push yourself to get to that bowl game.’ Not knowing what his plan was going to be, and that was what he had ear marked. ‘No, coach I want to play in a bowl game. I’ve never had the opportunity.’ Very similar to Kade [Warner] last year, of Kade wanting that opportunity of playing in a bowl game and so I was so excited that Adrian, for starters said, ‘No coach that is my goal, to get myself ready for the bowl game.’ If we played tomorrow, I don’t know if he would be ready to play. But know we still have a good amount of time and the fact that he has practiced, I hope, gives him confidence and gets him stronger and ready because he has some other things on the other side of this bowl game too. I want to make sure he’s healthy enough to do some of those things. Whether it’s combines to different all-star game experiences that he can showcase his skills for the next level.

On how he manages a roster

You don’t. It’s a headache me listening to you. The bad think is I have to talk to Taylor Braet about that all the time and he’s scatter brained as it is, so the roster management is very difficult. That’s all I can say. It’s very difficult. Are you going to under sign and then you have to find guys late? Or are you going to over sign and assume somebody is going to leave the program? Are you going to sign somebody and realize that kid is coming back? Or not sign somebody and two guys at that position leave? I think we’re still in another two year cycle of this, which is crazy. I don’t know. The roster management is incredibly hard right now for all head coaches. I see it more with new head coaches going into places because that’s where there is even more mass exodus, when you get a new coach. Man, I don’t know, to recruit 40-50 guys on some rosters, probably. We’ve had a handful leave. I know there are probably going to be a couple more, but I don’t think there is going to be 15 more or something. I feel like we have a handle on it, but something is always going to happen or could happen, so we’re talking about it on a daily basis. And I’m praying that I can get to the 22nd on a signing day press conference and then be able to shut it down on the afternoon of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th and try to catch my own breath before reconvening and roll through December 26 until February 1.

On the timing of the early signing period

Probably not. I just don’t know. There’s always unintended consequences when you move something. Probably not. If somebody said, ‘Why don’t you do this on August 1 and sign all these guys on August 1? Well, we get a lot of kids who are 2023s because they came to a home football game this September, this October and went ‘Wow, what an electric place this is. I want to come here.’ I don’t want to lose that either. We get kids that commit in the summer, like everybody else does. But we still get those kids that say, ‘I want to come to a game in the fall.’ And our game day environment, I’ll put up against anybody because it’s phenomenal. You can see that this is an electric campus, town, community on game day. I would be hesitant to say, ‘How much earlier are you going to have it?’ Because you still have to utilize those game visits.

On pushing early signing day back to March

But if you push it back to March 1 then nobody is going to early enroll in January. There’s so many things that we could continue to do on for hours upon hours. I just don’t know where it is going. I really don’t. I don’t make those decisions. I just have to try to take whatever rule it is and make it work. That’s what all of us are trying to do. There are kids entering the transfer portal right now and it just became dead yesterday, so now those guys are trying to find places to go and they can’t go on those campuses. We, as coaches, are trying to do that but trying to secure our high school class, trying to get ready for a bowl game. I’m glad we didn’t play last weekend in the bowl game because some of those coaches, coached last week in the bowl game and lost all that week of recruiting, so I don’t know where it’s going. I just don’t have any idea.

On Cooper Beebe

He’s been phenomenal. Another All-American that deserved the recognition and that offensive line together has so much continuity, so much chemistry together. It’s been fun to watch. The one thing that I would say about that group, as many snaps as that group has played together, they keep getting better and better this year.