The five most notable things K-State coach Chris Klieman said at Big 12 Media Days
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman shared his thoughts on the upcoming season while speaking to reporters on Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days.
Here are the five most notable things he said inside AT&T Stadium.
More aggressive on defense
K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman drastically changed the Wildcats’ system last season. Instead of using a traditional 4-3 defense, which uses four defensive linemen and three linebackers, he switched to a three-man front.
That style led to some impressive results, as K-State allowed an average of 21 points and 344.8 yards per game. Both of those numbers ranked in the top half of the Big 12.
Still, Klieman thinks the Wildcats could have done more. K-State dealt with injuries and struggled at times to fully adjust to its new defensive strategy. So much so, that Klieman described the Wildcats as “vanilla” on defense.
Expect a more aggressive approach now that the Wildcats have mastered their three-man front and bring back several key starters on that side of the ball.
“We’re staying with the three down, so that gave us the opportunity this offseason to do some professional development with our staff to go to different places with what we are running,” Klieman said. “We were pretty vanilla, we thought, last year with our three down and we need to probably be a little bit more aggressive and add a few more wrinkles.”
Adrian Martinez continues to impress
K-State players have raved about Nebraska transfer Adrian Martinez since he was deemed healthy enough to begin throwing passes at the bitter end of spring practice.
Klieman also praised Martinez on Wednesday by saying he has already learned how to command the offense as a leader. He thinks a change of scenery will do him a world of good this season.
“Everybody thinks transfers leave because they get in trouble or they get in an argument with a coach or whatever it is,” Klieman said. “Here is a situation where he speaks really highly of people in Nebraska. People in Nebraska speak really highly of him. It was just maybe a deal where he’s like, ‘I want to go try something different and test my skills with what they’re doing at Kansas State with Collin Klein.’ There was nothing negative about him coming in. The transfer portal gives him a change of scenery.”
More All-Big 12 selections
K-State led the way when the Wildcats placed six players on the preseason All-Big 12 team earlier this month.
The selections were Deuce Vaughn, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Malik Knowles, Daniel Green, Julius Brents and Cooper Beebe.
Klieman was happy to see those players earn some conference-wide respect. Still, he thinks K-State might have been snubbed. He mentioned that at least a few more K-State players were deserving of preseason honors.
It’s safe to say he probably doesn’t agree with the media voters who predicted K-State to finish fifth in the league’s preseason team poll.
A future for Will Howard
It’s easy for some K-State fans to lose track of Will Howard.
But the junior quarterback is still on the roster and he has started 10 games for the Wildcats, throwing for 1,510 yards and nine touchdowns. He will likely take a back seat to Martinez next season and then compete with Jake Rubley and incoming recruit Avery Johnson in future years.
He could still be a productive quarterback for the Wildcats. Klieman has confidence in him.
“Will Howard is going to play a lot of football at K-State,” Klieman said. “I think all the snaps that he’s gotten have done nothing but help him.”
K-State will play multiple centers
It’s a much bigger headline when a football coach says he plans to play two quarterbacks than a pair of centers. But it was still interesting to hear Klieman predict that the Wildcats will rotate between multiple players in the middle of their offensive line next season.
Hadley Panzer and Hayden Gillum have been deadlocked in a position battle since Noah Johnson ran out of eligibility last season. It appears that race is too close to call.
“They’re both going to play,” Klieman said.
Klieman described Panzer, a sophomore, as the future and Gillum, a senior, as a guy “who is smart and knows what we are doing.”
It is somewhat rare for teams to rotate between centers, given how important it is for quarterbacks to handle the snap on each and every play. But the Wildcats will give it a try this season. Klieman mentioned that it will be important for both players to also learn how to play guard, so they can move around the offensive line as needed.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 1:39 PM with the headline "The five most notable things K-State coach Chris Klieman said at Big 12 Media Days."