K-State Coordinators Speak to Media Prior to Season Opener
Sep 02, 2021 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman met with members of the media on Thursday at the Vanier Family Football Complex prior to the Wildcats traveling to Arlington, Texas for the Allstate Kickoff Classic against Stanford this Saturday. Links to video and audio of both press conferences are above, and a complete transcript is below.
COURTNEY MESSINGHAM, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On the excitement of game one...
"They feel really, really well prepared until the bullets start flying, but we've had a lot of good days practicing. I feel like we've stacked a good day on top of another good day, and now it's time to go play against somebody besides our own defense. So, I'm excited about it.
On wide receiver Malik Knowles...
"Yeah, Malik had a really, really good camp and has stayed healthy and still shows the things that he can do from a special teams standpoint with the things he does as a returner. We're fired up about what he can do as an offensive threat."
On new players he's excited about...
"I think there's a couple guys. One guy that isn't truly new to the program but it's true to being back is Joe Ervin. I'm really excited about what Joe has done through fall camp. Obviously, Daniel (Imatorbhebhe), everybody talks about him just because of the tight end position we've had success with and what Briley (Moore) did a year ago. I think Daniel brings some of those same things. He can be a threat down the field. Now we've got to show that, and he's got to go do it. And I'm really just excited to have Skylar (Thompson) back and let him go be the player that we know he is."
On the starting wide receivers...
"Oh yeah, I would say if you were going to say, 'Who were the three starting wide receivers?' It would be Malik (Knowles), (Phillip) Brooks and Landry (Weber). If we were in 11 personnel, those would be the guys. If we're in 12 personnel where there's only two of them on there, any combination of those three. I would feel very, very good."
On who would line up wide in 11 personnel...
"Philip will be the inside receiver if we're going have three receiver type sets, for the most part."
On any differences in Skylar Thompson last year to this year...
"I feel like he's that much farther ahead from just ability to say, 'Yep, I really, really understand the system. I could call it on my own.' I'm not saying he's looking to call it on his own but that feeling that, 'I know kind of what you're wanting. I understand why we're doing what we're doing.' That's what we've always said, that in this system, the longer you're in it, the more you can almost say, 'Now I know why you just called that play to set up the next play.' That type of thing."
On the Stanford defense...
"One, they're massive inside. I mean really, really big interior front. Both outside linebacker type guys that also play d-ends are also extremely long. From the backend standpoint, they're really, really, really good playing man coverage. I mean, if you were to say, 'What do they play?' Probably half the time they're going to play some type of man to man. I'll be interested to see how we can handle that. Obviously, a Philip (Brooks) and a Malik and our tight ends and Deuce (Vaughn), when he's out in space, they have to be able to win against man coverage. That's what I anticipate they'll play."
On wide receiver Tyrone Howell....
"There's so many things for him to learn, not just from the passing game, but also in the run game. I wouldn't call our running game complicated, but our wide outs are very important to us having plays that are more than just three, four or five yard plays, having 10, 12, 15 yard plays."
On tight end Sammy Wheeler...
"The great part is he has been 100% healthy, feels really good. He needs to be a guy that, when you see him catch the football, you don't realize that he's a tight end and not a wide receiver. I believe he can do that for us, and he needs to do that."
On moving Sammy Wheeler around...
"He will be flexed out some. He'll still be more of that inside receiver tight end, just a flex guy."
On Stanford defensive end Thomas Booker...
"Well, one, it's the same deal that I was talking about, he's a large dude that really, really has impact plays. You'll see him fall back to tackle a tailback that's maybe one zone away from him, and he falls in. When he hits them, there's movement, there and there's not a lot of yards after contact."
On having the entire playbook open...
"I think the biggest thing is Skylar's (Thompson) got to be able to do what he was able to in the past, and that's let us throw the football down the field and throw it down the field accurately. I feel like this fall camp he's done that."
On having depth at the skill positions...
"We hope. Obviously, Deuce (Vaughn) is a phenomenal player, but you can't have him out there and touch the ball every single snap. You've got to make sure you're using all the talents of the guys that we have. I feel good that we have a number of guys that we can get the ball to."
On the offensive line without Taylor Poitier...
"That'll be a work in progress a little bit as far as how we find that seven and eight linemen. Right now, obviously, Ben Adler is lining up in the right guard spot. Our biggest deal is we get 65, 70, 80 plays into a game, how are you making sure you mix and match that o-line because, besides Noah Johnson who's the guy that you'd say is 100 % solidified ready to go play 70 plays, I don't know that there's anybody. Probably (Josh) Rivas would be, but those two would be the main two guys I would say that you're going to see them play the whole time. Cooper (Beebe) certainly should. He's just a little bit of a swing guy because he can play inside and outside."
On possibly being more up tempo...
"There's always that if you can get a free quick play that you'd love to do it. Our mindset still is going to be the normal. We're going to get lined up, going to make sure we know where we're at, and then go play. But, there's nothing wrong with a little tempo periodically, and it forces a defense to have to worry about that, you may go fast."
On Deuce Vaughn's receiving ability...
"Yeah, well, that's funny that he says he's seen a lot of improvement. He is an innate, very, very natural, go play the game. If he's out in space and now it's a DB covering him, he understands how to get open. It's like he's the guy you'd throw him out there – I don't know if he can shoot a lick as a basketball player – but would be able to just go play one-on-one basketball. That's how he plays football – very, very natural and very dynamic."
On the offensive line compared to last season...
"Head and shoulders ahead just because of the number of reps they've had in practice during spring ball and fall camp. Not just individual players, how much better they may or may not be, but more as a group of five."
On the depth on the offensive line...
"Well, I think the biggest thing isn't that you're going to say, 'Hey, this guy has to come out on this series.' It's figuring out how to keep the group of five the strongest throughout four quarters. And for me, if you can have two or three guys that are rotating in and giving guys spells, then in the fourth quarter you're just as strong as you were in the first. That will be huge for us."
On the running back situation...
"I know we will play two for sure. It won't surprise me at all to play three. I think it's a little bit by the feel and how many plays are you getting in and a little bit how much you're thrown at and how much are you running the ball."
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On evaluating Stanford…
"Not only that but evaluating ourselves. We're going to have a lot of new faces out there, and I'm not sure how those guys will respond in a game. I think I have an idea, but that remains to be seen. The thing about Stanford is (they are) really calculated in their approach, and they haven't deviated a lot from what they've done going back to 2016. They are what they are. They're going to play a physical brand of ball with different personnel groups. From a personnel standpoint, I don't know what they're going to throw out there, but I know they're going to be tough, intelligent kids that are that are going to be assignment sharp and disciplined. So, we're definitely going to have our hands full."
On any similarities between K-State and Stanford offensively…
"Very similar in the approach, a little bit different in the presentation. Multiple personnel groups, run orientated. We do probably a little bit more trade, shift and motion than they do. They're more into checking plays. So, they want to see your picture so they can get into different things, whereas our offense is going to try to confuse you maybe a little bit more with the pictures. It's been good practice for about nine months here."
On the adjustments of the new players…
"I hope not. I hope we got through as much as we can. I'm sure there's going to be some adversity, and what I'm excited about is how mature we become and how we'll handle that adversity as opposed to a year ago when maybe that would have crushed us. We're older. Guys, even though they're wearing a new uniform or some guys that have been in the fire before. You get Russ Yeast. You look at Cincere Mason and Reggie Stubblefield, Julius Brents, all guys that have played in games at other institutions, and they're just going to be doing it now for the Cats."
On Ekow Boye-Doe being targeted more…
"Potentially. Julius Brents is a dude. The fact of the matter is nobody knows anything about him except for the people in this building. He doesn't have a great body of work right now. That's something that's going to be continuing to culminate over the next few weeks. So, I hope that Ekow gets a ton of balls thrown around because he's playing at a high level right now."
On playing with three linebackers…
"Yeah, you're going to see a lot of different personnel groups from Stanford, and we'll probably match those personnel groups to a degree. Philosophically, we went through spring ball without a nickel, and we were able to do some things. So, we're going to experiment that a little bit more. It's not going to be an exclusive thing, but we'll see some three linebacker things out there at times."
On becoming more advanced as a defense...
"We're getting there. It's still a work in progress. Even through last week we were still shuffling guys around positionally, and it's tough to graduate until you really are settled into a position. Maybe it's a free safety moving to a strong or a strong safety moving to a nickel or whatever the case may be. They're little moves, but until you see repeated pictures, you're not quite comfortable with what you're doing. When you're not quite comfortable with what you're doing, I don't feel comfortable pushing the envelope. I'm hoping in the next couple of months we're able to do that."
On how often he tries to balance keeping it simple and being creative...
"Daily. I think that's why we've got such a great staff that is always on the other end of that thing pulling me. There's days I want to push ahead and go through some of the growing pains, and they kind of saddle me back, and then there's other days where I'd like to saddle back and they say, 'Let's go ahead.' We never seem to be on the same page at that. That's just a constant evaluation that I have to make. At the end of the day, I think whether Stanford or whoever we play, if we can get 11 sets of cleats in the ground and we get our eyes right, I think we'll have success."
On Stanford running back Austin Jones...
"He's a physical, hard-nosed runner. Difficult to bring down, strong and disciplined. He's not a guy that's going to make undisciplined runs. He's not a guy that's going to have poor ball security. He is very good at pass protection. He's very good as a route runner. He's played, I don't know many games, dozens. We're going to have our hands full with him."
On the difference between Stanford's two quarterbacks...
"I do think there are slight differences between them. One may be a slightly better thrower. The other might be slightly more athletic, but they're cut from the same cloth. They're both guys that, to have success at Stanford, I believe you have to really have a great mastery of the system. I feel like they're similar in that regard. We're not dealing with opposite extremes with those two guys."
On linebacker Austin Moore...
"Yeah, he'll see the field on Saturday. He's just Steady Eddie. He's not going to wow you with any one thing in particular, but he's just going to steadily be correct, and he's going to be physical. He's going to be hard nosed. He's going to play his tail off, and that's why he's earned where he is on the depth chart right now."
On defensive tackle Timmy Horne as captain...
"He's probably one of the more vocal guys we have. Just yesterday after practice, he grabbed everybody and said, 'Hey, I'm going to watch film tonight if anyone wants to come and join me.' Things like that that we haven't had since we've been here, guys that just are that outward with it. He's taking full advantage of his situation. He came here, obviously wanted to play in the Big 12, but he also wanted to probably reinvent himself a little bit. He has not wasted a minute in doing that."
On Daniel Green and Cody Fletcher at linebacker...
"I feel very good. They feel very good working together. Deuce Green is playing as high of a level as I've seen since I've been here, just fast and seeing things really well. Cody Fletcher is another Steady Eddie character that just has the ability to make plays. He's doing so much better. His pass rush, things he's doing so much better, his coverage. Those are some of the things that he's worked on in the offseason. I feel really rock solid with those two guys out there."
On linebackers Ryan Henington and Wayne Jones...
"I don't think there's a team on the earth that's taken more snaps in spring ball and fall camp than us, just the style of practice that we implement. They've definitely been forged by fire, and they've been great in practice. Again, I don't know how they're going to respond in games when things are a little bit different – especially early – but they're quality kids. They're intelligent football players. Wayne's been in the fire before, albeit seeing it from a different angle. Ryan has too. He played a decent amount last year. So, we'll see. Time will tell."
On being far from the field in the coaches booth at AT&T Stadium...
"Well, I'm going to make a little switch this year, and I'll be on the field now. Something that we talked about as Coach Klieman and myself and just a number of factors I guess, but I want to have a closer connection with the players on game day. I want to be able to communicate with those guys a little more directly. Maybe have my hands on the pulse a little bit more, and I've done that in the past and felt comfortable. The last six years or so I've been in the box. So, it'll be a change for me, but I felt like as a play caller in the box, I got maybe too analytical. I'm on my charts and I'm on my staff, and I got maybe away from my gut a little bit more than I would like to. Hopefully being down there in the heat, seeing a corner that's tired or just being able to be getting sweaty, I think will help me as a play caller."
On which coaches will be upstairs...
"Coach (Steve) Stanard will be upstairs, the linebacker coach. He's got a great eye. He's been up there for years and years, so that's where he'll be."
COURTNEY MESSINGHAM, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On the excitement of game one...
"They feel really, really well prepared until the bullets start flying, but we've had a lot of good days practicing. I feel like we've stacked a good day on top of another good day, and now it's time to go play against somebody besides our own defense. So, I'm excited about it.
On wide receiver Malik Knowles...
"Yeah, Malik had a really, really good camp and has stayed healthy and still shows the things that he can do from a special teams standpoint with the things he does as a returner. We're fired up about what he can do as an offensive threat."
On new players he's excited about...
"I think there's a couple guys. One guy that isn't truly new to the program but it's true to being back is Joe Ervin. I'm really excited about what Joe has done through fall camp. Obviously, Daniel (Imatorbhebhe), everybody talks about him just because of the tight end position we've had success with and what Briley (Moore) did a year ago. I think Daniel brings some of those same things. He can be a threat down the field. Now we've got to show that, and he's got to go do it. And I'm really just excited to have Skylar (Thompson) back and let him go be the player that we know he is."
On the starting wide receivers...
"Oh yeah, I would say if you were going to say, 'Who were the three starting wide receivers?' It would be Malik (Knowles), (Phillip) Brooks and Landry (Weber). If we were in 11 personnel, those would be the guys. If we're in 12 personnel where there's only two of them on there, any combination of those three. I would feel very, very good."
On who would line up wide in 11 personnel...
"Philip will be the inside receiver if we're going have three receiver type sets, for the most part."
On any differences in Skylar Thompson last year to this year...
"I feel like he's that much farther ahead from just ability to say, 'Yep, I really, really understand the system. I could call it on my own.' I'm not saying he's looking to call it on his own but that feeling that, 'I know kind of what you're wanting. I understand why we're doing what we're doing.' That's what we've always said, that in this system, the longer you're in it, the more you can almost say, 'Now I know why you just called that play to set up the next play.' That type of thing."
On the Stanford defense...
"One, they're massive inside. I mean really, really big interior front. Both outside linebacker type guys that also play d-ends are also extremely long. From the backend standpoint, they're really, really, really good playing man coverage. I mean, if you were to say, 'What do they play?' Probably half the time they're going to play some type of man to man. I'll be interested to see how we can handle that. Obviously, a Philip (Brooks) and a Malik and our tight ends and Deuce (Vaughn), when he's out in space, they have to be able to win against man coverage. That's what I anticipate they'll play."
On wide receiver Tyrone Howell....
"There's so many things for him to learn, not just from the passing game, but also in the run game. I wouldn't call our running game complicated, but our wide outs are very important to us having plays that are more than just three, four or five yard plays, having 10, 12, 15 yard plays."
On tight end Sammy Wheeler...
"The great part is he has been 100% healthy, feels really good. He needs to be a guy that, when you see him catch the football, you don't realize that he's a tight end and not a wide receiver. I believe he can do that for us, and he needs to do that."
On moving Sammy Wheeler around...
"He will be flexed out some. He'll still be more of that inside receiver tight end, just a flex guy."
On Stanford defensive end Thomas Booker...
"Well, one, it's the same deal that I was talking about, he's a large dude that really, really has impact plays. You'll see him fall back to tackle a tailback that's maybe one zone away from him, and he falls in. When he hits them, there's movement, there and there's not a lot of yards after contact."
On having the entire playbook open...
"I think the biggest thing is Skylar's (Thompson) got to be able to do what he was able to in the past, and that's let us throw the football down the field and throw it down the field accurately. I feel like this fall camp he's done that."
On having depth at the skill positions...
"We hope. Obviously, Deuce (Vaughn) is a phenomenal player, but you can't have him out there and touch the ball every single snap. You've got to make sure you're using all the talents of the guys that we have. I feel good that we have a number of guys that we can get the ball to."
On the offensive line without Taylor Poitier...
"That'll be a work in progress a little bit as far as how we find that seven and eight linemen. Right now, obviously, Ben Adler is lining up in the right guard spot. Our biggest deal is we get 65, 70, 80 plays into a game, how are you making sure you mix and match that o-line because, besides Noah Johnson who's the guy that you'd say is 100 % solidified ready to go play 70 plays, I don't know that there's anybody. Probably (Josh) Rivas would be, but those two would be the main two guys I would say that you're going to see them play the whole time. Cooper (Beebe) certainly should. He's just a little bit of a swing guy because he can play inside and outside."
On possibly being more up tempo...
"There's always that if you can get a free quick play that you'd love to do it. Our mindset still is going to be the normal. We're going to get lined up, going to make sure we know where we're at, and then go play. But, there's nothing wrong with a little tempo periodically, and it forces a defense to have to worry about that, you may go fast."
On Deuce Vaughn's receiving ability...
"Yeah, well, that's funny that he says he's seen a lot of improvement. He is an innate, very, very natural, go play the game. If he's out in space and now it's a DB covering him, he understands how to get open. It's like he's the guy you'd throw him out there – I don't know if he can shoot a lick as a basketball player – but would be able to just go play one-on-one basketball. That's how he plays football – very, very natural and very dynamic."
On the offensive line compared to last season...
"Head and shoulders ahead just because of the number of reps they've had in practice during spring ball and fall camp. Not just individual players, how much better they may or may not be, but more as a group of five."
On the depth on the offensive line...
"Well, I think the biggest thing isn't that you're going to say, 'Hey, this guy has to come out on this series.' It's figuring out how to keep the group of five the strongest throughout four quarters. And for me, if you can have two or three guys that are rotating in and giving guys spells, then in the fourth quarter you're just as strong as you were in the first. That will be huge for us."
On the running back situation...
"I know we will play two for sure. It won't surprise me at all to play three. I think it's a little bit by the feel and how many plays are you getting in and a little bit how much you're thrown at and how much are you running the ball."
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On evaluating Stanford…
"Not only that but evaluating ourselves. We're going to have a lot of new faces out there, and I'm not sure how those guys will respond in a game. I think I have an idea, but that remains to be seen. The thing about Stanford is (they are) really calculated in their approach, and they haven't deviated a lot from what they've done going back to 2016. They are what they are. They're going to play a physical brand of ball with different personnel groups. From a personnel standpoint, I don't know what they're going to throw out there, but I know they're going to be tough, intelligent kids that are that are going to be assignment sharp and disciplined. So, we're definitely going to have our hands full."
On any similarities between K-State and Stanford offensively…
"Very similar in the approach, a little bit different in the presentation. Multiple personnel groups, run orientated. We do probably a little bit more trade, shift and motion than they do. They're more into checking plays. So, they want to see your picture so they can get into different things, whereas our offense is going to try to confuse you maybe a little bit more with the pictures. It's been good practice for about nine months here."
On the adjustments of the new players…
"I hope not. I hope we got through as much as we can. I'm sure there's going to be some adversity, and what I'm excited about is how mature we become and how we'll handle that adversity as opposed to a year ago when maybe that would have crushed us. We're older. Guys, even though they're wearing a new uniform or some guys that have been in the fire before. You get Russ Yeast. You look at Cincere Mason and Reggie Stubblefield, Julius Brents, all guys that have played in games at other institutions, and they're just going to be doing it now for the Cats."
On Ekow Boye-Doe being targeted more…
"Potentially. Julius Brents is a dude. The fact of the matter is nobody knows anything about him except for the people in this building. He doesn't have a great body of work right now. That's something that's going to be continuing to culminate over the next few weeks. So, I hope that Ekow gets a ton of balls thrown around because he's playing at a high level right now."
On playing with three linebackers…
"Yeah, you're going to see a lot of different personnel groups from Stanford, and we'll probably match those personnel groups to a degree. Philosophically, we went through spring ball without a nickel, and we were able to do some things. So, we're going to experiment that a little bit more. It's not going to be an exclusive thing, but we'll see some three linebacker things out there at times."
On becoming more advanced as a defense...
"We're getting there. It's still a work in progress. Even through last week we were still shuffling guys around positionally, and it's tough to graduate until you really are settled into a position. Maybe it's a free safety moving to a strong or a strong safety moving to a nickel or whatever the case may be. They're little moves, but until you see repeated pictures, you're not quite comfortable with what you're doing. When you're not quite comfortable with what you're doing, I don't feel comfortable pushing the envelope. I'm hoping in the next couple of months we're able to do that."
On how often he tries to balance keeping it simple and being creative...
"Daily. I think that's why we've got such a great staff that is always on the other end of that thing pulling me. There's days I want to push ahead and go through some of the growing pains, and they kind of saddle me back, and then there's other days where I'd like to saddle back and they say, 'Let's go ahead.' We never seem to be on the same page at that. That's just a constant evaluation that I have to make. At the end of the day, I think whether Stanford or whoever we play, if we can get 11 sets of cleats in the ground and we get our eyes right, I think we'll have success."
On Stanford running back Austin Jones...
"He's a physical, hard-nosed runner. Difficult to bring down, strong and disciplined. He's not a guy that's going to make undisciplined runs. He's not a guy that's going to have poor ball security. He is very good at pass protection. He's very good as a route runner. He's played, I don't know many games, dozens. We're going to have our hands full with him."
On the difference between Stanford's two quarterbacks...
"I do think there are slight differences between them. One may be a slightly better thrower. The other might be slightly more athletic, but they're cut from the same cloth. They're both guys that, to have success at Stanford, I believe you have to really have a great mastery of the system. I feel like they're similar in that regard. We're not dealing with opposite extremes with those two guys."
On linebacker Austin Moore...
"Yeah, he'll see the field on Saturday. He's just Steady Eddie. He's not going to wow you with any one thing in particular, but he's just going to steadily be correct, and he's going to be physical. He's going to be hard nosed. He's going to play his tail off, and that's why he's earned where he is on the depth chart right now."
On defensive tackle Timmy Horne as captain...
"He's probably one of the more vocal guys we have. Just yesterday after practice, he grabbed everybody and said, 'Hey, I'm going to watch film tonight if anyone wants to come and join me.' Things like that that we haven't had since we've been here, guys that just are that outward with it. He's taking full advantage of his situation. He came here, obviously wanted to play in the Big 12, but he also wanted to probably reinvent himself a little bit. He has not wasted a minute in doing that."
On Daniel Green and Cody Fletcher at linebacker...
"I feel very good. They feel very good working together. Deuce Green is playing as high of a level as I've seen since I've been here, just fast and seeing things really well. Cody Fletcher is another Steady Eddie character that just has the ability to make plays. He's doing so much better. His pass rush, things he's doing so much better, his coverage. Those are some of the things that he's worked on in the offseason. I feel really rock solid with those two guys out there."
On linebackers Ryan Henington and Wayne Jones...
"I don't think there's a team on the earth that's taken more snaps in spring ball and fall camp than us, just the style of practice that we implement. They've definitely been forged by fire, and they've been great in practice. Again, I don't know how they're going to respond in games when things are a little bit different – especially early – but they're quality kids. They're intelligent football players. Wayne's been in the fire before, albeit seeing it from a different angle. Ryan has too. He played a decent amount last year. So, we'll see. Time will tell."
On being far from the field in the coaches booth at AT&T Stadium...
"Well, I'm going to make a little switch this year, and I'll be on the field now. Something that we talked about as Coach Klieman and myself and just a number of factors I guess, but I want to have a closer connection with the players on game day. I want to be able to communicate with those guys a little more directly. Maybe have my hands on the pulse a little bit more, and I've done that in the past and felt comfortable. The last six years or so I've been in the box. So, it'll be a change for me, but I felt like as a play caller in the box, I got maybe too analytical. I'm on my charts and I'm on my staff, and I got maybe away from my gut a little bit more than I would like to. Hopefully being down there in the heat, seeing a corner that's tired or just being able to be getting sweaty, I think will help me as a play caller."
On which coaches will be upstairs...
"Coach (Steve) Stanard will be upstairs, the linebacker coach. He's got a great eye. He's been up there for years and years, so that's where he'll be."
Players Mentioned
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