MANHATTAN – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and select players met with members of the media on Tuesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex as Wildcats prepare for their home opener this Saturday against Southern Illinois inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The Wildcats and Salukis kick off at 6 p.m. on Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium in a game shown on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Tickets for the game can be purchased online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets or by phone at 1-800-221-CATS.
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
“Good to see everybody. Good to have everybody back. We're excited to get a chance to play at home after a big win last Saturday at AT&T (Stadium). Thought our guys came out and played really hard, played physical, did some really good things on both sides of the ball. Some areas that we need to clean up, some penalties that hurt us a little bit and some things on defense with some of our techniques within coverages and things that we'll work on. Some of the first game things that I thought maybe would happen, and then offensively, just trying to get into a rhythm a little bit. We struggled in the second half getting into a rhythm and then had probably too many third and extra longs, although one of those resulted in a 60-yard touchdown. So, it was positive there, but guys are excited to play at home. Guys know that we have a really good opponent coming in here and got to play our best football to have a chance.”
On the ability to break big plays on third and long...
“Well, it throws off tendencies for sure as far as being able to just throw vertical games or drop back games or screen games on your third and extra long that you can hand the ball off and block it up well. Once again, I give our offensive staff and offensive line credit for picking up the kind of stunt that they had, and we're able to wall everybody off and make a big play but for us, trying to get the football into 22’s hands is important. That was one of those ways that we're able to get him the ball and had him in space. He made a big play.”
On the success of FCS teams in week one...
“I just think there's a lot of parity in college football and there's a lot of good football teams out there. There were a number of games that probably could have been won by FCS teams as well. Being at that level for a while myself, those are big games and big opportunities to make a statement and prove that you belong with the Power 5 schools. Briley Moore was a really good football player for us last year, and you get a bunch of guys like Briley Moore on your football team, you have a chance to win because of the belief that they have. Southern Illinois is no different. Nick (Hill) has done a tremendous job there, so it'll be a really good football game.”
On initial thoughts of Southern Illinois...
“Experience, experience, experience. Got a ton of guys back – 17 or 18 six-year guys. Nick's done a really good job. Only competed against him once, but you can see what he's done over the last four years with that program. Tremendous, tremendous skill on offense, really good quarterback. Probably the best reverse team in the country. You're going to see some reverses out of different formations and reverse passes and gadgets and Wildcat. They make you defend sideline to sideline with everybody. You better not just key in on a couple of guys. They've got some tremendous players, but they hit reverses on everybody. So, we've got to make sure and have discipline within our defense. Then their defense, they're older, experienced guys. Have played a lot of football and had success last year, making it long ways in the playoffs and had a big road win.”
On being prepared defensively for Southern Illinois...
“Well, we were so prepared to play the run against Stanford and we had guys coming downhill. There were some times in big people that they'd have that we had everybody with the corner coming downhill at the run, and we can't do that this week because of the amount of gadgets and trick plays and double moves and just really variety of offense. Stanford didn't give us that variety that Southern Illinois is going to. So, I think it's more of just the discipline of doing your technique and discipline of getting back to more spread-out football. Stanford wasn't as much spread-out football. These guys are going to run RPOs, and we're going to have all different personnel groupings. So it’s kind of back to what we did in fall camp versus our own offense that does so many different things. We have to get back to that because we had 12 full practices of nothing but Stanford. That's a different mindset playing those guys than it is playing a lot of teams.”
On how the Wildcats were able to stop the run against Stanford...
“Played fast and we worked both our three-down and four-down extensively for those 12-14 practices and had a good plan on both. Probably some of the personnel substitutions back and forth like everybody saw that we'd sub three, they'd sub two. We'd sub three. We got caught a couple times of playing the three-down when we wanted to get to four-down and had some success. So, then we just stuck with it, because sometimes they were bringing in so many people we didn't know all the time what the personnel was. So, we end up playing a little bit more three-down than we probably even thought we would.”
On the nerves with running a new defense for the first time in a game…
“Absolutely. Without question. We had a lot of things drawn up on the sidelines if it were Plan B and Plan C. Part of that was just not knowing what some of the solutions were to the problems that we were going to have. Fortunately, we didn't have as many problems this week, and we're still learning on some of this. That's why we still need to keep playing what our staff knows as well, so who knows? This week, maybe, we'll play more four-down, because there's some comfort level that we have in four-down against some of the personnel groupings that they have. We're just starting to dig into that as a staff. Yesterday we probably split it 50/50 just because we were just showing what our guys were doing offensively, or what they would do offensively. So, each week maybe a little bit different.”
On Reggie Stubblefield’s big pass breakup...
“I was excited for Reggie. Made a great play. He has a really good knack of just being a good, solid player of getting his eyes back around at the right time to knock it away. The guy had a step on him, but Reggie flipped his head around, saw the quarterback throw it and was able to undercut it and get a big, big hand out and that was kind of a theme throughout the day. There were a number of guys that only played a handful of snaps but were really impactful on those handful of snaps. He was one. Tee Denson was another one. Even Keenan Garber played really fast. So, I'm excited about the guys that maybe played on eight to 14 or 15 snaps but had an impact on the game.”
On what caught his eye on film...
“We need to do a better job in some of our techniques and in coverage on defense. On offense, I thought we blocked well downfield with our receivers and tight ends. We just had too many negative plays that put us behind the sticks and had so many of those third and long. We were hoping for a lot more third and three, four or five and six and we end up getting a lot of third and 11-plus. There's not a lot of great calls on third and 11-plus unless you just hand the ball to Deuce, which we were able to the one time. They had some good success, so we need to be more productive on early downs. Some of that was some first-game mistakes and some of that was the fact that we only played 40-some plays. We didn't get a chance to really play a lot of offensive football.”
On Chabastin Taylor’s health...
“Continues to progress and he's practicing. He's healthier and we'll find out, but we think he's healthier. Yesterday did some good things. He's not missing any practice time. It just takes a while to come back from the injury that he had. His time will come. There's no setbacks or anything like that. It's just making sure that he feels comfortable and we feel comfortable that he can play fast like Chabastin typically does.”
On getting the ball to Malik Knowles...
“Well, we need to get everybody the ball a little bit more. But that's part of the issue. We got to hang on to the ball and have the ball and not have it for 40 snaps or 45 snaps. It's one of the things we talked about as a staff, and there's a lot of guys who wish they would have played more. Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham) wishes he would have been able to call more plays, but that was the nature of the game. I've never seen a game in college football like that. Haven't been a part of one where there's so few plays and probably will never happen again. I wish it would. That's fun when it's over within three hours and it's 52 plays and 45 plays. That's just not common. We have to continue to sustain drives so we can have more plays and more opportunities for a lot of guys.”
On the play of the defensive line…
“Depth and strength. Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) and his staff, Coach Tui (Mike Tuiasosopo), Coach (Buddy) Wyatt. We're bigger. We're stronger. We're more athletic. We have more depth. We played with an awful lot of guys. I think somebody told me we ended up playing 59 guys in that game, but on the defensive line we rotated so many guys. That's what we have to be able to do, whether we're playing three down or four down, is to make sure that we keep those guys fresh. We keep rolling guys in and out, and we feel comfortable doing that. We have four and five defensive tackles that can play, and we probably have six and seven defensive ends that can play. That's a benefit to have.”
On who popped out after watching the tape…
“Daniel Green played really, really well, and it was unfortunate that he had the targeting and he'll have to sit this first half. But he’ll learn from it. You'll learn from it. It was not a malicious play. It was a bang-bang play that is going to be called right now in college football. We understand that, but he played really well. I thought Felix Anudike (-Uzomah) played really well. I thought Ekow Boye-Doe played really well. And we were able to get some good play out of a lot of guys. Like I said, the most we had somebody play maybe was 30 snaps on defense. That's pretty good. We're playing a lot of guys, and who knows what it will be this week? We could end up playing 70 to 80 plays, so we have to continue to get contributions from a lot of people.”
On if Skylar Thompson showed any hesitancy…
“It's just still difficult to answer that when there's 40 plays and that's the hard thing. I thought early on we had a great rhythm offensively. That first drive was exceptional throwing the ball, running the ball. We went a little tempo. Their kid makes a great play, and they got a pick. So, then we get the ball back and we didn't bat an eye. We didn't flinch. We moved it right back down and scored, one was a big pass play to Phillip (Brooks) and that really good run by Skylar. So, I was so excited with the start of our game offensively. We didn't get off the field on defense a couple of times that extended drives. When you're running the ball like, then they're chewing up the clock. You're not having as many opportunities. Where I was a little disappointed, in general, offensively, we sputtered to start the second half. Give Stanford credit. They had some really good adjustments they made in the second half. Then once we threw the one quick three-step route to Malik (Knowles), everybody kind of loosened up and we end up getting points on that drive. Then we ended up getting another touchdown off of a turnover, but we just didn't have the ball very much on offense. Skylar is going to be great. He's going to be fine. I think he played really well for the limited snaps that we had. Had a couple of drops. If not, his stats are even better. He was not afraid to run the football, and that was good. We don't want him to run 25 times, but he may have run it six to 15 times a game just based on the team.”
On if the Arkansas State game last year better prepared K-State for this week…
“I never even thought about that until you brought it up. I think all of our staff haven't spent some time or majority of our staff haven't spent some time in FCS, in particular that league, the Missouri Valley, is a really good league. I think a lot of teams in our league in the Big 12 knew it going into this week, but last week there were a lot of good games in the Missouri Valley against Big 12 schools, and this is going to be no different. Wish you guys had the appreciation that I did for the eight years I spent at NDSU of how good football really is. Iowa State knows. I've talked to Matt Campbell. Iowa State knows how good Northern Iowa is year in and year out. South Dakota State’s as good as a lot of teams year in and year out. Colorado State found that out, then you go on down the line. We watched Washington. I thought Washington was a phenomenal team playing Stanford, and Montana found a way to beat those guys. Those things aren't flukes, maybe some teams didn't play as well. But that's not a fluke to beat a Power 5 team. Those are good football teams, and we're going to face another one that's got 16 six-year guys. A bunch of guys have played a lot of football there, and they have confidence in what they're doing, and they're well coached.”
On who is in charge of substitutions…
“Well, my kid (Devin Klieman) is one of them on defense. We screwed up a couple things, and I'll get him for that. But he is, Coach (Van) Malone is, and Coach Tui (Mike Tuiasosopo) and Coach (Buddy) Wyatt are on defense. Coach (Brian) Anderson and J-Ray (Jason Ray) are on offense. There's a lot of guys, but we have some things labeled out that we know who's going in the game. Then there's some things on defense that often you try to slow the game down a little bit when an offense substitutes. Stanford wasn't going tempo, but if they subbed, especially late in the play clock, we were going to sub. Ultimately, they end up having to take two timeouts because of it. That's the thing we've learned that we've been beat on it ourselves. We substituted late last year against somebody, and then they jog somebody out. That's part of the game of college football right now. So, there's a little bit of cat and mouse going on. Why did we take that kid out? Well, it's nothing that the kid did. We just substituted a guy so that play clock would keep turning. You get to the line of scrimmage, he looks saying, ‘Oh shoot, there's six seconds left, I’ll call a play.’ That's the substitution rule in college football and people are taking advantage of it right now.”
On who the leader of the secondary when Jahron McPherson is off the field…
“Well, Ross (Elder) is really good. TJ (Smith) is really good. Russ (Yeast) is getting better, just because he's new to the system. He's getting better. There's without question J-Mac is the guy, but we also know we need to do a great job with Jahron so he can play 12 games this year. Last year Jahron wore down playing 70 to 80 snaps a game and playing some special teams. We need to be smart so that we have guys that can play at a high, high level for the amount of plays. Jahron could play more. Wasn't many plays in that game, so each week will be a little bit different. But, probably TJ and Ross Elder would be the two.”
On the play of the young players on defense…
“I was excited for TJ. To have his season cut short last year after the Texas Tech game when he kind of had a coming out party and played really well and then the next week in practice, he was injured, to be able to come back and play at the high level. I think you can tell watching TJ he loves to play the game. This kid’s a fiery guy. He's energetic. He can strike. He covers well. He runs well. He understands what we're doing. I was really pleased with TJ and I think his best football is going to continue to come as he gets more and more reps and snaps.
Tee (Denson) was really good in the limited snaps he played. He made a couple of really good tackles. He's bigger. He's stronger. He's more confident this year, and I was excited to see him make some of the plays that he made. Austin Moore did some good things in a limited amount of snaps. Nate Matlack did some things in a limited amount of snaps. There's a lot of guys that we played that are younger that gets us excited because the foundation of our future is really good, but those guys have to be an impact this year.”
On the play of Josh Rivas…
“Revo was the player of the game on the offensive line for us. Josh played one of his best games he's played. It was consistent. He's stronger. He's more athletic. He's more confident. Excited for what he's going to be able to do this year. He's one of those veteran guys now. He's played a lot of ball for us, and it's kind of the expectation we have for Revo is to play at that high level. I think his expectation is that as well that he could be a kid that can be an All-Big 12 player. I like the kid's work ethic and his mindset right now.”
On Jaylen Pickle playing outside in a 3-man front…
“He liked it. He was playing some defensive end, and he'll play d-end and d-tackle based on the fronts we're in. That's a big, long athletic body that can get his hands up that can be disruptive, and that’s the benefit. We can play Pick in a number of different spots as well as Eli (Huggins). He can do that, as well, but excited about the amount of guys we have that can play inside.”
On the Football IQ of the team…
“Well, it's still a work in progress in my mind because we still have a lot of new players that are playing significant roles. I would have said we're getting there. Defensively, for example, playing against our offense, you better be really smart because our offense in fall camp and spring ball is going to give you every formation known to mankind, and all the sudden 14 days, we go play Stanford where it's just a few formations. Then we flip the script yesterday and it was like it was brand new football again. So, we have to always continue to educate our guys and continue to talk about their base rules and fundamentals. That's the thing we visit about a lot offensively and defensively. When stuff hits the fan, go back to your rules and principles, and this is a week where we need to get back to our rules and principles.”
On if there are coaches in the profession he leaned on to learn the 3-3-5 defense…
“There is, and I'll keep them to myself.”
On what factor self-scouting was in the changes on defense…
“Not until after the season, and we were into January. Coach (Joe) Klanderman and I had a number of long conversations about what we needed to do to be better on defense. We had a lot of kids miss last year and a lot of COVID issues, but bottom line we needed to be better on defense. This was one way that we thought we could improve our defense. We didn't know if we would be playing it. We still don't know if we're going play it 50, 80%, 90% of the snaps. Last game we played an awful lot. I don't know what will happen this game, in the next game, but something that we've talked about, we still need to continue to get better on defense. That's how we have to win in this league is make sure that we can prevent big plays. That was the thing that they have a couple of nice throws on fade routes, and they have some really good wide receivers, but we can keep the ball in front of us and prevent the explosive runs and explosive screenplays, which we gave up last year that that'll help us in itself.”
On what Southern Illinois presents defensively…
“They're a mix between a four down and a three down. They like to pressure an awful lot. I think they've got a really, really good inside linebacker – number 54 (Bryce Notree) I think is a terrific football player. They have experience in the secondary, and they rotate some defensive linemen. They're good up front. They play their base stuff really well, but then they press you and get after you. They had just one game this year, and then we're going back and looking at games. We take it with a grain of salt of looking at the games in the past because nobody knows what people had last spring. When they play, I don't know how many guys were out. I don't know how many guys didn't practice very much. That’s the hard thing for the next three or four weeks as you prepare for games. Nobody really knows what people did. We’re not the same football team in 2020 from a personnel standpoint, all those things. I don't know if anybody is. They're very active and really experienced on defense.”
On the depth at skill positions for Southern Illinois…
“It helps this year with the kids that are able to come back. I think that's going to be the constant theme that we've talked about is there's going to be a lot of experienced teams this year. Then there's probably going to be more experienced teams next year just because of the roster management concerns that we all have. This is a group that to me was pretty evident, they had a bunch of guys in the spring. If they’re NFL kids, they didn't go on to the draft, so they played this spring season. They had a lot of success. They had one of their best seasons, made it to the playoffs, beat a really good Weber State team, and I've got a lot of respect for Weber State. Went to South Dakota State, probably should have beat South Dakota State, and I'm sure those kids think we've got a chance to make a run at a national championship. Let's all come back, and I think I firmly believe that what Nick’s got on his mind, and he should, because they’re as good a team as I've seen in the Missouri Valley, as far as those upper echelon three or four teams. I think they're one of them.”
On the impact of graduate-transfers…
“I felt really, really positive that they're going to make an impact throughout the whole season. I was glad that a number of them played a fair amount of snaps. As they continue to learn our system, continue to feel more comfortable, more and more of them will play and more will have a bigger role, but the guys that we anticipated having a big impact did.”
On Joe Klanderman being on the sidelines this year…
“Just listening in and hearing some of the conversations. As I flip back and forth between offense and defense during the game and then seeing the sound after timeouts and stuff, I was really pleased with the communication and some of the things that we were able to iron out on the sideline, better than we were last year with some of the adjustments. So, after week one, it was a good move, and I think we'll get better. I think we'll get better with him feeling more comfortable because he was upstairs with me in the past, too. So, this is the first year for a while that I know he's been on the sideline.”
On Skylar Thompson lowering his shoulder for the first touchdown…
“Let him play football. I'm with you, let him play football. He was excited to get in the end zone and get in there a couple times. I’m excited to continue to watch him progress because I've seen him play right now to really high level against our defense throughout all of fall camp. The more snaps he gets, the more comfortable he is going to be getting back to his old self, but the guy’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
On how the amount of graduate-transfers affects college football…
“That's a good question. I don't really know. I know that our older guys have played a lot of football, no matter if it's here, at another institution that you probably can tell them something once and they figure it out a little bit easier than a younger player. This isn't going to probably go any place, and this is kind of the new normal. We'll find out this offseason. You know how that cycle goes again, but we're pleased with the guys that we brought in right now. Who knows where we'll be next year with the transfer portal?”
On K-State players in graduate school…
“Yeah, a lot of kids are working on their masters. I know that we have so many kids when we're looking at class schedules. There are a lot of them working on MBAs, and it's pretty neat to see that there's going to be some kids who are going to be able to leave here not only with a degree but with a masters. I think that's pretty awesome for those kids.”
On Aamaris Brown’s playing time…
“We’ll find out. He played very similar to Reggie (Stubblefield) and Tee (Denson), had some productive plays, and he continues to feel comfortable with our scheme. Aamaris is really good football player. He just has to eliminate the mental mistakes, and that's what he and I are talking about every day. I know he cares, and he knows he's trying his tail off, but he's an exceptional athlete that will have an impact this season.”
On having the ability to stop great offensive plays…
“A little bit of both. We could have played those plays with a little bit better technique. In the same respect, one of the things that we noticed going into that game, it didn't matter who Stanford was playing was kids were coming up with those back shoulder fade routes really well. They connected and found a way to hang on to the football. So, probably a little bit of a combination of both. We could probably play it a little bit better technique, but let's give those Stanford wide receivers credit. They're really good players.”
SENIOR QUARTERBACK SKYLAR THOMPSON
On areas to improve moving forward...
“I going back and watching the film and talking to Coach (Collin) Klein and Coach Klieman afterwards, I think there was about four plays that I could have been better at. The interception, there's a play that I checked. Saw something I liked, and they played a little bit differently in the game than what we saw on film. Going into the game, I was obviously playing aggressive, but I should just came outside and thrown my slant to Malik (Knowles) underneath. Had a throw to Daniel (Imatorbhebhe) down the middle of the field. I just got to put a little more on it. He was there playing a coverage there that they hadn't shown on film, but I knew what they were in, and knew that he was probably going to be the guy who was going to pop. I just got to step into the fade off my throw a little bit just because it was so, so open. Then there was one read in the run game that if I pull it and probably run for about 40 yards there at the end of the game. Those four plays really were the ones, and even watching on my own after the game on the way home wishing I could have back. There's always going to be plays in the game that you're going to wish you could have back. But, for the most part, I felt like I took what the defense gave me. Whatever the coaches called, I executed well. I strived to be perfect, but also understand that's not reality. It was a good game to get underneath our belts in a setting like that versus a really good football team and kind of shake those first-game jitters out a little bit. I'm looking forward to getting back out there again this weekend.”
On if there was any rust or jitters in the first game...
“Yeah, I don't think it was, I don't think it was rust. I think it was just me not executing on those four plays. I don't think it really had to do with anything like that.”
On the feeling of being back on the field...
“I'll tell you what I had a lot of fun. I felt like, going into that game, was more calm than I've ever been going into a game. I didn't really feel nervous. I was just so anxious to get out there again. I'd been preparing for that game for 10 months and running what that would look like through my head for a long time. So, I was always ready for the moment. The first drive there, I mean we were clicking. We were moving the ball in big chunks besides the interception. I thought well we did a really good job as a unit, and me personally is, after the interception, I felt like we stayed attacking. We didn't take our foot off the gas and kind of let that hold us back a little bit. We put it behind us and move forward, which is big for us on offense. Just to get out there with my teammates again, it was it was special. That's what I missed the most about being out last year was, being up in a box and being kind of removed from my teammates on game day and not being with them and when the bullets are flying, you know, good and bad, I feel like that's a part of my game and me personally that I provide a lot to this team in leadership in those difficult times through adversity and being able to help this team, work through those things. When I was removed from that last year. It hurt me a lot, not being there for my guys. So, what I what I enjoyed the most and going back and watch the film you see when guys are making plays, you see the entire team celebrating run down the field. Noah Johnson almost caught up to Deuce (Vaughn) on one of those run plays… obviously joking. But that's fun to see, and guys are having fun. We're playing for each other, playing unselfish football, and that's what we got to continue to do moving forward.”
On Deuce Vaughn’s 59-yard touchdown run...
“Yeah that was a game plan thing that we saw in third and long, just the way that they lined up and played. Now, we saw a play on film from the previous season against them that a team had success, running inside zone versus them in third and long, and if we targeted it right that we could get Deuce one-on-one with a guy. We like our matchup in that aspect to get loose. So, we executed it really well. I saw the way they lined up was very similar to what we saw on film. They brought a pressure and away from the run, which is what we want. I knew presnap that we had a good shot to convert on it. Deuce won his one-on-one with a guy in the open field, and we liked that matchup a lot. So, it worked out.”
On the Arkansas State game from last year being a lesson...
“Yeah, tremendously, looking at Southern Illinois and the conference that they play in, the Missouri Valley. Yyou go look at the scores from last week. Everybody was competitive. South Dakota State beat Colorado State. Missouri State lost by seven Oklahoma State, UNI lost by six to Iowa State. It's a competitive conference, that's the real deal. What we were talking about is just watching them on film, it's a team full of Briley Moore’s. Guys that have chips on their shoulders that are talented players that have something to prove. They have 18 Super Seniors on their team. Guys that have played a lot of football, that play hard and play fast. So it's definitely something that we have to be ready for, and it's going to be a very tough test for us. First game at home, we know it's going to be a great atmosphere. We know they're going to be fired up and have something to prove. So we definitely are focused in on that. They're going to be a good team, and we just have to prepare this week like we did last week. Once again, it's about us. It's about, the Powercat logo on our chest. that's what is important, and we’re focused on that and getting better each and every day.”
On playing in front of a full stadium again...
“Yeah, well I'll tell you what, considering how last year was. We had a pep rally a couple weeks ago with the freshmen here, and I've been a part a couple of those since I've been here. You could just feel the energy of people just missing being at games and miss being in the atmosphere here at K-State. That's a huge part of K-State football is our fan base. Adding the band back to the to the student section is going to be big time there. You know we have the best band in the entire country and having those guys back in the student section and leading the way in that aspect is going to be phenomenal and so fun. Obviously I can't speak on it because I haven't experienced yet, but I envision that it's going to feel like running out of the tunnel for the first time my freshman year, and that's very exciting for guys like me and J-Mac (Jahron McPherson) and Noah (Johnson) guys that have been around and played a lot of football. Kind of have that recharge of what it feels like to run out of the stadium here and have a packed crowd. So, we're excited for it. We're looking forward to it, and we know that it's going to be a home field advantage for us, which is what we want.”
On the experience of playing in Arlington at AT&T Stadium...
“I thought it was awesome. I thought our fan base traveled really, really well. It's definitely loud in there. Our student section was going crazy, which is awesome to see again. Once again, our band, just everybody that made the effort to get down there and support us, it meant a lot to us as a team and in our program. To get to play in a setting like that in the Dallas Cowboys stadium is a dream come true for a lot of us. So, it was a really great experience, and I'm glad our program got the experience that was big time for us. It was a really cool experience, and I enjoyed it.”
On Tyrone Howell embracing the game...
“I thought he did a really good job. The one catch he caught got called back from a chop block, which is unfortunate. But since Tyrone's got here, he's been a guy that we knew that could help our football team and could contribute, whatever that may look like. He creates separation. He has really good hands. What I love about him is in practice or whatnot, if he drops a ball, he gets really mad. He'll do push ups, and all of our guys will, but you can tell it really bothers him when he doesn't catch the ball. That just shows me that he's really competitive and wants to be great. Whenever he gets the ball in his hand, he doesn't want to just go down whenever he catches it. He's trying to fight and get more yards, and you saw that firsthand whenever he got his opportunity this weekend. So, we have, as a unit – the receivers and myself because we're all this together – we have to continue to grow and improve, and build confidence in that aspect of our offense.”
JUNIOR LINEBACKER WAYNE JONES
On 3-3-5 defense...
“I enjoy it a lot just because of the position that I'm at. It allows me to be more free, be closer to the box, which I really like. It just allows me to play fast. So, I really enjoyed it.”
On the plays made by linebacker Daniel Green...
“I expected that from him. It wasn't a surprise to me because we talk about that all the time. I thought he had a great game. He was flying around, tackling, just everything. It wasn't a surprise to me.”
On if defense impressed him...
“Since fall camp, I could just tell we have so much talent on the defensive side, and watching us fly around since spring ball, I kind of expected us to have a good game. We were flying around and playing fast. That's what I enjoy watching the most.”
On the transition to linebacker…
“I think it's been good to get used to being in the box more. I think the biggest thing for me is just dealing with the linemen. Coming from safety, you know you're 10 yards away from them. I think I'm transitioning well, but I have a lot of work to do. I think I'm getting the hang of it.”
On holding Stanford under 50 rushing yards…
“I think we got a nice group, a good group of guys. We kind of want you to know what our coaches want, and we were just out there flying around because we got so many guys in the backend. So, it allows the back end to just have more freedom to fly around and be in on more tackles and making more plays.”
On running out into a full stadium again…
“It's going to be, for sure. Probably get you some butterflies, but I think we're ready for it just because without the fans, it's kind of hard to play. But, now that we've got that full capacity, it'll be a big impact on us this year.”
SENIOR LINEBACKER RYAN HENNINGTON
On playing at AT&T Stadium...
“I did my best not to focus too much on the crowd. Obviously, Dallas Cowboys stadium is huge, so I know we weren't going to fill it up, but I can say fans did an amazing job of showing out. They made it feel like a home atmosphere. So, it was great.”
On defensive changes and 3-man front...
“I remember back in January that the staff called me up and they just said that they had some new ideas as far as defensive wrinkles that would allow us to play faster and fit our personnel a little better. So, for me, I think the new position is a great fit. Linebacker is a great fit and just the way that we're able to run to the ball and run through our leverage just a lot better fit from our defense for our defense.”
On Southern Illinois offense…
“Southern Illinois has a bunch of wrinkles in their offense, and they want to get the ball to the playmakers. I think it just comes down to us being disciplined and playing our assignment, understanding what they're trying to do, and how they're trying to manipulate us. So, if we can stick to our rules and principles, we can eliminate some of those explosive plays.”
SENIOR LINEBACKER CODY FLETCHER
On the differences between Southern Illinois and Stanford...
“Coming into this game, they're going to do a lot of play action, throw the ball a lot more. I think we were so ready for the run that a lot of our coverages we weren't in the right spot. So, there's a lot of places where they can take advantage of if we're not careful. So, I think in the passing game for sure. I know linebacker wise, just getting our depth in our drops was a big thing. So, there's a lot to improve in that area.”
On Daniel Green’s performance and growth...
“Oh yeah, he played really well. He was playing extremely fast. He's a physical player. It was exciting to watch and be around, just to see how much confidence he had coming into that game and how comfortable he was. So, that was really exciting.”
On where to improve the defense...
“We can be a lot better, a lot more discipline, for sure. I think we played really fast and played really physical, which was really fun to watch. But, I think just from a discipline standpoint, reading our keys a little better sometimes, we can be a lot better.”
On playing with a full crowd again...
“I know everyone is extremely excited. We can't wait to see the stadium packed again. It's going to be quite an environment for us. It's going to be really exciting. Playing in AT&T Stadium was really cool, but just seeing everybody here is going to be a really great feeling.”
JUNIOR WIDE RECEIVER MALIK KNOWLES
On seeing Skylar Thompson healthy again...
“It was good seeing him, just everything that he went through last season, just to see him back on the field and in his element with his confidence playing so high. He's always good for our offense.”
On more offensive plays this game…
“Just have to know my numbers, call them opportunities, to make a play, I can't really use that as an excuse for last week. So, we just have to build on it.”
On improving role as wide receiver…
“Just every day coming in like it's a game day where there's practice, walkthroughs or meetings just attacking everything every day. I say just building on the next day, not really trying to make no mental errors looking everything in. It's being dependable.”
On performance after evaluating film…
“It was good. Left a lot of things that we can improve on, especially myself. Just taking stuff that I felt that wasn't where I needed it to be last week to a new level for this week.”
SENIOR DEFENSIVE BACK CINCERE MASON
On his connection to K-State...
“I actually played against Justin Garner. I played against him in a 7-om-7 in high school, but other than that, I knew of TJ (Smith) and a couple people that were from the area.”
On the rotation of the defense...
“It's nice to be fresh and me just getting here I understand the process. I came from a different school starting every game, and coming here is a little different, but I trust these coaches and staff and everybody's time.”
On what he saw on film...
“We communicated well. You can see it on certain plays. You can see us communicating and calling up whatever Stanford was going to do offensively, exactly what they were going to do. Just like flying to the ball. It was nice to see on the field too.”
On the difficulties of learning a new defense so quickly...
“No, I was coming from like a 4-2-5 defense, and we played a lot of quarters. So, pattern matches and stuff like that. But, coming here was hard. It was a little difficult learning the defensive side, but going against our offense was what made it so much harder, all the trades and motions they do. We're probably not going to see too much of that from other teams this year.”