SE: K-State Football Finishes Spring Excited for Next Phase
Apr 15, 2019 | Football, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
New coaches, new music, new drills, new format, players at new positions and (some) new players, K-State's Spring Showcase on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium capped a 15-practice period that became synonymous with that word.
New.
The Wildcats showed glimpses of all of it on Saturday, of the new offense and defense they installed in a short amount of time; of how the energy provided by their new coaching staff, led by first-year head coach Chris Klieman and nine first-year assistants, made the hard work seem easy; of how everyone on the field wanted to be there.
Take, for instance, Samuel Wheeler's one-handed, near-touchdown catch on Saturday in the scrimmage portion of the Spring Showcase. While Wheeler, a quarterback turned into a tight end this spring, was called out of bounds by the referees on hand, it might have still been the highlight play of the day.
His teammates certainly treated it that way. They sprinted toward him in a swarm to celebrate.
"A lot of guys are just excited for all the new stuff," senior receiver Dalton Schoen said. "I think it's been said, but I'll just reiterate how much these new coaches bring a great energy, and they've really worked on building great relationships with us, and they've stressed how much they care about us outside of football. I think that helps the players a lot because we know we can go out there and we're going to play for them, play for each other. I think it's brought the whole team closer together. All around, the energy, the vibe has been really good."
Sophomore defensive end Wyatt Hubert echoed Schoen. He said every practice, through what sometimes could feel like an overload of learning, was enjoyable. Hubert said it started with how quickly the coaches tried to establish strong relationships with the players.
The two-minute videos posted on the team's social media pages during the spring were micro-examples of what was going on inside the walls of the Vanier Family Football Complex.
"The main thing I take from this spring: Coaches want to be there for the players, and players want to play hard for their coaches," Hubert said. "We really were trying to learn that playbook this spring, and we went out there and learned it really well. We're still not 100 percent with it — it's going to take some time — but the main takeaway from this spring, which I hope carries into the fall, and I think it will, is how everyone wants to be out here, everyone wants to play hard and everyone's having fun doing this."
The result has been a jumpstarted culture, senior safety Denzel Goolsby said. Players have been more eager to learn and to put extra work in to do so.
"They've given us every single resource to be successful, and guys are really hungry to learn," he said of the coaching staff. "So, you combine both of those, and us just being competitive and wanting to be good right now, rather than be good six months from now, and it creates an environment where everybody's willing to learn as fast as possible. We just try to build off that."
"I think it's helped a lot because you don't have to sell guys on buying in. Now, it just seems easier," Schoen added. "Everyone's just flowing together. Everyone wants to be together, and guys are buying in with ease."
The next step, with spring practices over and coaches getting less time with players, will be for the Wildcats to carry that same buy-in during the rest of the offseason.
Klieman said nobody's familiarity with the playbook, on either side of the ball, is where it should be. The opportunity to improve that lies ahead for the Wildcats.
"I'm excited to see, when we reinstall all this stuff when we get to early fall in August, how much retention everybody has, so they just play faster. That's the one thing. It's sometimes difficult to tell how talented a young man is if they don't know what they're doing," Klieman said. "Now, they're starting to get the understanding of our schemes, offensively and defensively, and they'll continue to do that themselves, with captains' practices this spring and summer, but when we get into August and we reinstall it as coaches, I look for really quantum leaps from a lot of guys."
"That's honestly going to be the biggest thing, keeping it going. It's easy to have that energy when everything's new, everything's fresh with those new coaches, but now we have to get the leadership to reiterate that we have to keep this thing rolling. We can't take our foot off the gas now," Schoen added. "Now, we have to kind of carry that into the summer, then into fall camp and the season."
Hubert said he has no doubt this team will maintain its momentum from the spring. With 29 seniors and 21 juniors, he said the team's veteran leadership has already shown it's ready to take this team the right direction.
"There's a lot of experience playing with this team, a lot of seniors," Hubert said. "They're just showing good leadership toward the younger guys, and that's just been trickling down."
Redshirt junior quarterback Skylar Thompson, one of those 50 upperclassmen, shared a mature mindset he expects his teammates to match going into this next phase.
"Coach Klieman has done a great job of saying this: We're not rebuilding around here. We're going to come out and we're winning from the beginning. That's going to be our goal and that's going to be our standard that we live by every single day," he said. "We're living by a championship standard."
New coaches, new music, new drills, new format, players at new positions and (some) new players, K-State's Spring Showcase on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium capped a 15-practice period that became synonymous with that word.
New.
The Wildcats showed glimpses of all of it on Saturday, of the new offense and defense they installed in a short amount of time; of how the energy provided by their new coaching staff, led by first-year head coach Chris Klieman and nine first-year assistants, made the hard work seem easy; of how everyone on the field wanted to be there.
Take, for instance, Samuel Wheeler's one-handed, near-touchdown catch on Saturday in the scrimmage portion of the Spring Showcase. While Wheeler, a quarterback turned into a tight end this spring, was called out of bounds by the referees on hand, it might have still been the highlight play of the day.
His teammates certainly treated it that way. They sprinted toward him in a swarm to celebrate.
"A lot of guys are just excited for all the new stuff," senior receiver Dalton Schoen said. "I think it's been said, but I'll just reiterate how much these new coaches bring a great energy, and they've really worked on building great relationships with us, and they've stressed how much they care about us outside of football. I think that helps the players a lot because we know we can go out there and we're going to play for them, play for each other. I think it's brought the whole team closer together. All around, the energy, the vibe has been really good."
Sophomore defensive end Wyatt Hubert echoed Schoen. He said every practice, through what sometimes could feel like an overload of learning, was enjoyable. Hubert said it started with how quickly the coaches tried to establish strong relationships with the players.
The two-minute videos posted on the team's social media pages during the spring were micro-examples of what was going on inside the walls of the Vanier Family Football Complex.
"The main thing I take from this spring: Coaches want to be there for the players, and players want to play hard for their coaches," Hubert said. "We really were trying to learn that playbook this spring, and we went out there and learned it really well. We're still not 100 percent with it — it's going to take some time — but the main takeaway from this spring, which I hope carries into the fall, and I think it will, is how everyone wants to be out here, everyone wants to play hard and everyone's having fun doing this."
The result has been a jumpstarted culture, senior safety Denzel Goolsby said. Players have been more eager to learn and to put extra work in to do so.
"They've given us every single resource to be successful, and guys are really hungry to learn," he said of the coaching staff. "So, you combine both of those, and us just being competitive and wanting to be good right now, rather than be good six months from now, and it creates an environment where everybody's willing to learn as fast as possible. We just try to build off that."
"I think it's helped a lot because you don't have to sell guys on buying in. Now, it just seems easier," Schoen added. "Everyone's just flowing together. Everyone wants to be together, and guys are buying in with ease."
The next step, with spring practices over and coaches getting less time with players, will be for the Wildcats to carry that same buy-in during the rest of the offseason.
Klieman said nobody's familiarity with the playbook, on either side of the ball, is where it should be. The opportunity to improve that lies ahead for the Wildcats.
"I'm excited to see, when we reinstall all this stuff when we get to early fall in August, how much retention everybody has, so they just play faster. That's the one thing. It's sometimes difficult to tell how talented a young man is if they don't know what they're doing," Klieman said. "Now, they're starting to get the understanding of our schemes, offensively and defensively, and they'll continue to do that themselves, with captains' practices this spring and summer, but when we get into August and we reinstall it as coaches, I look for really quantum leaps from a lot of guys."
"That's honestly going to be the biggest thing, keeping it going. It's easy to have that energy when everything's new, everything's fresh with those new coaches, but now we have to get the leadership to reiterate that we have to keep this thing rolling. We can't take our foot off the gas now," Schoen added. "Now, we have to kind of carry that into the summer, then into fall camp and the season."
Hubert said he has no doubt this team will maintain its momentum from the spring. With 29 seniors and 21 juniors, he said the team's veteran leadership has already shown it's ready to take this team the right direction.
"There's a lot of experience playing with this team, a lot of seniors," Hubert said. "They're just showing good leadership toward the younger guys, and that's just been trickling down."
Redshirt junior quarterback Skylar Thompson, one of those 50 upperclassmen, shared a mature mindset he expects his teammates to match going into this next phase.
"Coach Klieman has done a great job of saying this: We're not rebuilding around here. We're going to come out and we're winning from the beginning. That's going to be our goal and that's going to be our standard that we live by every single day," he said. "We're living by a championship standard."
Players Mentioned
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