Kansas State University Athletics
K-State Holds Pre-Bowl Press Conference
Dec 13, 2016 | Football
Head Coach Bill Snyder
On the excitement heading into bowl season…
“I do not think that I can identify any one particular thing. I do think I see a willingness to invest themselves in the work that it takes. It is so easy to look right now and say, wait a minute, it is two weeks. We play two weeks from today, and it’s so easy to look through that and say we have plenty of time. It is very easy for players to do and probably pretty easy for coaches to do, but that has never been our approach, right or wrong, and that is not the approach we are involved with right now. Our players, seemingly, are invested in that. They understand that it is significant for them to do well and take advantage of the opportunity to improve themselves on the day-to-day basis. That is the impact that I get from our young guys.”
On being familiar with Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight…
“We understand what his capabilities are, and that is a little scary in its own right. He is a talented, talented player. And, I like him, and I think that he is a great person – a good, good individual. He brings that balance to that offense. He can run it and he can do all of the things that you know he can do, and he does them well.”
On commonalities amongst SEC teams…
“There are a variety of different schematic programs, but I think if you put it all together, you would probably say speed is a big element of it. I think the physicality of the game seems to border across the SEC. Now, I am not familiar with all SEC schools. I do not pay any attention to them unless we are going to play them. I just could not tell you about all of them, just the ones we have played. They have been able to run well and obviously very well coached and teams that play physical football.”
On Texas A&M’s running game…
“They have tremendous balance in their offense. We have always talked about, in here, balance in an offense. If you look at their numbers, their numbers identify that. The running backs, obviously anytime you have a 1,000-yard rusher, you have done something reasonably well. I like the quick change of direction, and they are guys that are somewhat short in stature but can be explosive runners as well. They can change directions, get the ball out of in the line of scrimmage rapidly and make you miss and then be explosive enough to make you miss arm tackles and all that goes with it. So they good backs, and they can catch it.”
On Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett…
“He is, of all the defensive ends that we have seen, probably deserving of the honors that he has won here recently. He has got some height to him. He is a big, physical guy that can get his hands up and disrupt throws, disrupt the quarterback. He is obviously a good pass rusher. He has got length to him, you know, he has those long arms, and sometimes it is hard to just hard to get to him because he can keep you at bay with those long arms that he has. Good player, very good player.”
On preparing for regular season opponents versus bowl opponents…
“That is a good question. It is probably not exactly the same, not quite as much. We do have enough time. We get to see all of the tape. We will watch all of the video tape from this season, from previous seasons. Some of their coaches were at other places when we played them. If you go back, there are a plethora of different films to study and games to study. But, you are not paying attention to them week-in and week-out. That is probably where the difference is. When we get in, during our season, even though we may not play somebody for two or three weeks down the road, we are not obsessed with it, but at least you have an understanding of what they are doing and how they are doing it and who they are doing it with. And, when you watch video tape, if you are sitting down and watching TCU tape, we are seeing other teams in our conference as well, so you gain exposure to them just as an afterthought, I think.”
Senior Defensive End Jordan Willis
On his postseason awards…
“It has been an honor to receive all of those things. I was talking at the beginning of the season about showing how much I had improved over the offseason. It is always great to receive postseason honors. I am happy that I received them, but I still have work to do.”
On what he did to get to this point…
“I just remember going down to Dallas for the Big 12 Media Days and the biggest thing I talked about was wanting to have a consistent season. There are four parts to that. The winter, spring, summer and fall camp. Being consistent is really what helped me take that attitude into the season and bringing it every single game.”
On Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett…
“I have been studying Myles Garrett since he came into college. He is a great football player. I know that it is going to be easy for people to compare us to each other or bring that up. I am not competing against him. It is the same thing against Dorance Armstrong from Kansas; he is a great football player too and he will probably be the guy at the top of the Big 12 next year. I am not going to try and compare myself to Myles because he is a great football player and he is in his own league. I do study him though. He has a great takeoff, a great motor and he is always in the backfield. He is a great football player.”
Senior Defensive Back Dante Barnett
On learning the bowl matchup…
“I was just excited that we get another chance to play our 13th game of the season. I did not really care who we were going against. I was just excited at the fact that we get to play another game.”
On the team’s performance against TCU…
“I was very impressed. You know, the weather was not as great as we wanted but we knew we still had a game to play and I think overall our defense played great in that game.”
On K-State’s offensive line improvement…
“This group that we have had this year, the amount of progress that they have made from spring ball to now is amazing. We always talk about that. Then we also said that going against our defensive line was great prep for them to go against guys like Jordan Willis, Tanner Wood, Reggie Walker and Will Geary. Players like them, I think, got them ready for the season.”
Senior Running Back Charles Jones
On the matchup with Texas A&M…
“We were really excited. We’ve been watching them and other teams throughout the year and it will just be nice to be able to play them.”
On K-State’s offensive linemen…
“They have been practicing their butts off and perfecting their craft in practice. Going against our defensive line in the game makes it easier for us. When one person goes down another one comes up just as good. I would say hats off to coach Charlie Dickey. ”
On the offensive line’s progress…
“When you lose four starters you really do not know what to expect. I have seen what coach Charlie Dickey can do my whole career here. I was not scared or nervous or anything because I knew he could get the job done. I am really impressed with the way they have gotten better and better each game. ”
On Reid Najvar at center…
“He has developed really well. I have seen him come in and from what I have seen he has gotten better each year. I am really impressed on how he is taking control of that center position. He has done a great job, especially with Dalton Risner leaving that position.”
Senior Offensive Lineman Terrale Johnson
On playing against an SEC team…
“I do not really go on about the past, but I know for us right now, Coach [Bill] Snyder always talks to us about it being about us. Knowing that people talk about the SEC a lot, I think it is a good opportunity for us to still get better and do the things we want to do to finish of the season the right way. Just knowing that the game is not about them, but it is about us and just playing and practicing how we are supposed to and listening to Coach Snyder when he says it is about us.”
On the offensive line shaping the run game…
“That has been our main goal from the beginning of the season, to run the ball because if we run the ball, we can help out the receivers like that and just spreading out the offense. We know that our main attack is the run game, so they will have to stack the box and that helps those guys out wide. That is our main goal, to keep running the ball until they stop it.”
On his motivation for this senior season…
“Just knowing that it was my last season and I was trying to finish out strong. We needed people to step up for the offensive line and Coach [Charlie] Dickey told me that I needed to do that so my main focus was to help out the young guys for next year and then like I said finishing up strong for in my last year here.”
Sophomore Offensive Lineman Dalton Risner
On the offensive line…
“I think that it takes a long time to get an offensive line molded together. We started off this season a little shaky, but as each game went on, the offensive line just keeps jelling. As long as we keep doing what we are doing and keep focused, I think that we will keep moving forward.”
On preparing for a bowl game…
“We are all really excited. If you go to a bowl game you earn that right. It means you had a good season and you get to go and you get to prove yourself. You get to go and play a different division, especially the SEC. We are really excited to go up against a team like this.”
On running the ball…
“The yardage does not come easy. We just have to keep doing what we do and stick to it. Texas A&M is good and they have a lot of guys that are getting drafted this year, so they are good no matter what. The have some talented guys, so we are just going to have to come to play.”
Junior Offensive Lineman Reid Najvar
On the bowl game…
“I think it will be fun, I have a lot of friends that go to Texas A&M. It would be fun to get a victory against them. It would be a good deal to sweep more teams in Texas.”
On motivation that he carries into the game…
“They have very good, athletic players in the SEC. I just want to show what the Big 12 worth is – for us to compete against them and give our best effort to come out with the win.”
On his improvements throughout the season…
“I think I have been improving every day. Even if I think I am doing my best, I am not because there is still a lot of improvement for me; like finishing blocks or moving my feet. There are still things that need to be improved but I can see that I got better since day one.”
