Kansas State Wildcats College Football Pregame Quote, 11/12/2019

Good afternoon everybody. We’re excited to be back home this week after being on the road the last couple of weeks. We know we have another tough opponent with West Virginia. We talked in the locker room after a tough loss on Saturday, (it’s) no different than after our win against OU or KU, we have to wipe it clean pretty quickly and you have to go back to work. We had a really good practice yesterday – good focus, good energy. I was pleased, we really came out of the Texas game relatively healthy. We only had one guy ‚Äì Wykeen (Gill) ‚Äì that would be questionable for this game. So that’s a real positive sign. We have to go back to work and have to continue to get better, continue to improve. I thought Texas did a really good job of shutting down our rushing attack. It’s something we have to get back going to set up everything we need to in the passing game. The guys are excited to be back playing at home, and we look forward to a great afternoon here in Manhattan.

On how hungry the offense is to improve the rushing game:

We have to be better, and you have to give Texas credit because they really blitzed us an awful lot and ruined a lot of line stunts. At times we picked them up well, and at times we didn’t. They just had us outnumbered at the point of attack. So, I know, just as a whole ‚Äì offensive line, tight ends, fullbacks and our backs ‚Äì are excited to get back home. Because, you’re right, we have to be able to rush the football because it sets up everything that we do.

On the status of running backs James Gilbert and Joe Ervin:

Joe will be available for sure because Joe’s (injury) was a concussion, and he’s cleared for sure. James didn’t move around yesterday. It’s an ankle that’s just not responding as well as we would have hoped. Jordon (Brown) nicked his up again in the game on Saturday. So, both of those two practiced yesterday, granted it was a light workout. Today and tomorrow will be a lot heavier workouts. They’re both cleared to go, so we just need to see how they practice as well as how they respond.

On the rushing attack approaching the top-10 in school history:

Credit a lot of the things offensively with Mess (Courtney Messingham) play calling, and the offensive line, tight ends and fullbacks. We knew when we arrived here that it was really thin at the running back position. So, we were able to go out and bring some guys in, Harry Trotter, who had walked on and earned a scholarship, and same with Tyler Burns, who have done some really good things. Our depth there has been a big bonus for us. The thing that, obviously, you can tell where it hurts us, when we’re really clicking rushing the football, we can line up in our three running back set. We just have not been able to do that because of our injuries.

On his philosophy of trusting the process getting any negative feedback:

No, and I really don’t care. It’s still what I believe in, and what the program believes in, and what our staff believes in. I said this to the players yesterday, ‘Everybody wants to win and everybody is disappointed when you lose.’ But, if the only thing that they did was to come to Kansas State or wherever other school and play football and get a degree, boy I failed. There’s so many things out there. (I’ll) give you a great example ‚Äì we had Michael Bishop come and talk to the team on Friday night. (It was a) really cool experience for those guys that had heard an awful lot about Michael. Ryan Young did our chapel service on Saturday. (He’s) another former player, and (it was) a really inspiring message. Those are the things that I want to make sure guys get out of this as well. In my opinion, that’s still all a part of the process of battling for one another so that when times are tough – whether it’s on the field or in life ‚Äì you have the tools to get through the adversity. I’ve been really pleased to see ‚Äì I didn’t know what kind of practice we’d have yesterday. There’s some guys still upset, a little disappointed we didn’t win, but it was, ‘Hey, we have an opportunity to play at home again.’ These seniors only have two chances left. Two opportunities is all they have to play at home, so we have to have a great week of preparation ‚Äì that’s that process ‚Äì to give us a chance on Saturday.

On why they are using the Cats script logo for this game:

A couple things ‚Äì one, we’re celebrating 150th year of college football throughout the season. One of our ways to do it here, just for this game, to do a throwback and wear the Cats on the helmet. It’s something I think had been planned for a little while, and I was on board and said, ‘It’s not something we’re going to do and keep the logo,’ We’re just doing it for this game. I think everything in recruiting needs to be fresh with guys. So, we had said we were going to alter a couple things this year. We did one earlier in the season, and this was another opportunity for us to do it. I know that they’re honoring Coach Snyder during the game, which I think is awesome. Once again, celebrating 150 years of college football, and Bill was a huge, huge part of college football in general ‚Äì not just at Kansas State, we know what he did here, I know how much he’s impacted so many coaches across the landscape of college football. So, it’s going to be a great weekend.

On players being close on the four-game redshirt rule and who will keep playing:

I think the two that we have that I can think of are Khalid (Duke) and Joe Ervin that are right one that (mark). Our plan is to play those guys right now. Some of it is that they’re ready and we still have four more games, so I think that will be quality for those guys. The thing is injuries, too. We are still beat up at the running back position. So we can’t just say, ‘Ok, we’re not going to play a guy.’ We have to help the 2019 Wildcat team win as many games as we can. I owe that to those seniors.

On where his process-oriented philosophy comes from:

(It) developed over time. A lot of that is a credit to Ben Newman, who’s been a part of our program since I arrived here, but was with me at North Dakota State. I’m a big believer in not being simply a results-based person, organization, company, football team, whatever it is, but enjoying the journey, enjoying the process because it’s a grind and everyone knows this ‚Äì from coaches to players ‚Äì this is a grind of a season. You get 12 opportunities, and look at how much time you practice and you prepare. You better enjoy that process, you better enjoy that journey. These guys are going to remember, especially these seniors, because they’re going to remember their senior year the rest of their life. It’s so fun for those guys to have great memories of locker room, on-field celebrations, what they did on a road trip, all those things. That’s still just a part of the process of continuing to get better. Right now, I really believe as a football team (that) we’re getting better.

On the status of wide receiver Malik Knowles:

He’s probably 85%, to be honest with you. He’s had a number of small things that have been nagging. I was pleased that he made a great play. He made a kid miss and took it to the house, and that’s something that’s been missing that he can do for us. I know he was sore Sunday and Monday. We need to be smart with Malik throughout the week to see if we can get his legs back underneath him because he’s a difference maker. I don’t envision Malik missing any time, but, to answer your question, I don’t think he is 100%.

On the West Virginia offense:

Tremendous skill (players). (They) get the ball on the perimeter really fast. That’s what I see as my biggest concern is that they have great skill players at wide receiver (and) running back position, and they get the ball to them in space and create one-on-one opportunities. We have to do a great job of not making it only a one-on-one opportunity that we have enough hats to the football that we can do a great job of tackling and keeping the cup. I think they’re a really explosive offense with tremendous skill kids.

On the West Virginia defense:

They’ve kind of been bitten by the big play. Everybody in college football worries about getting beat by the big play. We’ve had our share of big plays against us. We’ve limited some of those, which has obviously helped us in the overall scheme of things. I think that’s probably their biggest thing that they’ve had hurt them is the big play, and getting down quickly in a couple of games. I caution the guys again, you can’t compare scores. You can’t worry about what was done last week compared to what’s going to be done this week. It’s all in your preparation/process. It gives you an opportunity. You guys probably know better than I do because you’ve seen it, but West Virginia has had some success against Kansas State in the last few years.

On the status of tight end Samuel Wheeler:

He tore his ACL against KU on an non-contact injury late in the first half. It’s unfortunate. (I’m) really sad and sick for Sammy because he was coming on and really playing good football for us. One of those freak things that you see ‚Äì he just planted and his knee gave way. He has not had surgery yet, so obviously he’ll miss spring ball as well.

On the kickoff-return unit making an impact:

We spend a lot of time on it. Coach (Brian) Anderson has that with a lot of other coaches. Once again, we have a lot of coaches involved helping us. Mondays we spend a lot of time on drill work on all special teams. Tuesday we focus on a couple, Wednesday we focus on a couple doing more team-related things. On Thursday, we kind of clean all the operation up. I credit our front line, it’s doing a good job maintaining some blocks. I thought Josh (Youngblood) did a really good job of running through an arm-tackle at about the 15- or 18-(yard line), similar to what Malik (Knowles) did down at Mississippi State of running through an arm tackle where it could have been a tackle at the 20. He ran through it, and we’re holding blocks on a number of guys. There’s a lot of players on that KOR that are also on punt, punt defense, kickoff that play an awful lot of pivotal snaps for us. A kid like Ross Elder does things great all the time on special teams. Brock Monty does things tremendously all the time on special teams. A guy that made a huge block on that was Harry Trotter, who happened to be our starting tailback the last two weeks, made a great block. So, (I’m) excited, and for us to be successful, we have to continue to be good on teams.

On the secondary’s performance against Texas without AJ Parker:

Well, it is what it is. We’re not going to have AJ for a while, so I thought they did a really good job against unbelievably talented guys. That’s the thing that we have to have a good balance of is when we’re going to leave them on an island and play man coverage and when we’re going to give them help. When the wide receivers are 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds and we’re 5-foot-9 and 175, those are tough battles to win. I thought we competed really well. All that being said, we had an opportunity to have a chance and we held them to 27 points. I thought they did a tremendous job. Walt (Walter Neil Jr.) made a big-time pick to get us out of the series. That was really good. Kee-vee (Kevion McGee) made a couple of really nice plays. But, if you’re going to man-to-man like we want to play some man-to-man, you’re going to give up some plays. We know that, and we have to understand that.

On the targeting penalty that resulted in Wykeen Gill’s injury:

I saw it on the replay. I brought the officials over because I wanted them to look at it. I didn’t know if it was going to be looked at because there was no flag. I asked them to look at it, and he (official) was great and said, ‘Yeah Coach, we’ll go upstairs and take a look at it.’ It’s unfortunate because it was away from the play, didn’t have anything to do with the play. Wykeen’s going to miss a game. You have a hit like that and someone only misses a half, I don’t think that’s very fair.

On facing former assistant coach Blake Seiler:

He knows an awful lot about the personnel. I don’t know that he knows the schemes because he left before we got talking about offensive and defensive schemes. I have a great respect for Blake. (I) was around him for a solid month, went on the road with him. (He’s a) tremendous coach, tremendous recruiter. He’ll be a factor simply because he knows ‚Äì offensively and defensively ‚Äì our personnel so well. It was an opportunity for him in the profession to continue to grow. He and I visited about it when he did leave. That’s the one thing ‚Äì I’ll never prevent somebody from growing in the profession. It’s what allowed me to be where I am at today by taking chances and growing in the profession. That’s what we all want to do, is to aspire to be head coaches, be coordinators, and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and do something different. He’s a K-State guy, and I know that’s not easy. I’m a big fan of Blake and hope to get a chance to spend a few minutes with him.

On how the defensive has been able to improve this season:

The guys are buying in and learning more and more each week, for starters, on the defensive side. We’re improving with the knowledge base of our bread-and-butter defense, so we’re able to maybe make more adjustments each week. Early in the season, it was like, ‘Here’s what we’re doing guys, and we have to be able to live through some of the issues.’ Now when an issue comes up, our guys come to the sideline or at practice and work through it and it makes sense to them. Early on, they just knew what their job was, but great defenses know where their piece is at, know where somebody else’s piece is at, and it all fits together. We’re getting better at that. Are we there yet? Not even close, but for our first year in the system ‚Äì especially with complex as some of the things that Haze (Scottie Hazelton) does ‚Äì I’m really excited about where we’re going.

On K-State’s red zone defense:

(It’s) really, really good. I’m a big believer (that) if you can hold people to field goals, you have an opportunity to win games because offenses are really good across the landscape of college football. You can look at the Oklahoma win ‚Äì they’re in there a few times and have to kick field goals. Very few people prevent teams like that from getting touchdowns. I think it’s a big momentum swing when you are able to prevent people from scoring touchdowns and (make them) kick field goals. In this day and age of college football, it’s points, points, points. So I’ve been really pleased with the red zone defense we’re playing.

On if he has reached his personal goals through nine games:

I didn’t really have any personal goals. Good question, but I didn’t really have any personal goals. I think it was just to continue to grow every week. We knew there would be some really good highs, (and) honestly I knew there would be some difficult times. I guess I’d give myself a better self-evaluation at the end of the whole season, after the end of the regular season and even after the end of the bowl game. You don’t get a chance to really reflect very much other than the two bye weeks, which came so early and now we’ve been in the grind of all grinds in November. I know I will, but we’ll do it collectively. It won’t be personally. It will be collectively as a staff, what we accomplished, what we failed to accomplish, because we are still in that boat too. We’re still trying to find a way to click on all cylinders. So, at the end of the whole thing, after the bowl game, we’ll definitely get a chance to reflect on it.

On the faith he has in Skylar Thompson to put in a special performance when the offense is struggling:

I have a lot of faith, but I still want him to play within himself and try not to do too much. I think the biggest compliment that I can give Skylar, to answer your question, is he is playing within the framework of the system because we are not turning it over. If you try to do too much, that’s when negative plays happen and all of a sudden you start throwing picks and you start turning it over because you’re scrambling around trying to make plays that aren’t there. That’s the thing that excites me the most about Skylar is he’s done what we’ve asked him to do at a really high level. (He’s) playing exceptional football, but always making good decisions to keep us in good position in a game.