‘We want to play’: K-State football players lobby Big 12 to proceed with fall season
Even as news trickled in to the Kansas State football facility that the Big Ten and Pac-12 had postponed their conference football seasons until at least spring 2021 Tuesday afternoon, the Wildcats seemed unfazed by the happenings of the outside world.
Many K-State players have intentionally ignored social media since preseason camp began in Manhattan last week. That seems like a good strategy for any team that doesn’t yet know when (or if) it will play its first game in September.
K-State football coach Chris Klieman has uttered the phrase “control what you can control” enough times that it could replace “pound the stone” as the team’s slogan.
Still, the Wildcats wanted to make one thing clear, just in case their opinions have sway with Big 12 leaders who will need to make a decision on the future of their fall season in the near future.
“This is my final go around,” K-State linebacker Justin Hughes said. “To all the seniors out there, I know it has been a hard road not knowing if we are going to play or not. We have one more go around. Please don’t take it from us because there is a tragedy going on, a pandemic or whatever you want to call it. We want to play as a team and do the thing we love safely. Whatever it takes to do that, we will do.”
The opinions of K-State players may carry some weight, given that the Wildcats had to deal with a coronavirus outbreak on their roster in June. When more than a dozen players tested positive for COVID-19 the team had to suspend all summer workouts for a few weeks.
When players returned to campus, they had learned from that experience and said they were smarter about how they handled themselves when they were away from their teammates.
“There is no fear at all,” K-State receiver Joshua Youngblood said of another outbreak. “We don’t fear anything.”
K-State football players have the full support of their coach as they push to play in the fall. Chris Klieman said the Wildcats have created a “really, really safe environment” for players on campus and he thinks it is the safest place for them.
Playing games together next month, he said, would be better for them than canceling the season and sending everyone home. K-State is currently testing its players weekly and making them pass a temperature check before entering team facilities for workouts and practices. Once on the field, players are then required to socially distance and wear masks, even while running around in pads.
“It is like our own little bubble,” Hughes said. “We are up here all the time, then we go home and go to sleep and come back and watch film and do the things that we need to do to get back out there on the field. The entire staff has done a good job and I applaud them for that.”
For what it’s worth, Klieman’s choice is also to play games this fall, and he knows he has the backing of K-State leaders.
“I’m pretty confident,” Klieman said. “I haven’t talked to President (Richard) Myers. I know that Gene (Taylor) has and I know President Myers is for us playing. And we’ll see how that pans out with all the different presidents at the Big 12 schools. Like I told the guys even today, we only can control what we can control, and that’s just our effort today and making sure that we improve upon ourselves as a football player today. Well let those guys handle that stuff. I know they’re gonna have the best interest of the student athletes health and safety first.”
There is still some level of frustration among players, though.
K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson said he got a little too caught up earlier this week worrying about what might happen in other conferences and how that might impact what will occur in the Big 12. He said he wasn’t being a good leader and will try to change that moving forward.
But that’s not easy to do when you’re looking over your shoulder for bad news.
“It would be nice to have some answers,” Thompson said.
Clarity should arrive in the near future. Until then, the Wildcats will keep pushing forward as if they will play football in September, as they hope.
“This team is going to be ready no matter what,” Thompson said. “It is just a matter of when we are going to play. We will be ready whenever that time comes.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 5:00 PM with the headline "‘We want to play’: K-State football players lobby Big 12 to proceed with fall season."