Much Like His Time as a Player, Klein an Attraction Wherever He Goes
May 26, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The white-haired man in black-rimmed glasses and a gray Powercat quarter-zip pullover had waited more than a decade for this opportunity. With a few strokes of a Sharpie, Collin Klein turned the man's Sports Illustrated cover into gold. As he does every time, Klein thanked the man for the opportunity, then he signed another Sports Illustrated cover, and another one.
"It feels like a different life," Klein tells someone. "It feels like yesterday, and it feels like a different life."
How long did it take Klein to accept the fact that he was promoted to Kansas State offensive coordinator?
"Still hasn't set in," he replies.
What is the ideal first play that Klein hopes to unveil as offensive coordinator when K-State opens the 2022 season against South Dakota on September 3?
"One that scores a touchdown," he says, adding, "we'll see."
Klein was a hit at the Hutchinson Catbacker event at AJ's Sports Grill on Wednesday. Standing in a light gray K-State polo, black shorts and white Nikes, Klein commanded the microphone and the attention of several hundred event attendees during his first Catbacker event as offensive coordinator for the program that he helped to a No. 1 national ranking and a 2012 Big 12 Championship while earning Heisman Trophy finalist honors his senior season.
Shortly after K-State walloped LSU 42-20 in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl on January 4 during Klein's first shot as an interim offensive coordinator, K-State head coach Chris Klieman promoted him to his current spot as full-time offensive coordinator.
Since Klein's promotion to offensive coordinator, K-State's offense has been talked about religiously. Arguably no K-State offense has been discussed this much since Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett were seniors in 2014. And for good reason.
What K-State fans saw in the LSU game was something, well, different. Current players cannot discuss the offense without smiling. K-State head coach Chris Klieman last week in front of a gathering in Hays said, "How can you not love Collin Klein?"
For the first time publicly, at least, Klein outlined his offense in depth for the pizza-eating crowd over the noon hour in Hutchinson.
"There'll definitely be some similarities to the LSU game," Klein began. "You can't do too, too much in four weeks. Being multiple as you're building it from an offensive perspective is we're going to play with a lot of different personnel groupings — one tight end, two tight ends, three tight ends, a tight end and a fullback, two speed backs, four wide receivers. We'll have a variety of different things. We'll line them up in different formations and align them in the same formations out of different personnel groupings, which puts a lot of stress on the defense as they look at you and how they prepare for you.
"Then you have players like Deuce Vaughn and Malik Knowles and a good offensive line and all the sudden you have something. Like we tried to do in the bowl game, it's how we do things. Yes, there will be some different things. We're going to be in and out of some different tempo situations. There are going to be games where we need to possess the football, we need to be patient, and establish the run game, and maybe you need to win 17-14 and that's a part of it.
"It's playing complementary football and doing whatever it takes on that night to make sure that our team is successful. The mentality of what we do is the biggest thing. We need to play free, in an attack mode, and whatever we end up doing, we have to get after it."
As senior wide receiver Phillip Brooks said last week in Salina, "I feel like we're going to put up a lot of numbers."
As Klieman said last week, the offense in the bowl game is "not even close to where we were in the spring."
"We have so many offensive players returning," Klieman continued, "and that is fun."
K-State returns six offensive starters from a squad that finished 8-5 and came alive with its best offensive showing of the season in the bowl game. While K-State returns Consensus All-American Deuce Vaughn and First Team All-Big 12 offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, the Wildcats also bring back senior wide receivers Phillip Brooks and Malik Knowles, fullback Jax Dineen and offensive lineman Christian Duffie. But the Wildcats return experience — starter or not — at every position.
Having playmakers, regardless of starting experience, has made the transition easier than it would've otherwise been for Klein.
"The benefits of having similar verbiage and formations and alignments definitely gives you a jump," Klein says, "then having guys like Deuce Vaughn, Will Howard, Malik Knowles, Phillip Brooks, Kade Warner and R.J. Garcia — guys who are very detailed, smart football players that help everybody else get it right — is huge.
"You can't take that for granted. They did a great job leading that charge."
It's been less than six months since Klein got together with Klieman and discussed offensive philosophies and since Klein sat with the offensive staff and began drumming up plays on the dry-erase board in the offensive meeting room at the Vanier Family Football Complex. Klein is a savant with Xs and Os at a young age, which bodes well for the 2022 season and beyond. On Wednesday in Hutchinson, he spent two minutes recalling the particulars of a single play. how many of these plays does Klein already have at his disposal, and how many more might he devise between now and September? The possibilities seem endless.
But it all started on that dry-erase board in the meeting room back in December. Klein says it was "really fun."
"You're either building something from scratch or retooling and restructuring things," he continues. "Both have their challenges, but we have a great staff, very good football minds, very hard workers, very good teachers, so really it's about trying to break down and make things as simple for our players as possible so we can be good teachers, efficient teachers, and they can absorb what we have for them so we can play fast and physical."
Klein and K-State received an added bonus in April.
That's when Klein was able to witness firsthand the potential of transfer quarterback Adrian Martinez, who was able to FULLY participate in the final two spring practices after missing the bulk of spring workouts while recovering from shoulder surgery. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Martinez committed to K-State on December 16 after setting 16 records over a four-year career at Nebraska. The native of Fresno, California instantly became one of the Wildcats' most popular players behind 10,792 career yards and 39 career starts.
"Obviously, we knew as we're all watching college football there was a lot of talent there and he's played a lot of games and made a lot of things happen," Klein says. "He's as good a person as he is a player. He's been able to learn and progress in that limited role (due to injury rehabilitation) and has been very impressive. Obviously, he has the physical tools to be special."
Potentially, K-State could have Martinez and Vaughn in the same backfield, which carries along with it possibilities for a backfield duo we haven't seen since Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles. But there's still a way to go until September 3.
"(Vaughn) is just so consistent," Klein said. "He always has a smile on his face. He's always on top of his stuff and comes to work. He's always cheerful. He's a professional in every sense of the word. He's just great. Every day he's just the man. He's just the man."
Klein is no slouch himself. The video of Hall-of-Fame head coach Bill Snyder visiting Klein and informing him of his induction into the Ring of Honor last week went viral among K-State fans almost immediately.
It's been quite the past six months for Klein, whose celebrated past and exciting present seems primed for a memorable future.
"It's a God thing," he says. "Every step has been a part of His plan for me. I'm just so grateful that it's been His plan. K-State has been so amazing and such a big part of my journey and my family's journey, and I'm just so honored to be a part of this and excited to serve and help push this thing forward."
On Wednesday, with a few strokes of a Sharpie he turned a magazine to gold.
With a few strokes on the dry-erase board, he just might've turned K-State's offense to gold as well.
The white-haired man in black-rimmed glasses and a gray Powercat quarter-zip pullover had waited more than a decade for this opportunity. With a few strokes of a Sharpie, Collin Klein turned the man's Sports Illustrated cover into gold. As he does every time, Klein thanked the man for the opportunity, then he signed another Sports Illustrated cover, and another one.
"It feels like a different life," Klein tells someone. "It feels like yesterday, and it feels like a different life."
How long did it take Klein to accept the fact that he was promoted to Kansas State offensive coordinator?
"Still hasn't set in," he replies.
What is the ideal first play that Klein hopes to unveil as offensive coordinator when K-State opens the 2022 season against South Dakota on September 3?
"One that scores a touchdown," he says, adding, "we'll see."
Klein was a hit at the Hutchinson Catbacker event at AJ's Sports Grill on Wednesday. Standing in a light gray K-State polo, black shorts and white Nikes, Klein commanded the microphone and the attention of several hundred event attendees during his first Catbacker event as offensive coordinator for the program that he helped to a No. 1 national ranking and a 2012 Big 12 Championship while earning Heisman Trophy finalist honors his senior season.
Shortly after K-State walloped LSU 42-20 in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl on January 4 during Klein's first shot as an interim offensive coordinator, K-State head coach Chris Klieman promoted him to his current spot as full-time offensive coordinator.
Since Klein's promotion to offensive coordinator, K-State's offense has been talked about religiously. Arguably no K-State offense has been discussed this much since Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett were seniors in 2014. And for good reason.
What K-State fans saw in the LSU game was something, well, different. Current players cannot discuss the offense without smiling. K-State head coach Chris Klieman last week in front of a gathering in Hays said, "How can you not love Collin Klein?"
For the first time publicly, at least, Klein outlined his offense in depth for the pizza-eating crowd over the noon hour in Hutchinson.
"There'll definitely be some similarities to the LSU game," Klein began. "You can't do too, too much in four weeks. Being multiple as you're building it from an offensive perspective is we're going to play with a lot of different personnel groupings — one tight end, two tight ends, three tight ends, a tight end and a fullback, two speed backs, four wide receivers. We'll have a variety of different things. We'll line them up in different formations and align them in the same formations out of different personnel groupings, which puts a lot of stress on the defense as they look at you and how they prepare for you.
"Then you have players like Deuce Vaughn and Malik Knowles and a good offensive line and all the sudden you have something. Like we tried to do in the bowl game, it's how we do things. Yes, there will be some different things. We're going to be in and out of some different tempo situations. There are going to be games where we need to possess the football, we need to be patient, and establish the run game, and maybe you need to win 17-14 and that's a part of it.
"It's playing complementary football and doing whatever it takes on that night to make sure that our team is successful. The mentality of what we do is the biggest thing. We need to play free, in an attack mode, and whatever we end up doing, we have to get after it."
As senior wide receiver Phillip Brooks said last week in Salina, "I feel like we're going to put up a lot of numbers."
As Klieman said last week, the offense in the bowl game is "not even close to where we were in the spring."
"We have so many offensive players returning," Klieman continued, "and that is fun."
K-State returns six offensive starters from a squad that finished 8-5 and came alive with its best offensive showing of the season in the bowl game. While K-State returns Consensus All-American Deuce Vaughn and First Team All-Big 12 offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, the Wildcats also bring back senior wide receivers Phillip Brooks and Malik Knowles, fullback Jax Dineen and offensive lineman Christian Duffie. But the Wildcats return experience — starter or not — at every position.
Having playmakers, regardless of starting experience, has made the transition easier than it would've otherwise been for Klein.
"The benefits of having similar verbiage and formations and alignments definitely gives you a jump," Klein says, "then having guys like Deuce Vaughn, Will Howard, Malik Knowles, Phillip Brooks, Kade Warner and R.J. Garcia — guys who are very detailed, smart football players that help everybody else get it right — is huge.
"You can't take that for granted. They did a great job leading that charge."
It's been less than six months since Klein got together with Klieman and discussed offensive philosophies and since Klein sat with the offensive staff and began drumming up plays on the dry-erase board in the offensive meeting room at the Vanier Family Football Complex. Klein is a savant with Xs and Os at a young age, which bodes well for the 2022 season and beyond. On Wednesday in Hutchinson, he spent two minutes recalling the particulars of a single play. how many of these plays does Klein already have at his disposal, and how many more might he devise between now and September? The possibilities seem endless.
But it all started on that dry-erase board in the meeting room back in December. Klein says it was "really fun."
"You're either building something from scratch or retooling and restructuring things," he continues. "Both have their challenges, but we have a great staff, very good football minds, very hard workers, very good teachers, so really it's about trying to break down and make things as simple for our players as possible so we can be good teachers, efficient teachers, and they can absorb what we have for them so we can play fast and physical."
Klein and K-State received an added bonus in April.
That's when Klein was able to witness firsthand the potential of transfer quarterback Adrian Martinez, who was able to FULLY participate in the final two spring practices after missing the bulk of spring workouts while recovering from shoulder surgery. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Martinez committed to K-State on December 16 after setting 16 records over a four-year career at Nebraska. The native of Fresno, California instantly became one of the Wildcats' most popular players behind 10,792 career yards and 39 career starts.
"Obviously, we knew as we're all watching college football there was a lot of talent there and he's played a lot of games and made a lot of things happen," Klein says. "He's as good a person as he is a player. He's been able to learn and progress in that limited role (due to injury rehabilitation) and has been very impressive. Obviously, he has the physical tools to be special."
Potentially, K-State could have Martinez and Vaughn in the same backfield, which carries along with it possibilities for a backfield duo we haven't seen since Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles. But there's still a way to go until September 3.
"(Vaughn) is just so consistent," Klein said. "He always has a smile on his face. He's always on top of his stuff and comes to work. He's always cheerful. He's a professional in every sense of the word. He's just great. Every day he's just the man. He's just the man."
Klein is no slouch himself. The video of Hall-of-Fame head coach Bill Snyder visiting Klein and informing him of his induction into the Ring of Honor last week went viral among K-State fans almost immediately.
"That hasn't set in yet, either," Klein says of the honor.The moment
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) May 19, 2022
@ckleincat7 ➡️ 𝗥𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 pic.twitter.com/aW0Tau8gUL
It's been quite the past six months for Klein, whose celebrated past and exciting present seems primed for a memorable future.
"It's a God thing," he says. "Every step has been a part of His plan for me. I'm just so grateful that it's been His plan. K-State has been so amazing and such a big part of my journey and my family's journey, and I'm just so honored to be a part of this and excited to serve and help push this thing forward."
On Wednesday, with a few strokes of a Sharpie he turned a magazine to gold.
With a few strokes on the dry-erase board, he just might've turned K-State's offense to gold as well.
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