QUOTES & VIDEO: Chris Klieman's weekly press conference
Opening statement:
“Good afternoon everyone. Exciting week ahead heading to a tough place to play in Morgantown to play West Virginia. I know the guys are excited we’re getting into our first real heavy practice today. We had a light practice yesterday. Looking back at the film from Saturday a lot of the things happened that we needed to have happen to be successful. Baylor is kind of what we hoped for and planned for. That was the game plan was to hold onto the football. We had it for 37 plus minutes. Be productive in the red zone. I think we had four or five touchdowns in the red zone and then finding ways to get off the field on defense. There’s gonna be some third down stops, there’s going to be some fourth down stops. And if we could do those things we could keep that offense – which I think is a very good offense – on the sideline and we were able to do that. Proud of the guys effort, resolve and we were able to stay focused throughout the week. That was a big win on the road against a really talented team in Baylor and gotta move forward this week and as many of you guys know that we lost Kobe Savage for the year. He will be out for the year and it’s really tough because Kobe was playing such great football for us and he was playing so well for us and we’ll lose him for the year. That’s disappointing. With regards to Adrian (Martinez), he is not out for the season. I had heard that was out there but that’s not the case. He is not available this week and he will not be playing this week, but he is not out for the season. So Will (Howard) is the guy. It’s his football team and I’m excited for Will. Everyone knows Will is playing at a really high level and he gets to play back closer to home. Jaren (Lewis) and Jake Rubley will be the backup to Will this week, but excited about the challenge we have.”
On West Virginia switching quarterbacks and if that changes preparation:
“It definitely does. They – I think some of the plays may be the same but there is a lot more quarterback run read or element to it. It didn’t look like it was the greatest of conditions down there with the rain, so it was hard to tell did both teams try to run the ball a lot more because it was more difficult to throw? I watched a little bit of it in the hotel room and it looked bad, but absolutely. We envision both kids probably playing.”
Is West Virginia a cliche case of a wounded animal that can hurt you?
“Boy, they’ve played really well at home. They’ve beaten Oklahoma. They’ve beaten Baylor. I thought they gave TCU a great run and I know – I’m happy for Neal – that was a big win last week for him and the program. They are still chasing bowl eligibility and they will be ready to play. It’s senior day and they’ve got a lot of great seniors. I’ve got a lot of respect for Neal Brown and what he does and how he does it. They will be ready to play. This is going to be – as we talk every week – it’s going to be a great Big 12 game.”
On if the West Virginia win against Oklahoma is a blessing to wake up the guys and keep their attention prior to playing them:
“Yeah, I think they were going to be ready to play no matter what because of the character and toughness of Neal Brown coached teams, but yeah, they’ve got a lot to play for and we have a lot to play for so it’s going to be the same thing. Who can make fewer mistakes and play a clean game.”
On the plan defensively without Kobe Savage:
“We will move some guys around and you saw us do that a little bit Saturday as well. Cincere (Mason) – who started his career as a strong safety – will move over there and play a lot more and then we’re working through some of the other things this week but you guys saw that a little bit on Saturday with Cincere playing. We’re still going to need multiple guys to play. TJ (Smith) is going to need to play. VJ Payne is going to need to play and we’ve just got another spot now that we don’t have an experienced guy so that’s something that we’re going to work through this week.”
On Khalid Duke’s role and moving him around defensively and if he moves around because of Desmond Purnell:
“Not because of that. We thought he was going to be very effective against the kind of offense that we faced. It’s a different style of offense this week, so it may not fit the game plan, but the style of offense that we were going to face last week at Baylor we thought it gave us the best opportunity to be successful. And it just so happened to be when Khalid was in the game that that was what we did and we didn’t play that many plays so he could play a decent amount. I don’t know if that will be a part of the game plan this week.”
On the ability of his defense to play man coverage and what that does:
“Yeah. We’ve been playing more man. We need to mix in probably a little bit more zone, but having those experienced guys out there helps. This is a really talented group of wide receivers that I think is one of the best collective groups, so they will have their hands full.”
Klieman on how much Daniel Green provides:
“It was just good to see him back healthy. Last week was his first full week of practice I know since South Dakota. And to see him feeling good, running around, directing traffic, it really helps us. I know Nick Allen played a lot and he’s going to continue to play a lot. And Austin (Moore) is playing really well, but just to have your captain out there at MIKE linebacker and him feeling good, him being out there – Nick Allen has been such a warrior for us in the amount of plays and practice reps that he’s gotten – it’s great to have Deuce out there giving Nick a break too in practice and having your captain on the field.”
On West Virginia’s defensive struggles:
“They don’t want to allow you to rush the football and I thought they played Oklahoma really well and did a nice job in the run game and you’re right. I think their front seven does a tremendous job of being disruptive and not staying on blocks. It’s going to be a big effort on our guys up front and our tight ends and stuff to see how we can crack those guys in the run game.”
On if Adrian Martinez can return for the bowl game or before:
“There’s a chance before that.”
On how the prep changes for Howard knowing he’ll start going into the week:
“Yeah. I don’t think it changes at all. Probably a few more practice reps, but he’s taken so many practice reps – but he’s a young player that’s played a lot of games – I don’t think he goes about it any differently. I don’t think his preparation changes or is any different at all. The fact that he knows that he’s going to be the starter and start the game before 12 minutes before kickoff might give him peace of mind, but no, I don’t think it’ll change his preparation. That’s the thing that has impressed me most about Will. The entire season how he has gone about his business and gotten himself prepared to play whether he’s going to or not.”
On Deuce Vaughn’s role as a receiver:
“Other than to say it was what Baylor was giving us, that’s as far as I’m going to go with it. OK, because it was just something that we saw that they were giving us. And so we took advantage of it by getting him out into the flat.
On if that’s something they want to keep doing:
“It depends and we’ve had this conversation before. How are people playing him in the pass game? Some people double him in the pass game and it doesn’t allow him to be a threat. Some people don’t and we had some situations where we thought we had him one-on-one and it’s a tough matchup for a linebacker. They had a couple times I thought Baylor did a great job of covering him in the flat and making some really good tackles on him. They did a phenomenal job a few times, but we still will take our chances on that. We’re still, what the coverage is is where the quarterback’s eyes are going to dictate where he’s going and there were a few cases last Saturday where the coverage dictated that we’ll go to Deuce.”
On Ekow Boye-Doe and Josh Hayes leaving the game and what their status is:
“They both practiced yesterday. They are good.”
On Will Howard’s ability to throw into tight windows and whether it’s surprising:
“Nope. Not surprising at all. I mean he’s a competitor. He prepares and he’s got confidence and some guys are making some pretty good catches, too. To send it in between a few defenders – but the Ben (Sinnott) went up and grabbed one over the top. Kade (Warner) did it a few weeks ago at TCU and it’s probably an awful lot of snaps with those guys during the summer and fall camp and building timing, but it is fun to watch him play at a high level.”
On defensive rotations without Kobe Savage:
“It’s still going to be a part of the plan it’s just that Kobe won’t be in it. Cincere will probably play a bit more where Drake (Cheatum) was, he’ll probably play a little where Kobe did, and we’ll have to move VJ and get him some more snaps. With what we do there’s so many mirrored jobs in the secondary and so guys can take on a dual task and a dual role and that’s going to have to happen. We haven’t finalized how that’s going to happen, but we’ve only had one hour long practice and I know the coaches are going through that as far as is there a package for somebody that is better than another player in that spot. We’re going to continue to do what we’ve done and that’s play a lot of guys back there.”
Klieman on the lack of tackles for loss:
“I don’t know quite about that – it might be accurate – but we had 21 plays where there was a gain of zero or less. That’s pretty good defense and so it wasn’t anything specific and it’s not like we weren’t blitzing. I actually thought we blitzed a fair amount. It’s just based on different offenses, it’s just hard to get penetration and that’s one of those offenses – their linemen can climb to the next level as well as any linemen in college football. That’s a great group up front that Baylor had and sometimes it was a great play for us to get to 2nd and 8 or 2nd and 9. That’s what we were trying to do and not be in those 2nd and 2s that we had so much against Texas. Just because there’s not a tackle for loss doesn’t mean there’s not a base defense or it’s not a blitz. Sometimes it’s just how an offense plays and more so what we’re asking from a defensive standpoint.”
On how the year has gone for Adrian Martinez:
“Well, I feel bad for him because he was banged up last year and came in here and was healthy finally during fall camp. Played really well and let’s not forget he probably had one of the top five performances in all of college football at OU. I think sometimes people forget that, but the kid had one of the best performances of any player in college football in that win. But I am frustrated for him that when he got dinged up against Iowa State it just – he just couldn’t get it back. And then when he finally got it back something else comes up. It just is bad luck a little bit. Credit to him, he’s still been a great leader. He’s still been a great teammate. Helped Will a bunch on the sideline. I meet with those quarterbacks here after the press conference and he’s the one sending me the text, “We good to go at 1:15, coach?” You bet. And that’s the sign of a great teammate and a great leader.”
On the importance of that leadership:
“The leadership has been phenomenal by our team for everybody. We have a great locker room. We’ve got a bunch of seniors that have taken ownership of the team.”
On simplifying the defense:
“I’m not going to go there. I’m not going to go with what we did. Our kids got off blocks and tackled much better than we had the week before.”
Klieman on success in the transfer portal finding defensive backs:
“It’s probably a little bit of both. You’ve gotta catch a break. You’ve gotta make sure it’s the right fit. A guy helped me on Julius (Brents) and Russ Yeast when they were really young. We got fortunate with Reggie (Stubblefield) and Reggie knew Drake (Cheatum) and that helped us there. It’s tough. We’ve, just like other programs, we’ve missed on kids in the transfer portal, too. And the window is so small that you recruit these guys and this year is no different because by the time they enter they’ve got about a week to decide or two weeks to decide. The windows close for kids visiting campus and then school starts. We’ve been fortunate though, you’re right. Especially on that back end.”
On DJ Giddens taking advantage of his opportunities:
“It’s fun to watch him get better as the season has gone along as far as just understand the passing game, what we’re doing protection-wise and he’s been a really good runner. You guys can see that. Boy he hits it downhill and the pile goes the other way when he makes contact. He’s learning a lot from Deuce. He’s a very unselfish player. He wants to play, but he wants to win, glad to see him get in the end zone. But just watching him as the season has gone on gain confidence with the ball in his hand as well as in protection, throwing him the football, he’s a really talented guy and fortunately is still a young player.”
Klieman on Jake Rubley moving up in the depth chart:
“Well, he hasn’t gotten as many practice reps over the last month and we’ll get him more. Jaren also comes into that boat. We always give three guys reps. We always have given three guys reps dating back to when everyone was healthy. So now Jake and Jaren will split more of those 2 reps and Jaren is kind of the forgotten guy that is a really seasoned guy that knows our offense well and so I’m excited that he’s on the trip because there’s a security blanket there because he’s played in environments like Oklahoma State and then Jake continues to grow and get better. I’ll let coach Klein kind of handle that as he sees it, but we’re going to make sure we have all three of those guys ready.”
With hindsight, how big was spring ball in making Howard so successful this fall?:
“Yeah, I think that was important. I think the most important thing for Will is the game reps in 2020 and 2021. You cannot overstate that experience level of – playing in practice is great – but now the lights are on and it’s the pandemic year and there’s nobody there and it’s a strange environment, but he got a bunch of game reps there and had a bunch of game reps last year. That’s what has helped him I think as much as anything is going back on his preparation when he knew he was going to play in 2020 and 2021 and now how he sees defenses, how he sees coverages and pressures. You guys can see it as well as I do. His mind is slowing down for him so that he can make a lot of the right calls and a lot of the right reads. He missed a couple Saturday that he probably would’ve wanted back to say ‘hey, we had that kid wide open and I just missed the look on it,’ but he’s putting us into some really good calls and I credit once again coach Klein. Us coming up to the line pretty quickly and being ready and not huddling has really been a huge factor for us this year.”
On Will using up the redshirt and are both parties OK with that:
“Yeah, we’ve had that discussion and dialog over the last month since Adrian has been hurt between he and I and then he and coach Klein and I had another conversation with him today and with where we’re at and with how he’s playing I know he’s comfortable, I know we’re comfortable in the fact of this is a pretty special time for K-State football and he’s playing at a really high level that he’s excited about his opportunity.”
Klieman on what stood out to him in Ben Sinnott during recruitment:
“Well, I went to school with his dad. So I’ve known his dad for a long time. He got in a lot more trouble than I did (smiles). But Tommy will love that I said that. Ben was a really good athlete in high school. He played football, played hockey, played baseball and could’ve played basketball. Did everything. And I saw a really good athlete that nobody was really recruiting in my mind. And he had some FCS offers and coach brought him down and we talked to him and said, ‘hey, we’ve got an opportunity for you to walk-on,’ and I think Ben was 205-207 pounds when he got here. He was a good athlete but we didn’t know what he was going to be. Just watching him grow and gain that weight and gain that confidence, I think he could’ve had this just a little bit earlier as far as some of the things he’s doing in breakouts, but he missed most of fall camp in 2021 and a good chunk of the first part of the season with an injury. And then I saw it in the spring and saw it in the fall camp that athletically, speed-wise, strength-wise, ability to catch the football, now he just needed to have snaps to get game experience and he’s done that and played really well. It’s a lot of fun to see him playing with that confidence.”
On Giddens getting more run earlier in the game:
“Yeah (Deuce) still had quite a few plays. We had a few more sets where there were two tailbacks in the offense at the same time and there were times we left DJ in and times we left Deuce in. So there wasn’t anything in particular to say ‘this play is for one or the other.’ And that’s the fun thing is we don’t have that right now. Earlier in the season there was more of ‘hey, this play is a Deuce play.’ But now we feel really comfortable about DJ running our entire offense and we know that the more that Deuce is involved in the run and throw game we’ve got to get him out and DJ is capable of taking on more of a role.”
Klieman on the deciding factor in a blowout and resting guys:
“A lot of things. A ton of things as far as injury to is the backup ready to play? Is the backup injured? Is the backup nursing something? Is it something where we’re still wanting to show something offensively or defensively? The only thing that we wish we would’ve done is probably taken Deuce out a series earlier. That’s the only thing that we talked about on Sunday as a staff. But other than that, when you take guys on the road there’s only a limited amount that you can take, and those – it’s interesting, you don’t get very many opportunities like that that we had on the road – and it’s fun for a kid like Cooper Beebe to be on the field when it’s over with at the end. And those kids deserve that.”
On Deuce being a Texas kid and any pressure put on recruiting him at his size:
“Not when you saw his high school highlights. That sold me really fast and we said, ‘we’ve gotta go get that kid, I don’t care what size he is.’ That kid has a second gear, runs like a bigger back and then you brought him up on his visit and I’m like, ‘I think that kid loves football,’ and that’s a huge part of this. Do they like football or do they love football? The moment I met that kid and his mother with a smile on his face, I was like, ‘that kid loves football. We’ve gotta get that kid.’
Klieman on whether Deuce has met or exceeded his expectations:
“He’s exceeded everybody’s expectations, probably other than his own. But it’s fun to watch him stay hungry every week.””
On Sinnott taking over and how a tight end dominating would change his prep as a defensive guy:
“Boy it’s frustrating when you can’t match up with somebody and they are causing more issues and you’re trying to design something to stop that person and you’ve got all these other guys across the field. And that’s something that we’re hopeful continues to get Ben the football now. He laughed when he talked about being a blocking tight end or blocking full back to the guys and wanted to prove those guys wrong. And it’s difficult. As you guys have known in this league there have been some remarkable tight ends that have been game-changing guys that you have to design a game plan around sometimes. Ben is probably not in that mode yet, but you’re not going to be able to put a slower inside linebacker on him or a smaller corner. You’ve gotta make sure you’ve got somebody who can go get 50/50 balls and is physical on receivers.”
On Howard beating blitzes:
“Yeah, it comes with preparation, too. That’s a huge part of it of knowing not even where the blitz is coming from, but knowing where it can’t come from. And I think he does a really good job of knowing, based on that look it can’t come from there, so if I’m going to go hot on somebody it’s gotta be on this back side. I thought he did that a couple of times really well where they brought somebody late and that enabled Deuce to get out there a little bit quicker, too. I thought the communication as a whole on offense was exceptional. That’s just not the quarterback that’s the receivers and backs and stuff all being on the same page when we have to make a change at the line of scrimmage.”
Klieman on holding every team below their scoring average:
“We want to continue to play with an edge because I don’t think we played great against TCU then we came back and played lights out against Oklahoma State. And I don’t think we played great against Texas and then we come back and play lights out against Baylor. What have you done for me lately?” kind of deal is what I know that coach Klanderman and the defensive staff have given to the guys as far as ‘look what you do when you play with great focus, have great eye discipline and play with great fundamentals. Look what you’re able to do.’ But if one guy is missing a fit or is in the wrong leverage or has his eyes wrong, look what can happen and that’s part of it, too. And so it’s a week-to-week evolution and this is another big challenge for our guys on defense because of their ability to run the ball with the running back, with the quarterback and having really good receivers on the outside. So I’m hopeful that we see consistency on defense.”