K-State's Weekly Press Conference
Sep 11, 2002 | Football
Sept. 11, 2002
Manhattan, Kan. -
KANSAS STATE HEAD COACH BILL SNYDER
On Ell Roberson...
"I'm hoping he's not settling in as a back-up and I hope he's not satisfied with being a back-up. I don't consider him a back-up. Right now, he's not our starter. I would like for him to stay competitive and compete for the position. I'm confident it's his intent to remain competitive and compete and realize he still has a chance to be the No. 1 quarterback."
On wide receivers' progress and performance...
"I've told our wide receivers and our team that I was really proud of the performance of our wide receivers. A week ago I was concerned about how far we were getting along with the play of our wide receivers and then, low and behold, our guys jump up and really make some plays. James Terry made a couple plays in the ballgame that were not just your average ordinary deal. Taco Wallace made a very exceptional catch. Derrick Evans made a very nice catch. And I thought, 'we're making some progress here. I really like what you guys are doing and I'm proud of you.' And they practiced last night like they had just graduated from the third grade. So we'll see where it goes from here."
On Terence Newman...
"You have to be aware of him. Terence has more than speed. He is really a very fine athlete. The punt return really demonstrated his ability to be fluid, to have good movement, and use not just his speed but use his movement extremely well. I thought he did a nice job. That punt return wasn't necessarily speed; that was just understanding where to go and how to be at the right place at the right time and have some athletic awareness. From a defensive standpoint, you have to be aware of where he is all the time. It helps you offensively, defensively and probably in your kicking game as well. If you over-focus on one individual that you are playing against, then you might cause yourself to weaken some other aspects of your defense or your kicking game or your offense. So he is asset whether you go to him or not."
On James Dunnigan and Randy Jordan...
"J.D. should be ready to go this weekend and he probably could have played last weekend if it was necessary. Randy each week is making more and more progress. We've been pleased with his effort in just beginning to understand the system better."
On practices...
"I think there were a lot of good things that took place in our practice last night and it was very factual, very matter of fact, which is what you want. It's important for us to develop the ability to have the kind of tempo that you're going to see on gameday and to get opportunities to work our best against our best. That heightens the tempo of our practices."
On looking forward to USC...
"There will be nothing done until we are certain we feel comfortable with our approach with Eastern Illinois. We'll look at some things, not on the practice field, but from a coaching staff standpoint."
On Eastern Illinois' offense...
"(Tony) Romo is a very fine quarterback as evident by the fact that he was the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year last year. I know he's an extremely fine player and I know he can do some pretty nifty things. He can throw the ball extremely well. Their offense is a little more like what we played this last week. They're a formation offense and they try to get you in a position where you might get people out of their responsibilities by making incorrect adjustments. They can be a very productive offense. They have in the past; they were against Hawaii. They are very capable."
On this week's focus...
"We are trying to get better and we're trying to identify exactly where we feel like we're not good enough and put some real emphasis on those areas. (We are trying to) get better individually and get better collectively in certain aspects of the game, whether it's in the passing game or the running game. I have no earthly idea why anybody would practice if it wasn't for that purpose."
On Jeromey Clary...
"He's just going to be a good player. Fundamentally, he's very good. He was a well-coached youngster out of high school. He understands the mechanics of the game of football. He's still trying to understand how it fits into a system that is different than his at high school. As far as fitting into the offense and really understanding the things we're doing, he's struggled a little bit in the first ballgame but that was kind of anticipated. "
On comfort with the depth of the offensive line...
"I'm not as comfortable as I'd like to be. We need a couple of younger guys right now to step up and that's why Clary is on the field. We need a couple young guys that'll step up and allow us to feel comfortable that they can fit into the system and that we can trust them on the field. I think we got, perhaps, a little closer this last week and that helped us clear the air a little bit. But we're not where we need to be."
On Nick Leckey...
"Nick's still got some improvement to make. But he holds his own. He's not playing badly, but I would expect a great deal out of a guy that's that experienced in our program and has logged as much starting time and playing time as he has. I would expect that he would play a little bit better than he has."
On Thomas Barnett...
"He's come back all right. With the amount of experience he has, I would expect him to pick up his game a little bit more than it has. Not that it's been bad at all, I just think he's capable of more. I was really proud of Thomas this summer. He would get offensive linemen that worked out with him and bring them in and they'd sit down and watch videotape together. He would just help guide them along. He has the capabilities of providing some quality leadership for our football team. You'd just like to have it on a consistent basis. He opened himself up to the rest of our team this summer and I was pleased with that."
On improving...
"The most important thing is that if we improve in certain areas that we don't stop trying to improve in those areas. It's so easy and it's kind of human nature, regardless of our age, to say, 'okay, we got that corrected. Now lets move on to something else.' As soon as that happens, then that's taking something for granted that we've got whatever problem we have fixed and then all of a sudden they jump up and bite you again. We will never stop trying to get ourselves to become better tacklers and get ourselves to understand exactly where we're supposed to be when the ball crosses the line of scrimmage. Even though we needed work on it after the first ballgame and we made great improvement in the second ballgame, you would never stop trying to get better in that area."
On Peni Holakeituai and Jesse Keaulana-Kamakea...
"We'll probably end up redshirting Peni. Jesse will play. He's made some improvement. He's vastly improved from game one to game two. As a young guy that's trying to learn the offense and at the same time trying to learn it at more than one position. He took some snaps at center in the ballgame. He had one high snap when we were in a shotgun alignment but outside of that, he's showed that he's making some headway. Peni's just not quite there yet. It's a combination of a lot of things. He's very capable and he works at it and he's become committed to it. Part of it is fundamentals; part of it is learning the system."
On Division I-AA opponents...
"It is not our intent to go find I-AA schools. We would have all I-A schools if we could get them on our schedule. In playing I-AA schools, the one thing I've come to appreciate is the fact that there is a great need. I like some of those programs. Western Kentucky doesn't have the money to support a program they way they'd like to. I enjoyed having the opportunity to help their program. Most schools won't play a I-AA school probably under any circumstances, because of the criticism that probably comes with it. I'm not going out and trying to find I-AA schools. We want 1A schools, but I don't have any qualms obviously or we wouldn't have played them. Their young guys are good guys as well and they deserve the opportunity to have some of the things that Division I-A schools have."
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Kansas State Defensive End Andrew Shull
On the depth at defensive end...
"We've got a lot of guys that got a lot of starts last year and we've got a great rotation started this year. Thomas Houchin, Melvin Williams, Henry (Bryant) and myself, it's just great to have that much depth, we can rotate guys in and stay fresh."
On elevating his play from last year...
"I would like to think I have (elevated my play), we're still early in the year and there's still a lot of improvements to be made, but as far as the defensive ends as a group we're just trying to improve the pass rush and just trying to get better."
On facing Eastern Illinois...
"They're a great offensive group, they throw the ball a lot, they have a lot of different formations to adjust to, they're a good football team. Their quarterback (Tony Romo) is really good, he's an All-American guy who is going to be really hard to stop. We're just going to practice hard this week, and try to get better."
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Kansas State Quarterback Marc Dunn
On the Eastern Illinois defense...
"They seem to swarm to the ball very well, they disguise their defenses fairly well from what we've seen so far and they've got some good athletes over there. "
On what he expects for the game...
"I expect it to be a fast-paced game, they like to throw the ball on offense and it could be a long game. Defensively, we're going to have to execute very well to win this game. We're going to have to be assignment sound this week. I expect it to be a physical game. Plus, we want to come out with some consistency, so there are a lot of things we are focusing on this week."
On feeling more comfortable...
"Every week we try to get a little better, and get more comfortable. I know you guys hear that week in and week out but it is true, those type of cliches you hear for years are the same ones that are going to bring you greatness as a team and that's what we have to focus on and maintain."
On what Terence Newman brings to the offense...
"Terence is a tremendous athlete as you saw last game he had that punt return and he just about had an interception for return. He can do so many different things with the ball. He's a great asset. He is incredibly fast. When you talk about Terence Newman, you talk about speed, he brings a lot of different things to the table."
On the team this year...
"This is a different style of a team than we had last year I feel, as far as the style of athletes we have on this team. I think we are coming together, we are starting to gel a little bit and hopefully we'll keep doing that week in and week out."
On the receiving core...
"One thing that is awesome for a quarterback to see is the confidence in themselves grow. They came out and made some great catches, all of the receivers did, they made some plays for us, made some blocks for us and made some key reads for us. As a quarterback, it makes you more comfortable to see them get more confident within themselves."
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Kansas State Linebacker Josh Buhl
On improving from week one to week two...
"I think we've improved, that's what we wanted to do, we wanted to make steps forward every week and I think that we are doing that. I saw a lot of good things out of our (second and third units) when they got in there. That's what we want, we just want to get better every week and if we continue to do that then the future looks good for us."
On staying focused on Eastern Illinois...
"It's real easy to stay focused on (Eastern Illinois) because no matter what our schedule holds this is what we have to take care of right now and when we take care of this it will bring us good things in the future."
