K-State’s Leadership Guiding Team Through the Final Stretch
Nov 09, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman in his weekly news conference on Tuesday complimented his team captains, senior leadership and the team's leadership council for the resiliency and unification that the Wildcats possess as they march toward the end of the regular season.
The Wildcats, 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference, are in a three-way tie with Texas and Baylor for second place in the league standings behind undefeated TCU. Each of the Wildcats' three losses this season have been by 10 or fewer points, including a 34-27 setback against the Longhorns at home last Saturday.
"This is a hard league and (our leadership) understands that and they know we've battled our tail off and won a tight ballgame against Texas Tech, Iowa State and Oklahoma," Klieman said. "We made plays at critical times. On the flip side, we battled and didn't make the plays against TCU at the critical times and same thing with Texas. The Oklahoma State game (a 48-0 win) happened. You have to stay the course.
"It's hard to win. You have to do things right. You have to get games into the fourth quarter and be able to make plays. They're resilient because they believe in each other, and love each other, and it's a really tight locker room and nobody is going to point fingers at anybody."
K-State visits Baylor, 6-3 and 4-2, in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff (FS1) at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, with much to prove. The Wildcats fell just short of the Bears with a 20-10 loss last season in Manhattan and they suffered a 32-31 loss in Waco in 2020. The Wildcats seek their first victory in the series since 2017 (33-20) and last won in Waco in 2016 (42-21).
"I'm excited to see how our guys respond," Klieman continued. "We're into November and the last quarter of our season and there's a lot of football to be played and a lot of story to be written by these guys."
K-State finishes out its regular season with back-to-back road trips to Baylor and West Virginia before getting Kansas in Manhattan.
"We really have a talented team and a group of leadership and guys who just believe in what we're doing here," quarterback Adrian Martinez said. "When a group of guys really collectively buy into that, it produces something special. We're obviously not done."
K-State team captains Kade Warner and Eli Huggins took turns addressing the team following its loss to the Longhorns. K-State battled back from a 31-10 deficit to outscore the Longhorns 17-3 the rest of the way, falling just short after a turnover in the final 30 seconds.
The words shared by Warner and Huggins re-emphasized the Wildcats' never-break mindset necessary to possibly prevent back-to-back losses for the first time this season.
As safety Kobe Savage put it: "We're coming in with the hard hat on ready to work. We're just focused on winning each week."
Added defensive tackle Robert Hentz II: "When you experience a loss, it puts an extra chip on your shoulder. Being 1-0 is a daily process, so we keep moving."
The Big 12 is arguably as competitive as it's been since its inception in 1996. More than a dozen games have been decided by 10 or fewer points this league season.
"It's a credit to the coaches and the talent and the parity and the fact that matchups are so important in this league and how you matchup with somebody whether it's offensive line, defensive line to skill guys, whatever it may be, it's a play here and there that maybe changes the momentum," Klieman said. "You can look at the slate of games and make a case for either team every weekend. That's part of the Big 12 and college football right now."
Klieman said that the team doesn't get "too caught up" in talk about the Wildcats' spot in the league standings.
"It's something we don't get too caught up in because then you start thinking about variables and what needs to happen or can happen," he said. "As soon as you start getting too much into that you're not going to do what you need to do to be successful. All the teams in the hunt and in the race would tell you the same thing.
"It's such a difficult league that you better focus on the task at hand and control what you can control."
Adrian Martinez is closing in on a piece of FBS history
Adrian Martinez is close to becoming the second player in FBS history with 10,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a career. He has thrown for 9,727 yards and 2,918 rushing yards, needing just 273 passing yards and 82 rushing yards to reach the historic milestone. Former Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick is currently the only player to reach the 10,000/3,000 plateau. Kaepernick threw for 10,098 yards and rushed for 4,112 yards from 2007 to 2010.
"I wasn't even aware of that," Martinez said. "That's pretty special. That's something I'll be telling my kids hopefully if I reach that benchmark. But it also helps that I've also played five years. If we win it doesn't matter if I get that or not, I really just want to win, and have some success this year, and focus on that, and this week it's Baylor."
Martinez in eight games has thrown for 1,236 yards and six touchdowns and one interception, and has 106 carries for 617 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. His 329 passing yards and two touchdowns against Texas marked his most in each category at K-State. He now has five 300-yard passing performances in his career.
Martinez had 148 rushing yards and four touchdowns at Oklahoma before rushing for a career-high 171 yards and three touchdowns one week later against Texas Tech.
Klieman is optimistic that Malik Knowles and Kade Warner will be available Saturday
K-State starting senior wide receivers Malik Knowles and Kade Warner each left the game last Saturday due to injury. Knowles leads the team with 35 catches for 540 yards and one touchdown, and Warner ranks third among wide receivers with 26 catches for 322 yards and a career-high and team-best five touchdowns. Knowles, Warner and senior Phillip Brooks have started every game this season when the Wildcats begin the game in a three-wide receiver set.
"I don't see Malik or Kade practicing (Tuesday)," Klieman said. "Our hope is to get them back on Wednesday. That's what the trainers have said, whether it's in a limited role or more full speed, but we believe both are going to be available."
If either wide receiver is unable to go at Baylor, Klieman has other options, including redshirt freshman RJ Garcia II, who has four catches for 33 yards and has played in every game this season. Senior Seth Porter has one catch for seven yards. Klieman revealed that he also plans to bring Mississippi transfer Jadon Jackson to Waco. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior has apparently steadily come along within the offense, but has yet to catch a pass in a game.
"RJ Garcia will play a little bit more," Klieman said. "We still have some games with Jadon Jackson. He's a guy we're hoping to save this year (as a redshirt). Jadon will be on the trip hopefully getting a bunch of practice reps. If we can use him and need to use him or want to use him, we have that availability based on Kade and Malik. Seth Porter is another one that is old reliable playing on all the special teams but he obviously gives us some things in the pass game as well as some of the jet-sweep things."
Ty Zentner played "his best game at K-State" last Saturday
Senior Ty Zentner, who was a nominee for Ray Guy Award Player of the Week following the Texas game, is playing lights out heading into the twilight of his career. Against Oklahoma State and Texas, Zentner handled all three kicking duties, connecting on a combine four field goals and all nine extra-point attempts, while he averaged 44.9 yards per punt with three inside the 20-yard line.
Zentner, a Topeka native, earned Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts against the Cowboys. He currently ranks fourth in the Big 12 and ninth in school history with a 43.4-yard average, and ranks fourth in school history in averaging 42.78 yards per punt over his career.
Against the Longhorns, Zentner connected on field goals of 22 and 28 yards, averaged 53.7 yards on three punts, including a 61-yarder with one landing inside the 20-yard line. He also had a touchback on all six of his kickoffs.
"I think Ty Zentner had his best game at K-State (against Texas)," Klieman said. "He's kicking the ball at such a high level from kicking it out of the end zone into the wind to his best punt was into the wind, and he's throwing triple duty on there with PATs and field goals. I'm happy for Ty because in his last year of college ball he's getting to do all three duties and do them with great success."
Klieman lauds Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen
The biggest question facing Baylor in its 20-10 win over K-State last season in Manhattan was how the Bears would respond after losing starting quarterback Gerry Bohanon in the second quarter. Redshirt freshman Blake Shapen entered the game and completed 16 of 21 passes for 137 yards and added five carries for 44 yards in two and a half quarters against the Wildcats.
"He was really good last year," Klieman said. "We didn't know much about him. I'm sure Baylor knew a lot about him. He threw the ball with precision and confidence and ran the ball really well. I think he was the difference. He was a big spark, not that Bohanon wouldn't have led them to a victory, but that kid rose to the occasion. You see it every game he plays."
The 6-foot, 200-pound Shapen went on to win Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player while setting a Big 12 Championship and AT&T Stadium (college) record with 17-straight completions in the first half against Oklahoma State.
A four-star prospect who ESPN ranked as the No. 22 quarterback nationally, Shapen redshirted the 2020 season before playing in six games with two starts last season. He threw for 596 yards and five touchdowns without throwing an interception.
This season, he ranks sixth in the Big 12 in completing 66.8% of his passes for 1,951 yards and 13 touchdowns and six interceptions, averaging 216.8 passing yards per contest.
Although he comes off a 14-of-23 performance with just 132 passing yards and one interception in a 38-35 win at Oklahoma, Shapen had greater success throwing the ball when he needed to against Oklahoma State (345 yards in a 36-25 loss) and at West Virginia (326 yards in a 43-40 loss) one week later.
Baylor coach Dave Aranda is impressed with the K-State offense
K-State's scoring offense (30.6) is its best since 2017 (32.3) while first-year offensive coordinator Collin Klein has helped the Wildcats to start Big 12 play with six-straight games of 375 total yards for the first time in history. K-State averages 6.8 yards per play against Big 12 opponents, which ranks second in the league behind TCU (7.0).
The Wildcats' 5.48 yards per carry ranks 14th nationally and is the top mark in school history and their 1.26% interception rate is the best in history as well. The Wildcats are tied for seventh nationally with three pass plays that have covered at least 60 yards.
"Physicality, effort, toughness — those are all things that as a coach you want to be associated with," Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. "They're doing that now. In critical moments they're getting big plays. They're doing a great job offensively.
"I'm impressed with their attack and how they set people up and take advantage of angles and numbers. In the throwing game, they make the most with everything they've got, and a lot of times you know it's coming, and they'll dress it up, so there's enough slight of hand to where they're taking advantage of you with the speed and athleticism that they have. It's impressive to see. They're playing well right now."
Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman in his weekly news conference on Tuesday complimented his team captains, senior leadership and the team's leadership council for the resiliency and unification that the Wildcats possess as they march toward the end of the regular season.
The Wildcats, 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference, are in a three-way tie with Texas and Baylor for second place in the league standings behind undefeated TCU. Each of the Wildcats' three losses this season have been by 10 or fewer points, including a 34-27 setback against the Longhorns at home last Saturday.
"This is a hard league and (our leadership) understands that and they know we've battled our tail off and won a tight ballgame against Texas Tech, Iowa State and Oklahoma," Klieman said. "We made plays at critical times. On the flip side, we battled and didn't make the plays against TCU at the critical times and same thing with Texas. The Oklahoma State game (a 48-0 win) happened. You have to stay the course.
"It's hard to win. You have to do things right. You have to get games into the fourth quarter and be able to make plays. They're resilient because they believe in each other, and love each other, and it's a really tight locker room and nobody is going to point fingers at anybody."
K-State visits Baylor, 6-3 and 4-2, in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff (FS1) at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, with much to prove. The Wildcats fell just short of the Bears with a 20-10 loss last season in Manhattan and they suffered a 32-31 loss in Waco in 2020. The Wildcats seek their first victory in the series since 2017 (33-20) and last won in Waco in 2016 (42-21).
"I'm excited to see how our guys respond," Klieman continued. "We're into November and the last quarter of our season and there's a lot of football to be played and a lot of story to be written by these guys."
K-State finishes out its regular season with back-to-back road trips to Baylor and West Virginia before getting Kansas in Manhattan.
"We really have a talented team and a group of leadership and guys who just believe in what we're doing here," quarterback Adrian Martinez said. "When a group of guys really collectively buy into that, it produces something special. We're obviously not done."
K-State team captains Kade Warner and Eli Huggins took turns addressing the team following its loss to the Longhorns. K-State battled back from a 31-10 deficit to outscore the Longhorns 17-3 the rest of the way, falling just short after a turnover in the final 30 seconds.
The words shared by Warner and Huggins re-emphasized the Wildcats' never-break mindset necessary to possibly prevent back-to-back losses for the first time this season.
As safety Kobe Savage put it: "We're coming in with the hard hat on ready to work. We're just focused on winning each week."
Added defensive tackle Robert Hentz II: "When you experience a loss, it puts an extra chip on your shoulder. Being 1-0 is a daily process, so we keep moving."
The Big 12 is arguably as competitive as it's been since its inception in 1996. More than a dozen games have been decided by 10 or fewer points this league season.
"It's a credit to the coaches and the talent and the parity and the fact that matchups are so important in this league and how you matchup with somebody whether it's offensive line, defensive line to skill guys, whatever it may be, it's a play here and there that maybe changes the momentum," Klieman said. "You can look at the slate of games and make a case for either team every weekend. That's part of the Big 12 and college football right now."
Klieman said that the team doesn't get "too caught up" in talk about the Wildcats' spot in the league standings.
"It's something we don't get too caught up in because then you start thinking about variables and what needs to happen or can happen," he said. "As soon as you start getting too much into that you're not going to do what you need to do to be successful. All the teams in the hunt and in the race would tell you the same thing.
"It's such a difficult league that you better focus on the task at hand and control what you can control."
Adrian Martinez is closing in on a piece of FBS history
Adrian Martinez is close to becoming the second player in FBS history with 10,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a career. He has thrown for 9,727 yards and 2,918 rushing yards, needing just 273 passing yards and 82 rushing yards to reach the historic milestone. Former Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick is currently the only player to reach the 10,000/3,000 plateau. Kaepernick threw for 10,098 yards and rushed for 4,112 yards from 2007 to 2010.
"I wasn't even aware of that," Martinez said. "That's pretty special. That's something I'll be telling my kids hopefully if I reach that benchmark. But it also helps that I've also played five years. If we win it doesn't matter if I get that or not, I really just want to win, and have some success this year, and focus on that, and this week it's Baylor."
Martinez in eight games has thrown for 1,236 yards and six touchdowns and one interception, and has 106 carries for 617 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. His 329 passing yards and two touchdowns against Texas marked his most in each category at K-State. He now has five 300-yard passing performances in his career.
Martinez had 148 rushing yards and four touchdowns at Oklahoma before rushing for a career-high 171 yards and three touchdowns one week later against Texas Tech.
Klieman is optimistic that Malik Knowles and Kade Warner will be available Saturday
K-State starting senior wide receivers Malik Knowles and Kade Warner each left the game last Saturday due to injury. Knowles leads the team with 35 catches for 540 yards and one touchdown, and Warner ranks third among wide receivers with 26 catches for 322 yards and a career-high and team-best five touchdowns. Knowles, Warner and senior Phillip Brooks have started every game this season when the Wildcats begin the game in a three-wide receiver set.
"I don't see Malik or Kade practicing (Tuesday)," Klieman said. "Our hope is to get them back on Wednesday. That's what the trainers have said, whether it's in a limited role or more full speed, but we believe both are going to be available."
If either wide receiver is unable to go at Baylor, Klieman has other options, including redshirt freshman RJ Garcia II, who has four catches for 33 yards and has played in every game this season. Senior Seth Porter has one catch for seven yards. Klieman revealed that he also plans to bring Mississippi transfer Jadon Jackson to Waco. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior has apparently steadily come along within the offense, but has yet to catch a pass in a game.
"RJ Garcia will play a little bit more," Klieman said. "We still have some games with Jadon Jackson. He's a guy we're hoping to save this year (as a redshirt). Jadon will be on the trip hopefully getting a bunch of practice reps. If we can use him and need to use him or want to use him, we have that availability based on Kade and Malik. Seth Porter is another one that is old reliable playing on all the special teams but he obviously gives us some things in the pass game as well as some of the jet-sweep things."
Ty Zentner played "his best game at K-State" last Saturday
Senior Ty Zentner, who was a nominee for Ray Guy Award Player of the Week following the Texas game, is playing lights out heading into the twilight of his career. Against Oklahoma State and Texas, Zentner handled all three kicking duties, connecting on a combine four field goals and all nine extra-point attempts, while he averaged 44.9 yards per punt with three inside the 20-yard line.
Zentner, a Topeka native, earned Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts against the Cowboys. He currently ranks fourth in the Big 12 and ninth in school history with a 43.4-yard average, and ranks fourth in school history in averaging 42.78 yards per punt over his career.
Against the Longhorns, Zentner connected on field goals of 22 and 28 yards, averaged 53.7 yards on three punts, including a 61-yarder with one landing inside the 20-yard line. He also had a touchback on all six of his kickoffs.
"I think Ty Zentner had his best game at K-State (against Texas)," Klieman said. "He's kicking the ball at such a high level from kicking it out of the end zone into the wind to his best punt was into the wind, and he's throwing triple duty on there with PATs and field goals. I'm happy for Ty because in his last year of college ball he's getting to do all three duties and do them with great success."
Klieman lauds Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen
The biggest question facing Baylor in its 20-10 win over K-State last season in Manhattan was how the Bears would respond after losing starting quarterback Gerry Bohanon in the second quarter. Redshirt freshman Blake Shapen entered the game and completed 16 of 21 passes for 137 yards and added five carries for 44 yards in two and a half quarters against the Wildcats.
"He was really good last year," Klieman said. "We didn't know much about him. I'm sure Baylor knew a lot about him. He threw the ball with precision and confidence and ran the ball really well. I think he was the difference. He was a big spark, not that Bohanon wouldn't have led them to a victory, but that kid rose to the occasion. You see it every game he plays."
The 6-foot, 200-pound Shapen went on to win Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player while setting a Big 12 Championship and AT&T Stadium (college) record with 17-straight completions in the first half against Oklahoma State.
A four-star prospect who ESPN ranked as the No. 22 quarterback nationally, Shapen redshirted the 2020 season before playing in six games with two starts last season. He threw for 596 yards and five touchdowns without throwing an interception.
This season, he ranks sixth in the Big 12 in completing 66.8% of his passes for 1,951 yards and 13 touchdowns and six interceptions, averaging 216.8 passing yards per contest.
Although he comes off a 14-of-23 performance with just 132 passing yards and one interception in a 38-35 win at Oklahoma, Shapen had greater success throwing the ball when he needed to against Oklahoma State (345 yards in a 36-25 loss) and at West Virginia (326 yards in a 43-40 loss) one week later.
Baylor coach Dave Aranda is impressed with the K-State offense
K-State's scoring offense (30.6) is its best since 2017 (32.3) while first-year offensive coordinator Collin Klein has helped the Wildcats to start Big 12 play with six-straight games of 375 total yards for the first time in history. K-State averages 6.8 yards per play against Big 12 opponents, which ranks second in the league behind TCU (7.0).
The Wildcats' 5.48 yards per carry ranks 14th nationally and is the top mark in school history and their 1.26% interception rate is the best in history as well. The Wildcats are tied for seventh nationally with three pass plays that have covered at least 60 yards.
"Physicality, effort, toughness — those are all things that as a coach you want to be associated with," Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. "They're doing that now. In critical moments they're getting big plays. They're doing a great job offensively.
"I'm impressed with their attack and how they set people up and take advantage of angles and numbers. In the throwing game, they make the most with everything they've got, and a lot of times you know it's coming, and they'll dress it up, so there's enough slight of hand to where they're taking advantage of you with the speed and athleticism that they have. It's impressive to see. They're playing well right now."
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