K-State Coordinators Meet with Media Prior to Texas Game

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman met with members of the media via Zoom on Thursday prior to the Wildcats hosting Texas on Saturday. The game against the Longhorns is slated for an 11 a.m. kick inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium and will be televised by FOX.

COURTNEY MESSINGHAM, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On where quarterback Will Howard has improved and needs to continue working on...
"He has to still make sure that he's taking care of the football and drive the ball into the windows he's throwing it into. I know the weather conditions were the way they were, but he had a couple of balls that got intercepted last week that just didn't come out of his hand live enough and on enough of a line, driving the ball. As far as where he's gone, I'm still extremely happy with his knowledge and understanding. There's a lot coming at him, and the defenses in the Big 12, it's not like they just sit in the same coverages over and over again. The pressures they bring are not exotic but are not what you're seeing in high school. So just his knowledge of the game continues to impress me."

On the offensive struggles in the third quarter...
"It's something we continue to harp on and hammer on because I don't feel like we've put ourselves in a lot of third and extra-long situations where we shouldn't have been able to move the chains. Our third downs in the third quarter have not been good. We feel like we've put ourselves in numerous third and short, third and three, third and four or third and five, and good teams move the chains. We need to put ourselves in better positions to make plays and then execute those plays in general."

On the wide receivers and their blocking...
"I felt really good about how Malik (Knowles) played, how Phillip (Brooks) played and then Chabastin (Taylor) has been solid all year. We have to keep getting them involved. There's an emphasis at times to get Deuce (Vaughn) the ball, but everybody else has to have opportunities to go make plays, as well."

On wide receiver Malik Knowles...
"Just as an example, watching him take the handoff sweep we gave him, and he kind of ran through an arm tackle and then accelerated. Those are the things he can do when he's healthy, but he also has to practice week in and week out. Put him in stuff where he feels comfortable and confident that he can do those things."

On if he would change anything from the last offensive series against Baylor...
"Yeah, a thousand things. The first down call, in general, everyone would say, 'What are you doing? Why run that play?' Unfortunately, they don't realize that it was the exact same play that was a touchdown that Will Howard kept and ran a 23-yard touchdown or whatever it was. Now, the defense played it a little bit different. You have to run the ball on first down to make sure you start the clock. There was about four minutes left in the game, like 4:19 or something of that nature. The first play has to be a play to get the clock going. The second down play, again, two drives earlier, was the exact same second and long call. Obviously, again, they make adjustments, and we make adjustments. The thing I wish I had over with that one is the formation we were in. If we run outside zone, which is what Harry (Trotter) had a big play on and then the very next play is where Deuce (Vaughn) scored his touchdown on a 38-yard touchdown run, that would've been a much better play in that scenario. Unfortunately, we aren't a lookback team, so once you have it called, unless your quarterback is going to change it, we're rolling with what we have called. Not beating up on Will (Howard), because it's not on his plate at this point of time to do that, but a senior quarterback that's been in this system for two, three or four years I think says, 'Hey wait a minute. This is a much easier play to run it to the field,' in that example. But we aren't there at this point to be able to do those things."

On teams giving quarterback Will Howard a different look...
"I know people don't watch it close enough to see it when it's happening, but they actually didn't get lined up correctly until the very end, right before we snapped it. You could see number 8 yelling at their defensive end (number 99) to get in his gap. He was lined up in the wrong gap. Because he's trying to get that guy lined up right, then number 8 didn't trigger as fast as he had done on the touchdown play. They were playing the same defense. They just didn't get lined up correctly, so number 8 played it differently. For Will (Howard) then, that was his read to hand it off. So, he did it correctly. The defense just didn't play it right."

On the continued progress of quarterback Will Howard...
"We talked a little bit about it in the first question, obviously he has to drive the ball a little bit more. The weather conditions play a little part in that. I continually am amazed and very happy with his knowledge of the football game in general. We can go right back to it. If you don't have enough explosives and you turn the ball over, it's hard to win. Our defense early was getting all over their offense, and then as it wore on, both sides of the ball needed to keep producing. We didn't produce at the very end. We needed a first down. We needed probably two or three first downs because they had all their timeouts and there was still four minutes left. We would've loved to have stayed on the field and won that game with the offense on the field."

On losing two guys on the offensive line late in the week...
"Your mindset, it changes it quite a bit. Once we started playing and started executing the ability to run the football, now it became pretty much like, 'Hey, they're handling it.' Those two guys that were in there at guard played really well, and we were able to run pretty much what we would've run anyway."

On the challenge of playing Texas...
"I think the thing you notice right out of the gate is just the size of the defensive line. Then when you watch them, how athletic they are. They moved a linebacker, number 46, down to d-end, and he's an impact player. He's long and athletic, and as a d-end with the athletic ability of a linebacker, he's a tough matchup."

On Taylor Portier and Dawson Delforge starting again...
"Taylor for sure. I'm not sure yet what we'll do with the left guard situation. Obviously, it's kind of all-hands-on-deck, and Coach (Conor) Riley does a great job of making sure those guys understand schemes. Now it's getting out there and playing and getting your feet wet. As this thing unfolds, we'll kind of figure out who the best five are as the game gets going. But, Taylor is definitely going to be a starter."

On if Taylor Portier has earned a starting spot or is it out of necessity...
"Kind of two-fold, to be honest. It's going to be out of necessity, but he did a phenomenal job. I think when people watched him play, they really saw his athleticism. We talked a little bit earlier. He's a young man, because of his age, the lack of spring ball and lack of a normal fall camp really hurt him. But, just as a raw athlete and ability to play, a big guy that can really move around and is physical, he really took full advantage of his opportunity."

JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On the lack of rotation at the defensive line position against Baylor…
"They did a good job. I think we could have done a better job of that, but they did a good job of getting to the line of scrimmage quickly even if they weren't snapping it quick. When they do that, you sometimes have to roll with what you have. You're right, that's one of the regrets we have after the game. We wish – probably at all positions – that we could've rotated a little bit more. We had some outside issues that affected that a little bit, but during the game, obviously, we wore out at the end. We were getting off the field pretty good in the first half and didn't play a lot of snaps. In the third and fourth quarter, that wasn't the case. At the end of the game, we just kind of ran out of steam."

On the trend of the second half performances from the defense…
"Yeah and the trend is – and I have to do a better job, bottom line – but a lot of times it's a lot of guys doing the right thing and maybe one guy with a mental error or one guy that's not situationally aware of what's happening. I think moving forward, we just have to continue to place a premium on execution. I have to do a better job of getting guys in good spots. When I'm able to do that, they have to turn out and make plays. Obviously, that's easier to do when you're fresh and that kind of wasn't the case on Saturday."

On re-recruiting the senior defenders…
"Privately I've thought about it. We haven't had any discussions with these guys. I think that's the program philosophy is we don't think that's fair to do that to them. We're not trying to pressure these guys. I think a lot guys, probably, have some thoughts on what they're going to do. I hope to get all of them back. I love these guys, love coaching them. I think they are buying into what we're doing, and we'll see where that is in a couple of weeks."

On the penalty called on Khalid Duke…
"When you look at it, he was kind of out of control because he was getting pulled down a little bit. There are some penalties that you get really upset about, and we've some of those throughout the course of the year that are just dumb penalties. Then there are other ones that we would deem as hustle penalties. In the fourth quarter, certainly, what he did wasn't malicious, it wasn't. I don't know that he could have done a whole lot different."

On the value of getting depth back at linebacker…
"Oh, huge. And those guys (Cody Fletcher and Daniel Green) played their butts off. They played their butts off for the last two weeks, but they've had to go the distance both weeks. When you're talking about 80 snaps in a game, that's hard for anybody to do, especially at that position where you are sideline to sideline all the time and you're chasing around a scrambling quarterback. That adds to it. It's one thing if you're just running A-gap lead or something and you're just stepping down hill. It's another thing when you get a drop, and you chase after a guy that's scrambling around and then you run to the ball. Those guys are high-effort, high-motor guys, and they just ran out of gas. So, having depth at that position is going to be big."

On the communication Justin Hughes brings to the field…
"That's the biggest thing that he brings is he has a really good understanding of what we do, and his communication is something that we've missed a lot. It's something that we missed, obviously, against Iowa State with especially the two tight-end sets and things they were in. He would have been really big in that one, but that's what he brings. He brings kind of a peace to everybody. We emphasize communication. It's something that we have to get better at, but we don't have a lot of alpha communicators out there. We're working on it, but he's certainly one. So, to have him back in there it just makes guys a lot more comfortable around him."

On Wyatt Hubert's performance this season…
"He's playing really well. He's playing at a high level, and I think he can still play better, to be honest with you. I think his best stuff is in front of him. I think he's – I don't want to say unblockable – but he's certainly noticeable out there. He's certainly a force. On third down, I think we're seeing a lot of things from different offenses that are uncharacteristic of them – keeping tight ends in, keeping backs in, chipping before they release. That was something Baylor never did, and they did it against us. That certainly helps out the coverage around him when they're not getting as many people out on a route."

On if Khalid Duke has lived up to expectations…
"I don't know if that's fair to do to him. He's still a really young player. I mean, he's in his second year. He does some things, too, that are very noticeable out there and some very big splash things, and we use him in a lot of different roles. To say that he's Wyatt (Hubert), he just doesn't have that amount of snaps. I would venture to guess if you went back when I wasn't here to where Wyatt was in his career at the same time that Khalid is in his career, I would bet that Khalid is probably producing as much. He's going to be a good one. We have a lot of good ones in that room that aren't even playing yet – Felix Anudike, Nate Matlack. There's some guys in that room that are going to be big names here in a couple of years."

K-State Coordinators Meet with Media Prior to Texas Game

Players Mentioned

Felix Anudike-Uzomah

Dawson Delforge

Khalid Duke

Cody Fletcher

Daniel Green

Will Howard

Wyatt Hubert

Justin Hughes

Malik Knowles

Nate Matlack

Kansas State University Athletics