Kansas State University Athletics
Klanderman Has ‘Quiet Confidence’ Entering Year Four
May 27, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
It's pleasant inside the American Legion in Marysville, Kansas, as Joe Klanderman slides onto a black cushy stool about an hour before the start of the Catbacker event on Thursday. We're surrounded by aged wood, old beverage signage nailed to the white walls, and slick wooden bar that later will be occupied by regulars.
"I worked at a place like this called the Moose Lodge," Kansas State's fourth-year safeties coach, third-year defensive coordinator begins. "Kind of like an Eagles Club, a membership deal, similar to something like this. Bunch of older patrons. The youngest guy in there was 50 probably. It was awesome. I enjoyed it a lot. I worked there for five years, did it all through college, and when I was a graduate assistant in the summertime, just to make some bucks.
"I knew all the regulars. I knew their back stories. There was one guy, Bruce, who came up, and as soon as he came through the door you better have his favorite beverage waiting for him at the table. He walked really slow. He had been in the Korean War. By the time he got to the table you better have his favorite beverage."
Klanderman, a native of Hammond, Wisconsin, graduated from Minnesota State in 2001 after a four-year career on the defensive line. He is used to rolling up his sleeves and going to work. He leads a powerful old-school K-State defense that returns a bevy of starters and has some new-look players that will be primed to compete for playing time on a unit that will enter their first full year with three down linemen.
Later, Klanderman will wow the Marysville crowd in discussing the ins and outs of the Wildcats' 42-20 win over LSU in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl. For now, he pauses to briefly reminisce, and to share his thoughts on his defense — and what could come in the fall — during this Q&A with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen.
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: Was this the most abbreviated spring you've ever been a part of, and how did that make you feel?
JOE KLANDERMAN: It was different in that there were so many pieces that we knew were going to be huge pieces in the fall that weren't involved in the spring, whether they were injured, or just weren't on campus yet. We just knocked out the fundamental part with the guys who were there, and when we get into fall camp there's going to be more competition for spots. It actually made me feel relieved that the guys in the injured area had played a lot of ball here and will be major contributors. I was pleased with the leadership that a number of the older guys showed, even the ones that weren't involved. Of course, guys like Deuce (Daniel) Green, Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents did a really good job of being leaders while they were out there with people, but it was also Cincere Mason and Eli Huggins and some of the guys that weren't involved in things that were really doing a good job of bringing along the younger players in the program.
FRITCHEN: What were you able to accomplish in the spring?
KLANDERMAN: We made the transition systematically. We did that in such a slow deliberate way. We didn't necessarily get an entire package put together last year, and there were still pieces missing. We had some nuts-and-bolts things of what we wanted our structure to look like, but we didn't get very far in our third-down development or in some of our short-yardage situational things. As a result, there were a lot of things we put together week to week last fall that were fine and good, but our players maybe didn't know them like the back of their hand because they were consistently new. This spring we were able to introduce things in our package of "this is what we want to be," and, "this is what we're going to base out of," and hopefully that results in more execution and better execution getting into this season.
FRITCHEN: How can this defense be even better this year?
KLANDERMAN: There are still times we can play faster and sometimes where some of the reactions are going to be a little bit more natural now than what they were. Shoot, a year ago this time we were still bouncing around between a four-down and a three-down and pulling guys in different directions. Maybe now there's a little bit more sense of anticipation. We have a better understanding as a staff of how people are going to try and attack us and look at what some of the weaknesses are that people might try to exploit. I just think we're going to be better prepared and smarter.
FRITCHEN: What's the importance of preparation for the summer and fall?
KLANDERMAN: The big thing for us is getting some of the new players into the fold and getting those guys up to speed. We didn't recruit those guys, many of them, to be development guys. Some of those guys are going to be contributors right away, and we have to get those guys ready for September 3. We have to get some the rust knocked off of some of the guys that didn't participate in the spring and continuing to push forward some of those guys that did. There were some guys who did some limited things like Will Honas, who was new to the program, and was able to do some things but was limited in practice. Khalid Duke was able to do some things but was limited in practice. Getting those guys into feeling comfortable coming off injuries where they feel comfortable with their bodies and can play full speed and be all they can be will be important.
FRITCHEN: What can you say about some of the new guys on defense?
KLANDERMAN: Talking about general positions, I know we've got two guys coming into the cornerback room. One is as football sharp of a guy as I've been around, and is really, really into football, and just got kind of missed in the recruiting process and went the junior college route. He came here and he had a tremendous array of offers and interest, and I think he ultimately chose K-State because he feels like this is a place when he can be developed the best and where he fits into the system the best. I couldn't be more excited about him. The other cornerback is, other than Julius Brents, probably provides – we don't have a bunch of big guys in the room and this guy is a big guy. He's a 400-pound bench guy and looks like a man. He's going to bring some physicality to that room. He's teammates with another player who was on our roster who we have a lot of respect for. I'm excited for where he's at.
There's a linebacker who had a bunch of offers all over the place, and he's more prototype of what we're looking for at the SAM position, which is a guy who has a bunch of length and athleticism, and he has the ability to rush off the edge and is very physical and very sudden. He's going to have multiple years left in the program, which we're very excited about. We're excited to see how he fits into it.
In the safety room, there's two guys there also. One problem we had last year was we didn't have a bunch of coverage guys in the safety room other than Russ Yeast, who we felt were going to dominate man-coverage matchups. We had guys who would scrap it up, and they'd play really hard, and they'd win a lot of match ups just because they were smart, tough and competitive. We knew we had to go out and find more guys who were more just flat man-to-man guys. We addressed that with a kid who transferred from a four-year school. He's a guy who has a lot of corner-type characteristics but is a safety at heart. He has range, physicality, super high football IQ. The other kid we brought in at safety is a teammate of somebody else who was in our program a year ago, and he's going to have one year left to play and he's ready to roll.
Again, the common theme is all these guys really love football, really are super football smart, and I think he will be ready to compete right away in August for a lot of playing time. He maybe wasn't as heavily recruited as he probably should've been because he really dominated where he was, and I think he's going to be along the Reggie Stubblefield lines as a guy who can come in and be a little bit of a thermometer in the program and change some things. I'm excited about all five of those guys.
As soon as freshmen come in, two of our guys are going to have chances. There are guys who are as good physically as anybody we've recruited since we've been here. In my room, in particular, Jordan Perry and VJ Payne, those are going to be probably the best two looking safeties in our room. One is 6-foot-2 ½ and the other is 6-3, and they're both around 200 pounds and both can run, and both played high-level high school football. How quickly they can adapt to college football and the pace is going to determine a lot about how quickly they get on the field. Even if we can use them in a special teams role in the fall, it wouldn't surprise me because they both open it up.
We still think of ourselves as a developmental program, so it's not like it's going to happen instantly for all those guys, but we're raising the bar on the type of talent we're recruiting year after year.
FRITCHEN: Nationally the transfer portal isn't always portrayed in a positive light, but the transfer portal has seemingly benefited you. From your perspective, what are the positives of the transfer portal?
KLANDERMAN: I think people ultimately choose Kansas State because they can plainly see when they get on campus that they have a fanbase that really cares, and they've got coaches who really care, and they've got a coaching staff that can develop them and cares about developing them. Sometimes in the high school recruiting world, it's more about pool parties and a night out and some of those things, but at the end of the day, that's not the right reason to choose a school. These guys who've been through it, whether they're junior college guys or transfer portal guys, they're a little bit more mature in why they make their decisions. That's why we're having a lot of success in getting those guys. We're doing a better job in transfer portal recruiting just because I think those people see things a little bit more clearly than high school kids do. I think we've done a good job of doing our background research and getting people that fit us instead of just who's most highly recruited or the most highly-ranked guy. Last year we hit home runs with Russ Yeast, Reggie Stubblefield, Tim Horne, and we're on the right track again next year.
FRITCHEN: What are your thoughts on the defensive line?
KLANDERMAN: We have a) experience and b) in recruiting and in development, we've done a really good job. Coach Buddy Wyatt and Coach Mike Tuiasosopo have done a phenomenal job. I think Eli Huggins is as good as there is in the conference. Everybody knows Felix Anudike-Uzomah is outstanding. Somebody people probably don't know as much is Nate Matlack. Nate came on toward the end of last year and he's going to be as explosive as anybody. He's cut from the same cloth, and I hate to say this, but an Aidan Hutchinson type of guy. He's got length and explosion and he's smart and he's everything you want. Khalid Duke is going to be back in the mix now. He wasn't a part of it last year. I'm really excited about some of the depth. Robert Hentz is coming back, and we have a transfer who signed with us in January, Uso (Vaai) Seumalo, who's kind of the forgotten guy because he's not the new guy, but I'm just telling you, he's got a lot of years left to play, but he's as athlete as a big man as I've ever seen. He's 335 pounds and moves like he's 235. He'll have some development to do as far as taking on blocks and some of that stuff, but he's strong, and he's fast, and he's huge. I'm excited about him. Damian Ilalio had a good spring for what he was able to do. We just have a lot of depth there. We have a lot of guys who really care. You cut those guys loose in our system, you want those guys fast and not worried about making mistakes. Philosophically, we want those guys to play as fast as anybody and make it right if they're wrong. Get a bunch of good athletes and cut them loose, good things will happen.
FRITCHEN: Everybody knows about Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents, but who are some other guys in that cornerback room?
KLANDERMAN: The third guy who really developed was Omar Daniels. He was injured for a better part of the season last fall with a freaky hand thing that happened in a live setting, but he practices with us in the bowl prep, and we knew in fall camp he was going to be a really good player. He practiced with us in the bowl prep and did really well. He didn't play a ton in the bowl game, just because we kind of controlled the pace of the game. Then those two transfers are going to factor in quite a bit, too.
FRITCHEN: Are there going to be any more transfers on the horizon?
KLANDERMAN: I don't know that. I can say we're not actively recruiting anybody right now. We have the ability to, but right now we're just excited about who we have right now.
FRITCHEN: What do the next few months look like for you?
KLANDERMAN: June, we're able to spend a little bit of time with our players. We're going to take advantage of that. We're going to start looking at our first three opponents this month. We'll spend a few days on each. We've got camps coming up. Our first week of June has camps at our place or satellite camps we're doing at different locations we recruit, so we'll be doing a lot of traveling for that. Then toward the end of June, we're going to have some official visits on campus, some high school guys, and probably a significant number of them up here for a couple of weekends, and that'll be a busy couple of weekends. July is a little bit more chill for us. That's the one month of the year where things are a little bit more slower paced, at least the first few weeks of July. Then we get right back into it and get geared up for it and the seven-month stretch.
FRITCHEN: How do you feel about this team heading toward the season?
KLANDERMAN: I think there's a quiet confidence around the locker room and in the coaches offices that we might not have a lot of guys who are nationally known, whatever, but we have a really good football team. I think this has the makings to be the best football team we've had since we've been here in four years. Obviously, it has a play out and come together, but the chemistry and talent is there, and the willingness is there, so now we just have to get some momentum and let it ride.
It's pleasant inside the American Legion in Marysville, Kansas, as Joe Klanderman slides onto a black cushy stool about an hour before the start of the Catbacker event on Thursday. We're surrounded by aged wood, old beverage signage nailed to the white walls, and slick wooden bar that later will be occupied by regulars.
"I worked at a place like this called the Moose Lodge," Kansas State's fourth-year safeties coach, third-year defensive coordinator begins. "Kind of like an Eagles Club, a membership deal, similar to something like this. Bunch of older patrons. The youngest guy in there was 50 probably. It was awesome. I enjoyed it a lot. I worked there for five years, did it all through college, and when I was a graduate assistant in the summertime, just to make some bucks.
"I knew all the regulars. I knew their back stories. There was one guy, Bruce, who came up, and as soon as he came through the door you better have his favorite beverage waiting for him at the table. He walked really slow. He had been in the Korean War. By the time he got to the table you better have his favorite beverage."
Klanderman, a native of Hammond, Wisconsin, graduated from Minnesota State in 2001 after a four-year career on the defensive line. He is used to rolling up his sleeves and going to work. He leads a powerful old-school K-State defense that returns a bevy of starters and has some new-look players that will be primed to compete for playing time on a unit that will enter their first full year with three down linemen.
Later, Klanderman will wow the Marysville crowd in discussing the ins and outs of the Wildcats' 42-20 win over LSU in the 2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl. For now, he pauses to briefly reminisce, and to share his thoughts on his defense — and what could come in the fall — during this Q&A with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen.
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: Was this the most abbreviated spring you've ever been a part of, and how did that make you feel?
JOE KLANDERMAN: It was different in that there were so many pieces that we knew were going to be huge pieces in the fall that weren't involved in the spring, whether they were injured, or just weren't on campus yet. We just knocked out the fundamental part with the guys who were there, and when we get into fall camp there's going to be more competition for spots. It actually made me feel relieved that the guys in the injured area had played a lot of ball here and will be major contributors. I was pleased with the leadership that a number of the older guys showed, even the ones that weren't involved. Of course, guys like Deuce (Daniel) Green, Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents did a really good job of being leaders while they were out there with people, but it was also Cincere Mason and Eli Huggins and some of the guys that weren't involved in things that were really doing a good job of bringing along the younger players in the program.
FRITCHEN: What were you able to accomplish in the spring?
KLANDERMAN: We made the transition systematically. We did that in such a slow deliberate way. We didn't necessarily get an entire package put together last year, and there were still pieces missing. We had some nuts-and-bolts things of what we wanted our structure to look like, but we didn't get very far in our third-down development or in some of our short-yardage situational things. As a result, there were a lot of things we put together week to week last fall that were fine and good, but our players maybe didn't know them like the back of their hand because they were consistently new. This spring we were able to introduce things in our package of "this is what we want to be," and, "this is what we're going to base out of," and hopefully that results in more execution and better execution getting into this season.
FRITCHEN: How can this defense be even better this year?
KLANDERMAN: There are still times we can play faster and sometimes where some of the reactions are going to be a little bit more natural now than what they were. Shoot, a year ago this time we were still bouncing around between a four-down and a three-down and pulling guys in different directions. Maybe now there's a little bit more sense of anticipation. We have a better understanding as a staff of how people are going to try and attack us and look at what some of the weaknesses are that people might try to exploit. I just think we're going to be better prepared and smarter.
FRITCHEN: What's the importance of preparation for the summer and fall?
KLANDERMAN: The big thing for us is getting some of the new players into the fold and getting those guys up to speed. We didn't recruit those guys, many of them, to be development guys. Some of those guys are going to be contributors right away, and we have to get those guys ready for September 3. We have to get some the rust knocked off of some of the guys that didn't participate in the spring and continuing to push forward some of those guys that did. There were some guys who did some limited things like Will Honas, who was new to the program, and was able to do some things but was limited in practice. Khalid Duke was able to do some things but was limited in practice. Getting those guys into feeling comfortable coming off injuries where they feel comfortable with their bodies and can play full speed and be all they can be will be important.
FRITCHEN: What can you say about some of the new guys on defense?
KLANDERMAN: Talking about general positions, I know we've got two guys coming into the cornerback room. One is as football sharp of a guy as I've been around, and is really, really into football, and just got kind of missed in the recruiting process and went the junior college route. He came here and he had a tremendous array of offers and interest, and I think he ultimately chose K-State because he feels like this is a place when he can be developed the best and where he fits into the system the best. I couldn't be more excited about him. The other cornerback is, other than Julius Brents, probably provides – we don't have a bunch of big guys in the room and this guy is a big guy. He's a 400-pound bench guy and looks like a man. He's going to bring some physicality to that room. He's teammates with another player who was on our roster who we have a lot of respect for. I'm excited for where he's at.
There's a linebacker who had a bunch of offers all over the place, and he's more prototype of what we're looking for at the SAM position, which is a guy who has a bunch of length and athleticism, and he has the ability to rush off the edge and is very physical and very sudden. He's going to have multiple years left in the program, which we're very excited about. We're excited to see how he fits into it.
In the safety room, there's two guys there also. One problem we had last year was we didn't have a bunch of coverage guys in the safety room other than Russ Yeast, who we felt were going to dominate man-coverage matchups. We had guys who would scrap it up, and they'd play really hard, and they'd win a lot of match ups just because they were smart, tough and competitive. We knew we had to go out and find more guys who were more just flat man-to-man guys. We addressed that with a kid who transferred from a four-year school. He's a guy who has a lot of corner-type characteristics but is a safety at heart. He has range, physicality, super high football IQ. The other kid we brought in at safety is a teammate of somebody else who was in our program a year ago, and he's going to have one year left to play and he's ready to roll.
Again, the common theme is all these guys really love football, really are super football smart, and I think he will be ready to compete right away in August for a lot of playing time. He maybe wasn't as heavily recruited as he probably should've been because he really dominated where he was, and I think he's going to be along the Reggie Stubblefield lines as a guy who can come in and be a little bit of a thermometer in the program and change some things. I'm excited about all five of those guys.
As soon as freshmen come in, two of our guys are going to have chances. There are guys who are as good physically as anybody we've recruited since we've been here. In my room, in particular, Jordan Perry and VJ Payne, those are going to be probably the best two looking safeties in our room. One is 6-foot-2 ½ and the other is 6-3, and they're both around 200 pounds and both can run, and both played high-level high school football. How quickly they can adapt to college football and the pace is going to determine a lot about how quickly they get on the field. Even if we can use them in a special teams role in the fall, it wouldn't surprise me because they both open it up.
We still think of ourselves as a developmental program, so it's not like it's going to happen instantly for all those guys, but we're raising the bar on the type of talent we're recruiting year after year.
FRITCHEN: Nationally the transfer portal isn't always portrayed in a positive light, but the transfer portal has seemingly benefited you. From your perspective, what are the positives of the transfer portal?
KLANDERMAN: I think people ultimately choose Kansas State because they can plainly see when they get on campus that they have a fanbase that really cares, and they've got coaches who really care, and they've got a coaching staff that can develop them and cares about developing them. Sometimes in the high school recruiting world, it's more about pool parties and a night out and some of those things, but at the end of the day, that's not the right reason to choose a school. These guys who've been through it, whether they're junior college guys or transfer portal guys, they're a little bit more mature in why they make their decisions. That's why we're having a lot of success in getting those guys. We're doing a better job in transfer portal recruiting just because I think those people see things a little bit more clearly than high school kids do. I think we've done a good job of doing our background research and getting people that fit us instead of just who's most highly recruited or the most highly-ranked guy. Last year we hit home runs with Russ Yeast, Reggie Stubblefield, Tim Horne, and we're on the right track again next year.
FRITCHEN: What are your thoughts on the defensive line?
KLANDERMAN: We have a) experience and b) in recruiting and in development, we've done a really good job. Coach Buddy Wyatt and Coach Mike Tuiasosopo have done a phenomenal job. I think Eli Huggins is as good as there is in the conference. Everybody knows Felix Anudike-Uzomah is outstanding. Somebody people probably don't know as much is Nate Matlack. Nate came on toward the end of last year and he's going to be as explosive as anybody. He's cut from the same cloth, and I hate to say this, but an Aidan Hutchinson type of guy. He's got length and explosion and he's smart and he's everything you want. Khalid Duke is going to be back in the mix now. He wasn't a part of it last year. I'm really excited about some of the depth. Robert Hentz is coming back, and we have a transfer who signed with us in January, Uso (Vaai) Seumalo, who's kind of the forgotten guy because he's not the new guy, but I'm just telling you, he's got a lot of years left to play, but he's as athlete as a big man as I've ever seen. He's 335 pounds and moves like he's 235. He'll have some development to do as far as taking on blocks and some of that stuff, but he's strong, and he's fast, and he's huge. I'm excited about him. Damian Ilalio had a good spring for what he was able to do. We just have a lot of depth there. We have a lot of guys who really care. You cut those guys loose in our system, you want those guys fast and not worried about making mistakes. Philosophically, we want those guys to play as fast as anybody and make it right if they're wrong. Get a bunch of good athletes and cut them loose, good things will happen.
FRITCHEN: Everybody knows about Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents, but who are some other guys in that cornerback room?
KLANDERMAN: The third guy who really developed was Omar Daniels. He was injured for a better part of the season last fall with a freaky hand thing that happened in a live setting, but he practices with us in the bowl prep, and we knew in fall camp he was going to be a really good player. He practiced with us in the bowl prep and did really well. He didn't play a ton in the bowl game, just because we kind of controlled the pace of the game. Then those two transfers are going to factor in quite a bit, too.
FRITCHEN: Are there going to be any more transfers on the horizon?
KLANDERMAN: I don't know that. I can say we're not actively recruiting anybody right now. We have the ability to, but right now we're just excited about who we have right now.
FRITCHEN: What do the next few months look like for you?
KLANDERMAN: June, we're able to spend a little bit of time with our players. We're going to take advantage of that. We're going to start looking at our first three opponents this month. We'll spend a few days on each. We've got camps coming up. Our first week of June has camps at our place or satellite camps we're doing at different locations we recruit, so we'll be doing a lot of traveling for that. Then toward the end of June, we're going to have some official visits on campus, some high school guys, and probably a significant number of them up here for a couple of weekends, and that'll be a busy couple of weekends. July is a little bit more chill for us. That's the one month of the year where things are a little bit more slower paced, at least the first few weeks of July. Then we get right back into it and get geared up for it and the seven-month stretch.
FRITCHEN: How do you feel about this team heading toward the season?
KLANDERMAN: I think there's a quiet confidence around the locker room and in the coaches offices that we might not have a lot of guys who are nationally known, whatever, but we have a really good football team. I think this has the makings to be the best football team we've had since we've been here in four years. Obviously, it has a play out and come together, but the chemistry and talent is there, and the willingness is there, so now we just have to get some momentum and let it ride.
Players Mentioned
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