K-State Weekly Football Press Conference
October 16, 2018
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder and select players met with members of the media Tuesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex as K-State receives a Saturday off from the 2018 campaign. Selected comments from Snyder’s press conference (also streamed live and archived here) are posted below, along with a collection of comments from players.
Kansas State takes on the ninth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, October 27, inside Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The game, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m., will be televised nationally by FOX. Following a trip to TCU on November 3, the Wildcats return for their final two home games of the year – November 10 against in-state rival Kansas and November 17 against Texas Tech. Tickets for the final two home games are on sale through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum.
K-STATE FOOTBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
BILL SNYDER, K-STATE HEAD COACH
On freshmen quarterbacks Samuel Wheeler and John Holcombe II…
“Really, I’ve been immensely impressed with both of them. John and Sam have both worked on our scout squad, they have given our defense really an excellent picture. Both of them worked at quarterback, but John has also worked as a wide receiver as well; he’s just a very talented young guy, does some excellent things. Both of them have been super.”
On historically playing well against OU in Norman after a bye week…
“It’s a good statistic, the trouble is the third time’s the charm, so that might work in the wrong direction for us this year. I can’t think back and tell you necessarily why that it played out that way in those two previous ballgames at Oklahoma under those circumstances. We weren’t a bad team in either case. I thought we were a good football team. Obviously, we just played well; you have to to beat a good Oklahoma team.
“I don’t know that there’s anything in particular about those ballgames that would impact dramatically, or at all, our preparation for this ballgame. I looked back at those ballgames briefly, and I don’t know that there’s anything in particular that creates a similarity between those seasons and this season, necessarily. Different teams, different players, different coaches in this respect.”
On enthusiasm headed into the bye week…
“We met yesterday, we didn’t practice. Today will be the first day on the practice field. I think the enthusiasm after the ballgame was appropriate. I thought it was strong. They were very, very enthusiastic, which is certainly a good thing – you’d like to see it, but you’d also like to handle it like you’ve been there before. It is good to see them enthused about it. The importance is whether there is a carry-over factor. It is one victory in a season against a good football team, but they are not the Green Bay Packers.”
On facing a new defensive coordinator against Oklahoma…
“Hard question to answer, it really remains to be seen. There could be some significant changes in what they do and how they do it. I don’t know that that’s the case, it remains to be seen. They have been a pretty good football team throughout the season. To attempt to make a dramatic change would not fit that program, I do not think, but that doesn’t mean it would not happen. I know Ruffin McNeill, and he is a very talented football coach and a good person. I think he’ll do well. Which way they will go, my best estimate is wherever they think they will clean some things up, they will. It is hard to shuffle personnel around in the middle of the season, but we will get an idea this weekend.”
On the bye week being different than a game week…
“We didn’t practice yesterday, will have a shorter practice today than what our Tuesday practices are. Yesterday’s meetings and today’s meetings will be centered around Kansas State and trying to improve. It really is about us. We’ll continue that on Wednesday and the rest of the week, but we’ll begin to process in our meetings and our preparations some Oklahoma as well.”
On the success of the running game…
“As I’ve said so many times, to me, you strive to be balanced. Between the run and the pass, you have to have some big plays in the course of a ballgame to be successful. Oklahoma thrives on big plays right now, which becomes highly significant, not just in the passing game, but in the running game as well. We have run the ball well in a variety of different ways; defense always has a lot to say with that. I’ve been pleased with the progress of our offensive line. They’ve done a nice job. We have to improve our passing game, that’s pretty obvious; a fourth grader could define that.”
On the defense’s success against Oklahoma State…
“Being able to execute what your defense is and that’s exactly what they did. That’s the definition of discipline, so they were far more disciplined. Oklahoma State had the capacity to score. They were a somewhat prolific scoring team. To hold them without a touchdown for three quarters was an excellent effort by our defense. We did not do anything that we don’t do, it was what we did better.”
On the coordinators needing time to settle in…
“That’s part of it, kind of like a new player in the program. It takes time to get invested in. It is one thing to have been around and know what goes on, what the system is, etc. It is another to have to make decisions in three seconds. It’s part of a process, takes time. I think they’re doing fine, done well.”
On the tempo in college football..
“As I have said so many times, we have the capacity in practice to be able to run our offense to any tempo that you would like. My feeling is defense normally wins football games. When your defense is not on the field, they are being successful because no one is scoring on you. To be able to keep our defense off the field, the offense needs to utilize the clock. I would not exchange a five-minute drive that ended up in a field goal for one play that ended in a touchdown. By the same token, our use of the clock is that we snap the ball late in the play clock. That takes time away from their offense being on the field, which always puts you in jeopardy, not because our defense is not playing well, but because the other team has the ball and a chance to score. We had 38 minutes and 10 seconds worth of possession time and they had 22 minutes. Therefore, you are not going to score as much in 22 minutes’ worth of time as they would have in 35 minutes. To me, it is simple math.”
On Skylar Thompson’s effectiveness as a runner…
“He has always been a capable runner. This last ballgame, I was encouraged by the fact he went north and south with the ball. That means you are gaining yardage north and south, instead of East and West. He’s going the right direction”
On his workload during games…
“I don’t go into a ballgame thinking he needs to carry the ball this many times. It depends on how the game is going and what is effective. So much of what he did last week was scrambling as opposed to quarterback run game, which is significant in our offense. We averaged nine yards per carry out of scrambles. To me, it is a significant play in football. Though most people look at it as an accident, it is very vital.”
On Blake Seiler’s progress as defensive coordinator…
“Just becoming acclimated in having to make those rapid decisions on the field. Blake’s always been a good football coach, he’s just had to make those three-second choices. When people are lining up as quick as they do, it’s just being able to process it. He’s a bright young guy. He processes quite well. It’s just the experience of doing it.”
On handling injuries during the bye week…
“We don’t back off – somebody’s got to get prepared to play. When you have guys that can’t practice, you have to take care of their health first. Trying to get them well is the most significant thing. When we can, we’d like to have them on the practice field. If they can’t do some element of practice, we have them walk through, go through the mental processes that everyone would have to do. So at least they’ve been able to process the information at the pace that they would in the ballgame. As far as changing what we do, no we don’t.”
On Skylar Thompson settling in and that process for quarterbacks…
“You just have to experience it. The exception to the rule might’ve been Michael Bishop. Michael could’ve cared less about the processing of information, Michael just played. Although, there came a time when he really grasped it. I think it’s just the experience – the more you do it, the more you grasp, the easier it comes to you. You’ve got to know what’s going on, what to be in, what not to be in, that’s part of the job description, so to speak. If you haven’t done it before, if you haven’t done it in the time frame that’s allotted to you, which is in seconds, it can be a little difficult. You tend to get tied up a little bit. I think the more you experience it, you do it over and over and over again – that’s why practice is so important. You’re trying to put young people in as game-like situations as you possibly can to be able to learn how to process information. You hear me say that all the time about all positions, but as we all know, the quarterbacks have to process more than virtually anyone else. He gets better at it, as all quarterbacks do, with time.
“I think you see some things and you say, ‘Why would you do this?’ So, we have dialogue about why this and why that, etc. Some of it, you could perhaps attribute some of it to that, but therein again lies – it’s kind of like quarterbacks making decisions where to throw the ball. Defenses tell you where to throw the ball, so it’s a matter of being able to go through a progression, in which you see receivers and you see defenders. You have first choice, second choice, third choice, fourth, fifth, etc., and it’s the capacity to go through all those again and again and again. Repetition at doing the same thing, as it is true for all of us in whatever we do daily, is highly significant and something you just have to do. You have to go through the growing pains so to speak.”
On the new redshirt rule and roster management toward the end of the season…
“Right now, it’s about who best helps their football team by being on the field, so yes its depth-chart oriented. With youngsters that are on the field because we need for them to be on the field because of injury or just because of performance level, and if they are redshirt-viable young players, then when we get to that period of time, we’ll have to make a decision. We haven’t got there yet, and it kind of depends on where they are at that particular point in time, how much time they’re getting on the field. We’d make that decision whether four is enough or whether they need to go ahead and play.”
On running back Alex Barnes…
“He’s a very fine player. I love the tenacity that he plays with, the aggressiveness. As telltale of a play as there was in the course of the ballgame – but we’ve seen him and all know that he’s a tough, hard-nosed guy that will stay on his feet and run and take hits and all that goes along with it – but he caught a pass out of the backfield in the ballgame, a 25- 30-yard pass, caught the ball and got hammered, right up on the catch. There’s a lot of momentum involved in that contact. He bounced right up and ran back. He wasn’t lying on the ground or anything. He’s just a tough, tough young guy, which I appreciate, and he didn’t shy away from that catch when he knew good and well he was going to get hammered. (It was) quite a play.”
On the awkwardness of facing off with your wife’s team, as offensive line coach Zach Hanson will against OU…
“In my situation, my wife would not be associated with another team, she’s hardly associated with this one. I don’t mean that in a negative way, she’s got her life and got a lot of things on her plate – she does so much in the community; she’s very, very active. I’m sure it’s somewhat awkward, but we haven’t dealt with it that way. That’s her position and she’s a very confident and talented young lady and does what I’m assuming is quite well. I don’t really ask about it because I would never want to put her in a compromising situation, nor Zach for that matter. I think they both handle it extremely well.”
JORDAN MITTIE, JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On the key to finishing strong in games…
“I think every time we’ve gone into the locker room at halftime, we just get guys fired up and we come out ready to play. It something that obviously needs to translate over to the first half every week.”
On Saturday’s win…
“I felt good. We’ve been obviously struggling, but to pull off a win on who you think is a good team is huge for us.”
On the defense’s improvement…
“I think that we really get better every week, if you take away the Baylor game, which obviously wasn’t a good one. That’s been our goal – to get better each week and each half.”
On bye weeks…
“It is a little bit different here (than at Texas State). We haven’t done anything this week. Today is our first real work day. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. It’s a little different, like the practice times. We don’t need a break, I think we need to keep working and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
ADAM HOLTORF, JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN
On advantages of bye week…
“I think the big advantage on going into any game with a bye week is that you get more time to prepare. You can spend more time on the different looks you can present, speaking from an o-line perspective. Just with having an extra week, you can take your time focusing on the fundamentals, the little things, the technique things that in a normal week you wouldn’t have as much time to focus on.”
On the play of the offensive line over the last two weeks…
“I still go back to whenever we came out of the locker room against UT. I think last 10 quarters of football or so, as a lineman, we’ve been playing some pretty good football up front. We’ve been running the ball really well. It all goes back to that switch that got flipped in the locker room during UT. I think everybody has continued to build off that.”
On running back Alex Barnes…
“He’s running the ball extremely physically. He’s running north, south, downhill, and if there’s a guy in his way, he’s running over them instead of trying to go around them. I think the physicality that he’s bringing right now is the biggest thing that stands out to me. Alex is a talented guy, a lot of us knew he was capable of doing stuff like this. Just to see him put it out on the field for everyone else to see is exciting to see him flourish and win Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. Stuff like that, it’s awesome to see.”
Paving the way for Alex Barnes…
“That’s a feather in our cap, to see him have the success and to know we had a hand in it. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing and I know a lot of the guys would say the same.”
ZACH REUTER, SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER
On having a bye week…
“We had yesterday off, got our legs back under us. It’s a great opportunity to improve individually, get back to our fundamentals and make sure we are able to do the little things right heading into a big week against Oklahoma. I appreciate a bye week.”
On entering the bye week coming off a win…
“It’s big. Attitudes can be rough in a bye week off a loss. It’s definitely encouraging to be able to have confidence. I think it definitely carries over into our preparation and into our ability to get better during this week.”
On having two weeks to prepare for Oklahoma…
“I think they’re preparing for TCU right now, so it gives us a heads up. We get another six or seven days of film on them before they start looking at us. It definitely gives us an advantage, so hopefully we can translate that into better preparation.”
On improvement in the offense the last few games…
“Yeah, absolutely, especially our offensive line. They’ve shown a ton of improvement this season. As receivers and quarterbacks, we have a little bit more we can get better at. If we can put it all together, we’ll be pretty dangerous.”
On how to break out of the struggles in the passing game…
“Just keep rowing the boat. Nothing specific stands out. If you keep going to work every day and get better, it will eventually show up on the field.”
On the young guys on scout team defense that have been impressive…
“Wayne Jones is one that always shows up. He’s always competing. As a receiver, you appreciate that. You get a realistic look back there. I think he’s definitely the one that stands out to me.”
On where the passing game needs to improve…
“Just completing the easy throws. Making the catches, the routine plays is essentially what we need to do. There’s a couple of opportunities looking at film for our completion percentage to go from 50 percent to 75-plus percent in just a couple of plays, couple simple mistakes. Going forward, it’s just being able to make those routine plays and be consistent.”
TREY DISHON, JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On the momentum coming off last game…
“I think we got a lot of momentum. We needed that win last week. I think everyone is pretty excited headed into the bye week headed forward.”
On if the Oklahoma game comes at an opportune time…
“I think so, yeah. They’re one of the better teams in our conference and in the nation. Playing in Norman and getting a bye week, an extra week to sit down, get better at our game and take a look at them is definitely be important for us.”
On comparing other quarterbacks in the conference to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray…
“I think it’s hard to compare quarterbacks like that. Playing against high-caliber quarterbacks like Will Grier is definitely important for us going in and playing Kyler.”
On how he assess the defense in the first seven games…
“We’ve had our ups and downs. I know tackling has made a big improvement week to week, especially two weeks ago compared to this last Saturday. That’s something that we’re focusing on. Just focusing on those little things to take our game to whole new level.”
On the defensive performance against Oklahoma State…
“I thought it was a great performance, for sure. The thing we’re looking at is we can be even better week to week. I know a lot of guys were saying Oklahoma State is putting up 40 almost every game, then holding them to a touchdown and three quarters with no touchdowns is a good thing. We’re pretty happy about that.”
On defensive back Duke Shelley taking on more of a leadership role…
“I’m glad he’s taking that step. He’s not all that vocal, but these past couple weeks he’s been very vocal and done more than just put his play and actions on the field. That’s taking a big step. It shows that he cares and has a lot of passion. A lot of guys have seen that, and people are reacting to it.”
On getting to watch next two opponents play each other…
“It’s important. I think a lot of us guys will be watching the game this weekend. That bye week is good to sit down and watch a game on TV for once. We’re going to watch a TV copy this Saturday and study film.”
Ryan Lackey
