K-State Holds Pre-Bowl Press Conference

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder met with members of the media on Wednesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex prior to K-State departing for Arizona to begin preparations for the 2017 Cactus Bowl against UCLA. The game, which will be held on Tuesday at Chase Field, will kick off at 8 p.m. (CT) and be televised nationally on ESPN. Selected comments from Snyder's press conference (archived here) are posted below.

K-State's bowl information page can be accessed by clicking here, while tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

K-State's Pre-Bowl Press Conference Quotes
Head Coach Bill Snyder
On UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen…
"I don't know that there's anything that really separates him (from Big 12 quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph). I think all of them are quality quarterbacks, excellent quarterbacks. That's not just my opinion; I think that's virtually everyone's opinion. I think he's very much like them. He's good at processing information. He makes good decisions. He has patience and works through his progressions, and is an accurate thrower. He can put some velocity on the ball as well, and I think that's something probably describes all three of them as much as anything."

On facing Josh Rosen after playing against elite quarterbacks in Big 12 play…
"It's interesting that we are (playing another elite quarterback). What'd be more interesting is if we could get one of them stopped. That's the important thing. He's thrown for 345 yards per game but you go back and you take their non-conference schedule out of that and he's down a little closer to the 300 mark, about 315 I think, which is still an awful lot of yards to throw. You look at the number of snaps that they're throwing the football and the number of times that he's thrown it, you're going to get yardage when you throw it that much, at least they have. There's no guarantee that's what they're going to do, but you're certainly going to see them throw it. Now how much, I don't know. Even at that, he's still a very talented quarterback. We'd like to see one that throws for 45 percent and 180 yards a game, that's a guy we'd like to see, but it's a challenge and that's good part of it too."

On if there has been any standouts in bowl preparations…
"None come to mind right now. The early portion of our bowl preparation, as it is every year, is centered and focused around younger guys who normally don't have the opportunity. We try to get them involved more readily and individual, fundamental technique drills. I thought there were a number of them I was pleased with their efforts, but as it relates to how they would impact the bowl and opportunities in the bowl game, that hasn't changed. It will be the same team, same people."

On his memories of the 1993 Copper Bowl, his first bowl game at K-State…
"I think it was meaningful because it was the first bowl game. It kind of highlighted the progression the program had made in those early years. On the same level as that was the outgrowth of support that we had at the ballgame. I think we had over 22,000 people in attendance. We had a pep rally at one of the hotels there and we had well over 5,000 people that couldn't get in. I was at an event the other night and Mitch Holthus (former Voice of the Wildcats) brought that up. And the fact that we played pretty well."

On the team's recent success playing away from home…
"They (UCLA) gets to claim this as a home game, so it's going to be a home game for them, and they haven't lost at home. Again, it all boils down if you do it the right way and have the discipline to keep the game between the white lines. That field down there is the same size as the one we've got here. It's just a matter of staying disciplined and taking your preparation to the field and staying focused and keeping it between the white lines. If you do that then good things normally happen."

On the Wildcats succeeding in intimidating environments down the stretch of the season…
"It's only intimidating if you allow it to be. If you're not keeping it between the white lines, then it can become that. What's impressed me? The capacity to keep the game between the white lines, I think."

On if he has seen what he wants from the team in bowl preparations…
"It can always be better, but I thought our practices have been good. We haven't practiced every day because we've had final exams, and I also wanted to make sure they did get some break time. We practiced in blocks of two days or three days, so they've stayed reasonably fresh. I think the spirit has been positive. As we get close to this period of time where we're getting ready to leave, maybe this last day or so probably wasn't all I wanted it to be in that respect, but leading up to that I was pleased with their effort."

On the progress of quarterback Skylar Thompson during bowl preparations…
"It's about the same as I have seen for the last three or four weeks of the season, just a young guy that maintains his poise, has an appropriate level of confidence about him. His execution is very consistent and has been consistently good. None of that has changed. I don't see any difference in him than whenever we talked the last time."

On his thoughts on the new signing period…
"I think when all the dust settles, we'll give some heavy thought to it because there will be some legislation coming up in early January to address it. I don't know. I really don't. Nothing has come up that has made it something that concerns me a great deal, but I haven't thought about it so much, other than doing what we have to do to be able to make sure we can get some commitments and some signees. I haven't thought about the plusses and minuses heavily yet."

On balancing the new signing period with bowl preparations…
"It's hard. Both of them are full-time jobs, and it just means you have to do a lot more because of signing day coming up right into preparation time, you had to do a lot more right up to that last week in order to solidify commitments, and it's still in the process. There's a lot of young people who may or may not sign in this two-day window that haven't yet. To a certain degree, that's the part of it that right now I'm not enamored with is the fact that you really are focused on a bowl preparation and you have to split your time two ways. It makes it a little harder."

On K-State's signing class thus far…
"All of them are good young guys. Normally, there's a write-up that comes out after I go back and scrutinize the group collectively. I haven't done that as we normally do. I don't know if I could answer the question as thoroughly as I would like to. Again, I think they're good people and the vast majority have been very, very fine students, highly recommended as people with good character by the people in their school system and around their communities. Hopefully they're good players. There's a significant difference between high school and college, just like there is between the high school and the NFL. As I've said every time, as far as the quality of their capabilities on the football field, that'll be determined after they've been here for a couple of years and you have a chance to really assess what they can do at this level."

On quarterbacks coach Collin Klein as a recruiter…
"We have several young guys. I consider Blake Seiler to be a young guy, and he played here. He does an excellent job of recruiting. Andre Coleman is still a young pup in my eyes and played here and is a very active recruiter as well. I think all of them have positive impacts on recruiting. The two I mentioned of Blake and Andre just have a little more experience at it than Collin does. He's getting his feet wet right now but he's doing it quite well."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Skylar Thompson

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