K-State Holds Second Spring Football Press Conference
Mar 23, 2022 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach Van Malone and select players met with members of the media on Wednesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex. A complete transcript of Malone's press conference are posted below, in addition to comments from players.
VAN MALONE, ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/PASSING GAME COORDINATOR/CORNERBACKS COACH
Opening Statement…
"I'm excited about where we are this spring. As I look back to 2021, it was a great growing experience for our staff and for our team. Defensively, we had an opportunity to – and I say opportunity today after you do it – to change this defense and then to insert some transfers into our program. All that culminated with the bowl victory there in Houston. So, I had an opportunity for my mom to be able to see me coach, and of course she still has many suggestions as to how I could do a better job. Then we went into the offseason, and that was a great experience, we think, for our players. We had the opportunity to watch Coach Tru (Trumain Carrol) and his staff after a full cycle for them, change bodies on our team. No, no coaches' bodies change, but many of our players came back into the spring looking differently. It was because of the work that Coach Tru and his staff did. I think when you have success, it's always good to go back and look at the things that you thought went well and one of the things that we made a decision about amongst our staff and within our team is that we wanted to put some values – which you see around this building – into our program and our core values of discipline, commitment, toughness, selflessness. Those things with Coach Klieman's leadership, they really took over and our players and leadership on our team took over in that way. So, after having what we would consider a successful season, we just felt it is really important to go back and dig those core values up and make sure that through this offseason that our players understood that those things are important and that's what we were about. So, as we go into the spring it's been, of course, we've only had three practices. This time last year, I believe I came in here and said, 'Oh, these are the greatest practices we've ever had.' Well, I won't say that. But what I will say is that we're on the right track. We have a long way to go. I told the cornerbacks the other day, 'We're walking to Houston, and we hadn't even gotten to Oklahoma yet.' Alright, so there's a long way to go. We have very limited opportunities in the spring, but we believe we are on the right track as a team. As a staff, we feel like we are on the right track. So, we're excited about where we're going."
On what makes Thad Ward a good fit on the coaching staff…
"Well as Coach Klieman went to find a coach, the next wide receiver coach, it was going to be important that we had a guy that had credibility with our players, credibility with recruits. Thad has coached some tremendous players who have had careers in the NFL, and, you know, that's what recruits look at and that's what our players look at. So, that was going to be important in the process. Then to be able to hire a coach who was important, who was big on relationships with his players. Again, that was something that will be important to our staff, that will be something that we felt like in the recruiting process will be important. Then a guy who would bring – and I don't coach offense – but a guy who would bring ideas to our offensive staff. So, that he checked all of those boxes and others, but those were very important factors in bringing him here. Since he's been here, he's been exactly that, and again, and more."
On defensive back Josh Hayes…
"Well, the fact is that Josh is an older player, right? He's a guy who's been around and he has relationships with Coach Klieman. He has relationships with Coach Klanderman, so there's some familiarity with him in those ways. When you bring a guy with maturity, when you bring a guy who handles his business – which is the kind of person he is – it's refreshing as a coach. He comes in with leadership. Now he doesn't know all the names, but he's played a lot of football and our players give him, our younger players especially, give him a certain amount of credibility as he walks into the room. So, as you want to continue to develop the room, as you want to continue to develop the players in the room, bringing Josh in, he does that for us. Not only in the cornerbacks room, but from a defensive standpoint he's brought that."
On how much more settled they are defensively…
"Well, from a defensive standpoint we've been together for it seems like 10 years. That's a level of comfort for our staff. But then when you talk about, you talk about the transfer portal and us diving into it very deeply last season. We really got lucky because we got some guys – and I talked about Josh earlier – we got some guys who came in with tremendous leadership. We got some guys who came in with great personalities. They were great team players, so they fit exactly what we needed at the moment. It's cool because the guys that we recruited from the transfer portal this season, they had to measure up to the standards that the Timmy Hornes and the Julius Brents of last season, they had to measure up to those standards. The guys that we bought initially, they did and so that's exciting. But compared to last year, we had an idea of what the portal recruiting would be like, we have now an idea of our great direction for where we want to be defensively. So, it's a lot more settling, a lot more settling feeling. Not entirely settling, because I continue to get gray hairs. That's just what happens I guess when you get to be 66, some of you guys would know that."
On practicing without several players due to injury…
"Well, there's some challenge with that, but you have to look at it, when you have injuries, you have to look at it. Of course, there's a guy who can't be out there and man there's a lot of those guys, too many to even name but there's another guy who is getting the opportunity to be out there. Titus Tuiasosopo is getting many opportunities to be out there, and as a young player that's what you look for in the spring. You want to do everything you can to develop the younger players. You like to put your starters out there because they look really cute as they run the defense and it looks good because they understand the schemes and they understand the checks. But really, what you want to do is have an opportunity to develop your team. As coaches, we always consider that a challenge, and it is, but there's light at the end of the rainbow. Ultimately, it is developing your younger players. So, as we get all 56 of these guys who are on the injury report, as we get those guys healed up, it's giving many of us, especially on the defensive line has given many of our younger players an opportunity to get reps. Many more reps than they would have ever anticipated. It's helping our team at the end of the day."
On the point in the 2021 season where the defense began to make progress…
"I think you know when you play defense, you want to be aggressive. You want to play fast, and when you change systems, when you change schemes, there is a concept where – at least for us – there's a considerable amount of hesitance. 'Am I doing this the right way?' There came a point, and actually we saw flashes throughout the season, but there came a point where our guys really settled in. Number one, we as a staff, we pair down things. Sometimes as a coach you want to do a lot because it's cool to do a lot, but for our players it's more cool to not do a lot because you put them in a situation where they know exactly what they're doing. They understand and they can play fast. So, I won't say that, I don't even have a moment in the season, but toward the end of the season you could see our guys have a different level of comfort in the game. You saw them have a different level of comfort as they may checks. Then when we got into the to the bowl game with so much uncertainty as to who we would be playing and would it be a quarterback, would it be this quarterback or that quarterback, which receivers would play. Our guys were at a moment where it didn't matter to them because they understood what their jobs were. So, when you get to that place from a defensive standpoint, then I think you have command of the game."
On the cornerback room behind Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents…
"We've had a few guys, younger guys, who didn't get as many opportunities as Boye-Doe and Brents did. From Omar Daniels, who was injured most of the season, to Darrel Jones, who's a young player who spent a lot of time on the scout teams. So, it's been good to see those guys as well as Jarius Kennedy and Jaylen Carter. Those guys get opportunities. Vaughn Malone is the guy – I know his mom – gets an opportunity to get out there and get reps in the spring, which again, I say the spring is the opportunity for guys. It's hope for guys who, they see Boye-Doe and they see Brents, and I think 'Boy, I'll never get a shot,' but you give them the opportunities in the spring so that they know, 'I'm just not ready yet,' or, 'You know what, I think I've grown quite a bit and I should get a shot coach.' So, it's exciting for me to be able to watch not just that position, which is my position, but guys along the defense to be able to get those opportunities."
On the safety position…
"At safety, because a lot of guys are getting opportunities, but Shawn Robinson has shown quite a bit in the offseason as well as early in the spring. Kobe Savage has shown some flashes. TJ Smith, who was a young player, but we almost regard him as an older player, he's a younger player, so he's done a pretty good job as we've moved forward. Those are the guys who have stood out so far for me. Not even in the secondary, but Branden Jennings, who was a transfer, I've seen some flashes with him. He has tremendous size, and he runs, but he's young. He's a young player, and that's what I see is a lot of young guys out there moving around. Again, like in the TJ Smith case, you've seen him play and you regard him as an older player, but he's very young in his career. So, I continually say that this guy is going to be a good player for us over time."
On Collin Klein's new role as offensive coordinator…
"They've done some different things, but of course, they're always a challenge for us just with as much movement as they do, as much motion and shifting as they do. So, I don't think that has left. But I think Collin, I'm excited for him to get the opportunity because I think, what I've seen, is more of the offensive guys, I can see the flavor of different people. I can see Thad (Ward)'s flavor in our offense. I also see things from a quarterback's standpoint, from a quarterback's vision, I see things that we're doing a little bit different in terms of the speed that we move offensively. We're still, offensively, in the growing stages, and Collin is going to be a great offensive coordinator, but I see some exciting things for our offense. Again, I see some input from the other coaches on the staff. So, I think as a group, they'll do a good job of giving Collin input, and he'll do a good job of continuing to make my hair gray this spring."
On the offense playing at a higher pace…
"Yeah well, we face it quite often in the Big 12, where offenses, they don't sub as much. In the past – and again I don't coach offense – but we have a lot of offensive packages. Well, when you have a lot of offensive packages, it helps me. It helps the defense, right, in a way it prohibits the defense because I can't call my defense until I understand what package you are going to present to me. But when you present the same look, when you present the same personnel, then there's a challenge for me because you can align quickly. So, I can't sub. If I needed to sub, I can't sub. So that's one of things I see. I think for our players, it gives our offensive players an opportunity to stay on the field and play. If I was a wide receiver, I'd want to stay on the field and get an opportunity to catch more balls. Well, if I'm not on the field, then you know I don't get those opportunities. There's a different level of intensity when you operate in that way from the offensive standpoint, and it creates a little bit of anxiety from the defensive standpoint. So, when you have all offenses that align quickly that change plays on the line of scrimmage, well, again, that creates a certain level of anxiety for us defensive coaches. I'm not telling you any more about that."
On Jax Dineen at running back…
"Jax is a physical runner, right? He's not the smallest guy in the world. So, he's hard to bring down. He's an intimidating presence as he's coming towards you. So, nothing changes in that way with Jax, but he's done a good job of catching the ball out of the backfield. He's always been a really good blocker. I think he will continue to flourish in the offense and the things that they'll ask him to do."
On playing more defensive snaps with increased pace on offense…
"That's always an issue and I would not again, I wouldn't say, I just said I wouldn't talk about this. But I wouldn't say that we're moving at the pace that a lot of the teams are. Some teams move at lightning speed. We're not doing that, but we're, like I said, it's just more challenging. Of course, when it's your offense that is moving faster, if they move at a pace of some of the teams that we face, then it gets to be more difficult. You're playing more snaps. I would not characterize our offense as that, but the pace is accelerated, the pace is more intense. Again, that puts a challenge, that makes it more difficult for the defense to get yourselves aligned. If you go to the line very quickly, I have to align very quickly. Doesn't mean you have to snap the ball, right? So, there's a certain amount of anxiety that is created just by you getting yourself as an offense getting aligned quickly."
On motivating Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe to get even better…
"One of the things – we talk about this in the spring and we've only had three practices – but one of the things that we said or that I said when I came into the room and fall camp, is that what we want to do as players and what you want to do as an individual is that at the end of the season, you want to be playing your best football, right? I don't know if as a cornerback group, and I don't know if as a coach in the past two seasons, we did that. So, we talked about the fact that at the end of the season, we want to be playing our best football. I'm not great at drawing, but I drew a little graph that was going upward, at the end of the year you want to be trending upward. People say they, 'Remember November,' right? So, at the end of the year, you want to play your best football. Well, we just carry that over to the spring. We get 15 opportunities, and if we take advantage of every single opportunity and think of it in that way and then practice one and practice two, we even broke it down even more and said, 'Okay, we get 24 opportunities to get better in every opportunity.' So, you have an a responsibility to go into the special teams period and get better throughout that period. I think when you look at it in that way, and that's what we've done as a cornerback family as a cornerback group with me as a coach is we've worked and talked about continually getting better. Again, we're going to Houston and we're still in Kansas, so working to get better every single play. Those guys have grabbed on to that, and Julius and Ekow being leaders on our team. I would hope that that would filter to other positions as well that we have that mindset."
On the development of Darrell Jones and Omar Daniels…
"Well, we're going to Houston and those guys are still in Manhattan right now. They definitely have a long way to go, but they both work hard. They both – through the time with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) in the offseason – they've been guys that he's highlighted as guys that we need to continue to have an eye on because they're they did great things in the offseason. So, I'm excited about where they are. When you have a young guy at this position, you want to know. Julius Brents' it's clear, he's bigger than most offensive tackles. So, those guys are not as big, so we want to continue to develop them physically so that they can aspire to one day be a guy that is strong and as powerful in the upper body as Julius Brents so that you can get your hands on and dominate receivers down the field. They're not in that place yet, but I'm excited for their attitudes and for their direction in that way."
On Ekow Boye-Doe's leadership…
"You know, Ekow, I don't know if he'll feel comfortable. I don't care if he'd feel comfortable, I'm going to share it anyway. Ekow when we first got here, he sent me a text message about he had run a good 40 time or he did something and he had a video text message. Well, just before that message, he sent me I'd also gotten a report of him missing something. So, I sent back to him, 'Hey, man, I don't care about your speed. I care about you doing the things you're supposed to do, being where you're supposed to be.' So, I just dashed that. When you send your coach a 'Coach, check me out' and you dash water on that, in a way I felt bad. But today, I feel really good about that because from that moment, Ekow knew that it was about more than what you do on the field. It's about the complete package. That's what he's been right since that moment. He's been a guy who's taking care of his business, who has of course performed on the field. When we got here, he had tremendous issues trying to gain weight, but he's worked on that, and he's gained weight. He's where we want him to be in terms of his weight. So, when you do that, you have credibility to be a leader. He does not say much. He's not one of the rah-rah guys, but the people on our team respect him. When he says things, they listen. He's an intense competitor. He's on our leadership council. I feel like he is in a great place as a leader on our team."
On Ekow Boye-Doe's football IQ and technique…
"He's always been a coachable guy. He's always been a guy who has taken coaching. He's always been a guy when you look at the reports to see who's watching film, even when he didn't play as much, he was on the list for guys watching film. He's on the list for guys trying to get better. So, I've never had an issue with him and that he works hard at practice. We talk quite a bit about doing extra, so always we'll see him grabbing guys to do extra along with him. So, again, I couldn't say more positive things about who he is from that text message where he's grown from."
On Khalid Duke's return…
"He is a tremendous player. Of course when Khalid came he was a linebacker and we moved him into defensive end. He reminds me of another player Von Miller that we coached, who came into the program as a linebacker moved on the defensive end and he was a lights-out player. That is what we've kind of seen from Khalid Duke. It's important for him to get healthy, but one thing I always am pleased with Khalid is that even though he's injured – and honestly this happens with many of the guys who are out and not playing – they are right in, I mean they're almost in the way because they are right in there. They're watching every play, they're commenting, they're talking, they're grabbing guys to be able to help the younger guys and new guys to be able to help them see. So, that's one of the things and Khalid, just like I talked about Ekow (Boy-Doe), he doesn't say much, right? But on the football field, he's a hard-working guy. He is a communicator on the field. He's always grabbing guys to try to help them see. So, that's something that has been that I've been pleased with Khalid, and I honestly think that when that guy does get back on the field, we're going to see some special things brewing."
JAYLEN PICKLE, SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On being comfortable in the defensive scheme…
"The coaches and the players, we have all kind of started to click and we all are getting to know our roles. It is going to help us on the field. It is scheming it down to simpler things and being able to understand what we are doing."
On the new transfers coming in…
"It's the same thing as last year. We're picking up people from the transfer portal who have played already and are expected to play and contribute here as well."
On how Khalid Duke enhances the defense…
"Pass rush. He is incredible off of the edge, and he is going to help us a lot getting us off of the field on third downs and getting sacks."
On offensive linemen that are tough going against in practice…
"Cooper Beebe. Obviously, he's a truckload. Christian Duffie on the edge. He is a more athletic tackle than what we usually see. Andrew Leingang is another one who has really come along well."
On who are the leaders on the defense…
"Eli Huggins, Daniel Green, myself, Ekow (Boye-Doe), Nick Allen. I think I could go on and on. A lot of the juniors and seniors have stepped up. We have a lot of leaders on this team, and we are a player-led team."
On Daniel Green's impact on the defense…
"He improved a lot, and he made it a lot easier on the defensive line especially. He brought a lot to the defense and really contributed to the team."
On getting Eli Huggins back for another year…
"It's huge. He was our starting nose guard last year in our three-down. So, not having to go out and find a new guy is huge for our defense."
RJ GARCIA II, REDSHIRT FRESHMAN WIDE RECEIVER
On practice so far…
"It's just been a good time playing Coach (Collin) Klein's new offense. A lot of things have changed and just give us that ability to make plays in space. I have taken advantage of opportunities a lot of other guys on the receiver amount to."
On the improvement since last season…
"I mean, obviously, I was kind of undersized coming in as a freshman, but I put on a lot of weight and just getting faster every single day, and just working on speed and route running. I learned a lot from Kade Warner and kind of just like the mental aspect of the game. I've learned a lot from him, and we can feel those guys helped me a lot."
On predictions for next season…
"I just want to keep working one day at a time and do whatever I can to help the team win. That's all this is ever about. That's all we work towards to put another Big 12 title on this."
On meeting wide receivers coach Thad Ward…
"It was definitely cool. He's definitely a guy, and it was fun just to hear him talk and explain himself. He really knows what he's talking about. I feel like it's something that's different to have a technician in the room with us. He teaches us a lot about football, a lot off the field as well. He has been very patient, trying to teach us everything he knows and he knows a lot about a game and how to be great receivers. He is always trying to send gifs to us to just use on the field."
VAN MALONE, ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/PASSING GAME COORDINATOR/CORNERBACKS COACH
Opening Statement…
"I'm excited about where we are this spring. As I look back to 2021, it was a great growing experience for our staff and for our team. Defensively, we had an opportunity to – and I say opportunity today after you do it – to change this defense and then to insert some transfers into our program. All that culminated with the bowl victory there in Houston. So, I had an opportunity for my mom to be able to see me coach, and of course she still has many suggestions as to how I could do a better job. Then we went into the offseason, and that was a great experience, we think, for our players. We had the opportunity to watch Coach Tru (Trumain Carrol) and his staff after a full cycle for them, change bodies on our team. No, no coaches' bodies change, but many of our players came back into the spring looking differently. It was because of the work that Coach Tru and his staff did. I think when you have success, it's always good to go back and look at the things that you thought went well and one of the things that we made a decision about amongst our staff and within our team is that we wanted to put some values – which you see around this building – into our program and our core values of discipline, commitment, toughness, selflessness. Those things with Coach Klieman's leadership, they really took over and our players and leadership on our team took over in that way. So, after having what we would consider a successful season, we just felt it is really important to go back and dig those core values up and make sure that through this offseason that our players understood that those things are important and that's what we were about. So, as we go into the spring it's been, of course, we've only had three practices. This time last year, I believe I came in here and said, 'Oh, these are the greatest practices we've ever had.' Well, I won't say that. But what I will say is that we're on the right track. We have a long way to go. I told the cornerbacks the other day, 'We're walking to Houston, and we hadn't even gotten to Oklahoma yet.' Alright, so there's a long way to go. We have very limited opportunities in the spring, but we believe we are on the right track as a team. As a staff, we feel like we are on the right track. So, we're excited about where we're going."
On what makes Thad Ward a good fit on the coaching staff…
"Well as Coach Klieman went to find a coach, the next wide receiver coach, it was going to be important that we had a guy that had credibility with our players, credibility with recruits. Thad has coached some tremendous players who have had careers in the NFL, and, you know, that's what recruits look at and that's what our players look at. So, that was going to be important in the process. Then to be able to hire a coach who was important, who was big on relationships with his players. Again, that was something that will be important to our staff, that will be something that we felt like in the recruiting process will be important. Then a guy who would bring – and I don't coach offense – but a guy who would bring ideas to our offensive staff. So, that he checked all of those boxes and others, but those were very important factors in bringing him here. Since he's been here, he's been exactly that, and again, and more."
On defensive back Josh Hayes…
"Well, the fact is that Josh is an older player, right? He's a guy who's been around and he has relationships with Coach Klieman. He has relationships with Coach Klanderman, so there's some familiarity with him in those ways. When you bring a guy with maturity, when you bring a guy who handles his business – which is the kind of person he is – it's refreshing as a coach. He comes in with leadership. Now he doesn't know all the names, but he's played a lot of football and our players give him, our younger players especially, give him a certain amount of credibility as he walks into the room. So, as you want to continue to develop the room, as you want to continue to develop the players in the room, bringing Josh in, he does that for us. Not only in the cornerbacks room, but from a defensive standpoint he's brought that."
On how much more settled they are defensively…
"Well, from a defensive standpoint we've been together for it seems like 10 years. That's a level of comfort for our staff. But then when you talk about, you talk about the transfer portal and us diving into it very deeply last season. We really got lucky because we got some guys – and I talked about Josh earlier – we got some guys who came in with tremendous leadership. We got some guys who came in with great personalities. They were great team players, so they fit exactly what we needed at the moment. It's cool because the guys that we recruited from the transfer portal this season, they had to measure up to the standards that the Timmy Hornes and the Julius Brents of last season, they had to measure up to those standards. The guys that we bought initially, they did and so that's exciting. But compared to last year, we had an idea of what the portal recruiting would be like, we have now an idea of our great direction for where we want to be defensively. So, it's a lot more settling, a lot more settling feeling. Not entirely settling, because I continue to get gray hairs. That's just what happens I guess when you get to be 66, some of you guys would know that."
On practicing without several players due to injury…
"Well, there's some challenge with that, but you have to look at it, when you have injuries, you have to look at it. Of course, there's a guy who can't be out there and man there's a lot of those guys, too many to even name but there's another guy who is getting the opportunity to be out there. Titus Tuiasosopo is getting many opportunities to be out there, and as a young player that's what you look for in the spring. You want to do everything you can to develop the younger players. You like to put your starters out there because they look really cute as they run the defense and it looks good because they understand the schemes and they understand the checks. But really, what you want to do is have an opportunity to develop your team. As coaches, we always consider that a challenge, and it is, but there's light at the end of the rainbow. Ultimately, it is developing your younger players. So, as we get all 56 of these guys who are on the injury report, as we get those guys healed up, it's giving many of us, especially on the defensive line has given many of our younger players an opportunity to get reps. Many more reps than they would have ever anticipated. It's helping our team at the end of the day."
On the point in the 2021 season where the defense began to make progress…
"I think you know when you play defense, you want to be aggressive. You want to play fast, and when you change systems, when you change schemes, there is a concept where – at least for us – there's a considerable amount of hesitance. 'Am I doing this the right way?' There came a point, and actually we saw flashes throughout the season, but there came a point where our guys really settled in. Number one, we as a staff, we pair down things. Sometimes as a coach you want to do a lot because it's cool to do a lot, but for our players it's more cool to not do a lot because you put them in a situation where they know exactly what they're doing. They understand and they can play fast. So, I won't say that, I don't even have a moment in the season, but toward the end of the season you could see our guys have a different level of comfort in the game. You saw them have a different level of comfort as they may checks. Then when we got into the to the bowl game with so much uncertainty as to who we would be playing and would it be a quarterback, would it be this quarterback or that quarterback, which receivers would play. Our guys were at a moment where it didn't matter to them because they understood what their jobs were. So, when you get to that place from a defensive standpoint, then I think you have command of the game."
On the cornerback room behind Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents…
"We've had a few guys, younger guys, who didn't get as many opportunities as Boye-Doe and Brents did. From Omar Daniels, who was injured most of the season, to Darrel Jones, who's a young player who spent a lot of time on the scout teams. So, it's been good to see those guys as well as Jarius Kennedy and Jaylen Carter. Those guys get opportunities. Vaughn Malone is the guy – I know his mom – gets an opportunity to get out there and get reps in the spring, which again, I say the spring is the opportunity for guys. It's hope for guys who, they see Boye-Doe and they see Brents, and I think 'Boy, I'll never get a shot,' but you give them the opportunities in the spring so that they know, 'I'm just not ready yet,' or, 'You know what, I think I've grown quite a bit and I should get a shot coach.' So, it's exciting for me to be able to watch not just that position, which is my position, but guys along the defense to be able to get those opportunities."
On the safety position…
"At safety, because a lot of guys are getting opportunities, but Shawn Robinson has shown quite a bit in the offseason as well as early in the spring. Kobe Savage has shown some flashes. TJ Smith, who was a young player, but we almost regard him as an older player, he's a younger player, so he's done a pretty good job as we've moved forward. Those are the guys who have stood out so far for me. Not even in the secondary, but Branden Jennings, who was a transfer, I've seen some flashes with him. He has tremendous size, and he runs, but he's young. He's a young player, and that's what I see is a lot of young guys out there moving around. Again, like in the TJ Smith case, you've seen him play and you regard him as an older player, but he's very young in his career. So, I continually say that this guy is going to be a good player for us over time."
On Collin Klein's new role as offensive coordinator…
"They've done some different things, but of course, they're always a challenge for us just with as much movement as they do, as much motion and shifting as they do. So, I don't think that has left. But I think Collin, I'm excited for him to get the opportunity because I think, what I've seen, is more of the offensive guys, I can see the flavor of different people. I can see Thad (Ward)'s flavor in our offense. I also see things from a quarterback's standpoint, from a quarterback's vision, I see things that we're doing a little bit different in terms of the speed that we move offensively. We're still, offensively, in the growing stages, and Collin is going to be a great offensive coordinator, but I see some exciting things for our offense. Again, I see some input from the other coaches on the staff. So, I think as a group, they'll do a good job of giving Collin input, and he'll do a good job of continuing to make my hair gray this spring."
On the offense playing at a higher pace…
"Yeah well, we face it quite often in the Big 12, where offenses, they don't sub as much. In the past – and again I don't coach offense – but we have a lot of offensive packages. Well, when you have a lot of offensive packages, it helps me. It helps the defense, right, in a way it prohibits the defense because I can't call my defense until I understand what package you are going to present to me. But when you present the same look, when you present the same personnel, then there's a challenge for me because you can align quickly. So, I can't sub. If I needed to sub, I can't sub. So that's one of things I see. I think for our players, it gives our offensive players an opportunity to stay on the field and play. If I was a wide receiver, I'd want to stay on the field and get an opportunity to catch more balls. Well, if I'm not on the field, then you know I don't get those opportunities. There's a different level of intensity when you operate in that way from the offensive standpoint, and it creates a little bit of anxiety from the defensive standpoint. So, when you have all offenses that align quickly that change plays on the line of scrimmage, well, again, that creates a certain level of anxiety for us defensive coaches. I'm not telling you any more about that."
On Jax Dineen at running back…
"Jax is a physical runner, right? He's not the smallest guy in the world. So, he's hard to bring down. He's an intimidating presence as he's coming towards you. So, nothing changes in that way with Jax, but he's done a good job of catching the ball out of the backfield. He's always been a really good blocker. I think he will continue to flourish in the offense and the things that they'll ask him to do."
On playing more defensive snaps with increased pace on offense…
"That's always an issue and I would not again, I wouldn't say, I just said I wouldn't talk about this. But I wouldn't say that we're moving at the pace that a lot of the teams are. Some teams move at lightning speed. We're not doing that, but we're, like I said, it's just more challenging. Of course, when it's your offense that is moving faster, if they move at a pace of some of the teams that we face, then it gets to be more difficult. You're playing more snaps. I would not characterize our offense as that, but the pace is accelerated, the pace is more intense. Again, that puts a challenge, that makes it more difficult for the defense to get yourselves aligned. If you go to the line very quickly, I have to align very quickly. Doesn't mean you have to snap the ball, right? So, there's a certain amount of anxiety that is created just by you getting yourself as an offense getting aligned quickly."
On motivating Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe to get even better…
"One of the things – we talk about this in the spring and we've only had three practices – but one of the things that we said or that I said when I came into the room and fall camp, is that what we want to do as players and what you want to do as an individual is that at the end of the season, you want to be playing your best football, right? I don't know if as a cornerback group, and I don't know if as a coach in the past two seasons, we did that. So, we talked about the fact that at the end of the season, we want to be playing our best football. I'm not great at drawing, but I drew a little graph that was going upward, at the end of the year you want to be trending upward. People say they, 'Remember November,' right? So, at the end of the year, you want to play your best football. Well, we just carry that over to the spring. We get 15 opportunities, and if we take advantage of every single opportunity and think of it in that way and then practice one and practice two, we even broke it down even more and said, 'Okay, we get 24 opportunities to get better in every opportunity.' So, you have an a responsibility to go into the special teams period and get better throughout that period. I think when you look at it in that way, and that's what we've done as a cornerback family as a cornerback group with me as a coach is we've worked and talked about continually getting better. Again, we're going to Houston and we're still in Kansas, so working to get better every single play. Those guys have grabbed on to that, and Julius and Ekow being leaders on our team. I would hope that that would filter to other positions as well that we have that mindset."
On the development of Darrell Jones and Omar Daniels…
"Well, we're going to Houston and those guys are still in Manhattan right now. They definitely have a long way to go, but they both work hard. They both – through the time with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) in the offseason – they've been guys that he's highlighted as guys that we need to continue to have an eye on because they're they did great things in the offseason. So, I'm excited about where they are. When you have a young guy at this position, you want to know. Julius Brents' it's clear, he's bigger than most offensive tackles. So, those guys are not as big, so we want to continue to develop them physically so that they can aspire to one day be a guy that is strong and as powerful in the upper body as Julius Brents so that you can get your hands on and dominate receivers down the field. They're not in that place yet, but I'm excited for their attitudes and for their direction in that way."
On Ekow Boye-Doe's leadership…
"You know, Ekow, I don't know if he'll feel comfortable. I don't care if he'd feel comfortable, I'm going to share it anyway. Ekow when we first got here, he sent me a text message about he had run a good 40 time or he did something and he had a video text message. Well, just before that message, he sent me I'd also gotten a report of him missing something. So, I sent back to him, 'Hey, man, I don't care about your speed. I care about you doing the things you're supposed to do, being where you're supposed to be.' So, I just dashed that. When you send your coach a 'Coach, check me out' and you dash water on that, in a way I felt bad. But today, I feel really good about that because from that moment, Ekow knew that it was about more than what you do on the field. It's about the complete package. That's what he's been right since that moment. He's been a guy who's taking care of his business, who has of course performed on the field. When we got here, he had tremendous issues trying to gain weight, but he's worked on that, and he's gained weight. He's where we want him to be in terms of his weight. So, when you do that, you have credibility to be a leader. He does not say much. He's not one of the rah-rah guys, but the people on our team respect him. When he says things, they listen. He's an intense competitor. He's on our leadership council. I feel like he is in a great place as a leader on our team."
On Ekow Boye-Doe's football IQ and technique…
"He's always been a coachable guy. He's always been a guy who has taken coaching. He's always been a guy when you look at the reports to see who's watching film, even when he didn't play as much, he was on the list for guys watching film. He's on the list for guys trying to get better. So, I've never had an issue with him and that he works hard at practice. We talk quite a bit about doing extra, so always we'll see him grabbing guys to do extra along with him. So, again, I couldn't say more positive things about who he is from that text message where he's grown from."
On Khalid Duke's return…
"He is a tremendous player. Of course when Khalid came he was a linebacker and we moved him into defensive end. He reminds me of another player Von Miller that we coached, who came into the program as a linebacker moved on the defensive end and he was a lights-out player. That is what we've kind of seen from Khalid Duke. It's important for him to get healthy, but one thing I always am pleased with Khalid is that even though he's injured – and honestly this happens with many of the guys who are out and not playing – they are right in, I mean they're almost in the way because they are right in there. They're watching every play, they're commenting, they're talking, they're grabbing guys to be able to help the younger guys and new guys to be able to help them see. So, that's one of the things and Khalid, just like I talked about Ekow (Boy-Doe), he doesn't say much, right? But on the football field, he's a hard-working guy. He is a communicator on the field. He's always grabbing guys to try to help them see. So, that's something that has been that I've been pleased with Khalid, and I honestly think that when that guy does get back on the field, we're going to see some special things brewing."
JAYLEN PICKLE, SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On being comfortable in the defensive scheme…
"The coaches and the players, we have all kind of started to click and we all are getting to know our roles. It is going to help us on the field. It is scheming it down to simpler things and being able to understand what we are doing."
On the new transfers coming in…
"It's the same thing as last year. We're picking up people from the transfer portal who have played already and are expected to play and contribute here as well."
On how Khalid Duke enhances the defense…
"Pass rush. He is incredible off of the edge, and he is going to help us a lot getting us off of the field on third downs and getting sacks."
On offensive linemen that are tough going against in practice…
"Cooper Beebe. Obviously, he's a truckload. Christian Duffie on the edge. He is a more athletic tackle than what we usually see. Andrew Leingang is another one who has really come along well."
On who are the leaders on the defense…
"Eli Huggins, Daniel Green, myself, Ekow (Boye-Doe), Nick Allen. I think I could go on and on. A lot of the juniors and seniors have stepped up. We have a lot of leaders on this team, and we are a player-led team."
On Daniel Green's impact on the defense…
"He improved a lot, and he made it a lot easier on the defensive line especially. He brought a lot to the defense and really contributed to the team."
On getting Eli Huggins back for another year…
"It's huge. He was our starting nose guard last year in our three-down. So, not having to go out and find a new guy is huge for our defense."
RJ GARCIA II, REDSHIRT FRESHMAN WIDE RECEIVER
On practice so far…
"It's just been a good time playing Coach (Collin) Klein's new offense. A lot of things have changed and just give us that ability to make plays in space. I have taken advantage of opportunities a lot of other guys on the receiver amount to."
On the improvement since last season…
"I mean, obviously, I was kind of undersized coming in as a freshman, but I put on a lot of weight and just getting faster every single day, and just working on speed and route running. I learned a lot from Kade Warner and kind of just like the mental aspect of the game. I've learned a lot from him, and we can feel those guys helped me a lot."
On predictions for next season…
"I just want to keep working one day at a time and do whatever I can to help the team win. That's all this is ever about. That's all we work towards to put another Big 12 title on this."
On meeting wide receivers coach Thad Ward…
"It was definitely cool. He's definitely a guy, and it was fun just to hear him talk and explain himself. He really knows what he's talking about. I feel like it's something that's different to have a technician in the room with us. He teaches us a lot about football, a lot off the field as well. He has been very patient, trying to teach us everything he knows and he knows a lot about a game and how to be great receivers. He is always trying to send gifs to us to just use on the field."
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