MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and players met with members of the media on Tuesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex as the Wildcats prepare for Saturday’s game against Bowling Green. A complete transcript of Klieman’s press conference (also streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ andarchived here) are posted below, in addition to select comments from players.
The Wildcats and Falcons do battle at 11 a.m., on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in a game shown on FSN.
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
“Good afternoon everybody. We’re excited about the win on Saturday. Going back and looking at the film a couple things, I thought the guys played really hard, we played really fast, played with great emotion. Some technique errors and alignment errors we talked about amongst the staff, amongst the players yesterday that we have to get cleaned up. Some of those things were first-game stuff, and some of them were just playing fast but without great technique at times and alignments and stuff. Those are going to happen in the first game. We’ve got to get those cleaned up moving forward. We are excited about having another home game, it was a great crowd, and electric crowd. I know the guys appreciated the fanbase coming out. We got a Bowling Green team that’s coming off a big win and playing with some confidence. So, we got to have a great game plan throughout the week and be ready for Saturday.”
On the message to the team to repeat the performance this week…
“One thing that I am a big believer in is whatever you did last Saturday has no bearing on the next Saturday, positive or negative. You are judged each week when you go out there on Saturdays, but in essence you need to win each day. You need to be able to prepare Monday through Friday to have a chance to be successful on Saturday. That’s kind of what we talked about with the guys. Our preparation, I thought, was really good against Nicholls. There is a reason why we had success on Saturday because we were prepared. We prepared for two weeks for Nicholls. Now we will only have five days for Bowling Green, but if we have that same kind of mindset within our preparation on a daily basis, we have a chance to be successful on Saturday.”
On what he saw from the defense in the opener…
“Some alignment errors we had on defense. We missed a couple of fits in a couple of gaps, missed a few tackles that we need to be able to clean up. Talking with the defense, I thought we had a few too many explosive plays that you want to try to eliminate. We didn’t have many snaps, so it is easy to find errors in those snaps. Obviously, for us, we need to play more snaps. You don’t want to play more, but we need to play more to have better evaluation on some guys. I just know that there was a lot of technique errors that Coach Haze (Scottie Hazelton) and the defensive staff talked about.”
On individuals standing out in last week’s contest after watching film…
“I was really pleased with (Josh) Rivas coming in and playing a number of snaps in a backup role, but he played enough. He played as many as probably some of the others. I thought Rivas did a really nice job playing really physical. So I was impressed with him. On the defensive, I thought Jordan Mittie did a really nice job. He did some good things. Jonathan Alexander made a really big play. We know he has big-play ability and was able to make a big play. So, those things stood out to me a little bit. Lance Robinson was really good on kickoff. He had three tackles and did everything technique wise we asked him to do and made some plays.”
On Malik Knowles’ drops and attributing those to first-game nervousness…
“Yeah, probably. He made some really tough catches, then a couple balls that I would say Malik would say himself that he needs to come down with. Obviously, we’ll continue to go to him because he’s a special player.”
On K-State’s offensive line…
“I thought we played really well up front, you rush for as many yards as we did and protect the quarterback like we did. A number of guys played, which was another thing we were pleased with was to get as many guys in the game that we could because we needed experience behind the starters that we have. I thought that they played at a really high level, played with great energy, and they did a really good job of communicating.”
On the difficulty of preparing for Bowling Green and their new staff…
“It is difficult to prepare for those guys because we’re watching, obviously, their one game and watching other games from different staff where the coordinators were. In a blowout win like they had, it’s kind of difficult to say, ‘Well, this is what they do.’ There is some carryover from what we’ve seen from the coordinators at their other schools. It’ll be a work in progress. We’re watching film of past years, not just the last game.”
On what Bowling Green does well…
“Run the ball, try to outnumber you at the point of attack with a lot of things we would do offensively – a lot of motions and alignments. They do a good job with their receivers and tight ends blocking as well to try to just create mismatches and force your corners to be run players by cracking your safeties. There are so many multitudes of formations and running some similar plays, but doing it out of a lot of different formations. Whether it is a shift or a motion, trying to change your eyes. Our eyes on defense have to be right this week. We can’t look at some of the eye candy that is motion and cross in front of us. We have to focus on our keys.”
On Denzel Goolsby and Skylar Thompson and what they mean as captains…
“They care so much about their teammates. They care so much about Kansas State football. They’ve been a part of this journey for an awful long time together. They are really close, and I know that guys look up to those two guys for what they do on the field and, more importantly, what they do off the field. They conduct themselves the right way, being servant leaders, making everyone around them better. Those are two guys that I was excited when the vote came out that they those two guys were captains because they are two guys I really look up to. They are two guys that I can bounce a lot of things off them because I trust those two guys and know that they’re going to give me not what I want to hear, but what I need to hear.”
On Jax Dineen and Josh Youngblood playing as true freshmen…
“Jax became a part of the mix when (Adam) Harter got hurt. We didn’t know if we were going to play Jax or not. Then when we lost Adam, we were short a little bit at fullback and we pressed him into some time to see how he would respond. He’s a guy that I think has a chance to be really good. He just has to fine tune-some techniques and some fundamentals, focus and all those things, but he has loads of ability. He’s a really good athlete, moves his feet really well, really productive with the ball in his hands. But, he also has to be a dominant blocker and has to know who he’s blocking and have the right technique. So, I’m excited because I think Jax has his best football in front of him. He’ll be a guy that will play more than the four (game) and will probably play most of the year. Youngblood is continuing to learn what we’re doing offensively. He has tremendous speed, tremendous athleticism. We’re just trying to design some things to make it a maybe a little bit simpler on him because he doesn’t have the experience that Malik (Knowles) does and Wykeen (Gill) does and Dalton (Schoen) does or Landry (Weber) where he can play multiple positions. But, we also know at that position, you need to have more than five guys, four guys, throughout a whole season. We thought Josh’s body of work was good enough throughout the month of August that we know his best football is in front of him. So, even though he didn’t catch any balls, we thought he had some productive plays out there. We’ll continue to push the envelope with him as far as giving him more of the playbook.”
On the inside access and the importance of social media…
“We have a great fan base. To give people that really want to be a part of these guys’ story, these guys’ journey. In the right setting, I think it’s a great thing for our fans and people to be a part of the journey that these guys are going on is pretty cool.”
On communication among the K-State staff during the game…
“I thought our communication was pretty good. At halftime, there was pretty simple adjustments. There weren’t many adjustments on defensive simply because we hadn’t played very many snaps. Offensively, we were talking about a number of things, but I liked the communication. Scottie (Hazelton) and Mess (Courtney Messingham) are real veteran guys that can take over, accept input, calculate the input and decide what they are going to use. Those two guys were exceptional as far as the play calling as well as just listening to the input that guys were having between series. Obviously it was a first game, there’s some kinks we need to get ironed out. I think, operationally, offensively, we need to be faster calling plays. We need to be faster in and out of the huddle. I kind of anticipated that a little bit. They weren’t going fast, Nicholls wasn’t, so it’s not like we weren’t getting calls in. Those are things you’re concerned about, but we didn’t have those issues. It’s going to still be a work in progress each week. I know that they, probably, are talking about more things that they need to improve upon than even I am giving you just with their own conversations amongst each other.”
On his own role on game day…
“Overseeing both sides but I am not getting into the play calling. I’ll make suggestions or ask, ‘Hey, we missed the back on this blitz,’ or, ‘We didn’t pick up this one. Make sure we get that covered.’ Things that we see that if I want to make sure that if I see it out of a naked eye. I asked Coach Haze (Scottie Hazelton) one time, ‘We blitzed, we lost contain. Let’s make sure we address that.’ (He said), ‘Yep, we have that written down.’ If it is something with Mess (Courtney Messingham) personnel grouping, ‘I thought we’re trying to get this guy in the game,’ and (he said), ‘Yeah, we did, but he was getting something fixed. We’re trying to get him in the next series.’ I’m not big into the game plan to say, ‘Hey, here is what we need to do now.’ It was a game that was out of reach, I thought, too. So, each week will be a little bit different. When we’re on offense, I’m quiet. When we’re on defense, I’m quiet. When we flip over, then I’ll flip over and get a chance to talk to them while the other group is out there.”
WYATT HUBERT, SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE END
On the win over Nicholls…
“We played pretty good, but one thing we need to fix is eliminating the big plays. After watching film, we gave up seven big plays of 15 yards plus, whether that was run or pass. That’s the key to being a successful defense is to limit the big plays.”
On only playing 20 snaps…
“Yeah that was definitely surprising to me and every other defensive lineman pretty much. At times we got a little bored, but that’s a good problem to have with the offense being on the field for so long.”
On proving this team is for real…
“We just went out there and did our job. That’s something we have to stay consistent with every week.”
On the defensive performance…
“It doesn’t always come down to making plays. It also comes down to being in your gap, doing your responsibility, letting another guy make the play and filling those gaps so the linebackers can make tackles.”
ADAM HOLTORF, SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
On the offensive line’s performance against Nicholls…
“I think we did a good job of being physical and coming off the ball. I think our technique could improve, but being physical and bringing the fight to them is something we all did well.”
On making a statement…
“I think we had a successful game one, but like always, you have to find ways to improve and build upon what we were able to.”
On playing alongside Evan Curl and Nick Kaltmayer…
“It’s been good. We had a lot of reps in camp together and it helps build that cohesiveness.”
DENZEL GOOLSBY, SENIOR DEFENSIVE BACK
On his first-person story on K-State’s website last week…
“I feel like one thing about me is it’s easy to see an athlete and identify them by their sport. I just know that I’m so much more than that and there are people who are so much more than their sport. So, I felt like going into my senior year, it was time to finally tell my full story, and I’m really grateful that K-State gives us the platform to do that.”
On defense’s performance against Nicholls…
“I think that we had a different type of mentality and that everyone was flying around. I really like how we feed off of each other’s energy. I felt like there was no time during the game that anyone was questioned on their responsibilities or what they were supposed to do. I know we made mistakes, but we also made up for it by how fast we flew around the football. I think that we can only grow and get better from here.”
SKYLAR THOMPSON, JUNIOR QUARTERBACK
On what the sledgehammer incentive adds to the team…
“It brings our team together because it shows you’re seeing your teammates and recognizing them in front of their teammates. Denzel (Goolsby) presented one to the whole scout team. Adam Holtorf gave one to the second offensive line that came in and drove the ball down the field and scored. It just shows that leaders and captains on the football team are recognizing the work that maybe some guys who don’t necessarily get as much of the spotlight as some people do, and that just naturally brings our team together. I think that’s really cool that Coach Klieman came up with that idea. We are just going to continue that and carry it on and it’ll be good for us.”
On building off of success…
“It’s going to be huge for us. I think what we have been trying to emphasize to our football team is that, as leaders, and Coach Klieman that last week is in the past. It’s a new week and we have a new football game ahead of us. We played well and we won. That’s great, but that’s in the past now and as Coach (Courtney) Messingham said our first game is that this is chapter one and we played Nicholls. How do we want to write this chapter and this is chapter two and there are different sections in the book of our season this year. We just have to be prepared and can’t be satisfied. The challenge for us is that for Nicholls, we had a couple of weeks to prepare for those guys, and this week we have one and that’ll be a challenge for us. We will have to focus on the details, practice well this week and make sure that we are carrying ourselves. Bowling Green just came off of a big win, so they are going to have a lot of confidence coming in here. We are just going to have to replicate the energy that we brought to the field on Saturday and the players’ confidence. I’m going to do my best to carry that over, and I’m challenging myself to be better than last week. I played pretty well, but I left things on the field where I want to be perfect. That’s probably not going to be the case of being perfect in a football game, but that’s why we work and put in the time that we do to be perfect. That’s where I’m at, and that’s what I’m going to try to lead our football team into this week.”
RYAN LACKEY
Director of Football Communications | K-State Athletics