Excited for the Future, Learning from the Past
May 15, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Fresh off Big 12 Conference meetings last week, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman remains plenty busy in the middle of May. The Wildcats are still recruiting. On Tuesday, he took some time speaking with fans at the annual Catbacker gatherings in Salina, Great Bend and Liberal.
"That's the great thing about college football in general is that everybody gets excited about the upcoming campaign," Klieman said to a gathering in Salina. "Over the last X amount of years that we've talked on these Catbacker tours, there's always that excitement and thrill of what's going to happen this year. That dates to Skylar Thompson's last year of 2021 to what we did in 2022 to the excitement of the 2023 team. That's what is so great about college athletics is just the anticipation and excitement and expectations, which we have to temper as coaches.
"Last year, I think that was probably emphasized too much — what this group could do after what we did in 2022. Every team is different, and every year is different. The number one thing is you have to stay healthy and hungry as well."
Nearly five months have passed since K-State defeated NC State, 28-19, in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to cap a 9-4 season. K-State finished ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
K-State, which won the 2022 Big 12 Championship, is touted by some experts to have as good of a chance as any to win the title again this fall.
"We're a good football team," Klieman said. "We're a long way from being where we think we need to be to compete for a Big 12 Championship. We had so many guys in the spring that didn't participate and practice, so we have to have a great summer and a great fall camp.
"There are so many unknowns of teams that we're playing. We're playing five teams that we don't know a whole lot about. We have a long way to go."
But K-State is in a better spot coming off a bowl win.
"People don't realize the impact of a bowl win and what it can do for a team because everybody remembers your last opportunity and by the same respect people remember your last opportunity of the regular season not being very good," Klieman said. "That's why we wanted another opportunity. We beat a really good NC State team that hadn't won 10 games in decades, and they were on a mission. They were good."
Behind true freshman quarterback Avery Johnson, the Wildcats proved to be better.
Already Johnson is considered by some to be among the top sophomores heading into the 2024 campaign.
What can Johnson do during the summer to prepare to take on the task of leading the Wildcats throughout an entire season?
"The biggest thing is getting the rapport with wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, just throwing with those guys and getting on the same page with those guys," Klieman said. "That was a big thing this spring. We didn't have DJ Giddens a lot this spring but had a lot of the wideouts. Jayce Brown missed a good chunk of the spring. Just getting on the same page with those guys and throwing with those guys as much as he can is big.
"The captain's practices where the kids are involved and the coaches aren't — just making sure that he's leading those guys because he's going to be in a different leadership role this year. I think he's excited and ready for that."
Klieman continued.
"We're going to see a really improved Avery," he said, "even though I saw really great improvement from December to spring."
Klieman was pleased with the recent addition of running back Dylan Edwards, a Derby, Kansas, native, and sophomore transfer from Colorado. Edwards was rated as one of the top 10 running backs in the nation coming out of high school.
"We have Avery with his ability and DJ Giddens I still think is the best running back in the Big 12, and what we probably missed last year was the Deuce Vaughn aspect of the home run, which Dylan can do — hit that home run, whether he's in the backfield as a running back, flexed out as a slot, in the return game, catching the ball in the backfield," Klieman said, "It'll be interesting to see and watch Conor Riley and Matt Wells find ways to utilize him.
"We have some really good wide receivers in Jayce Brown and Keagan Johnson and Tre Spivey, guys who are getting better and better.
"We think we have our best on-paper offense. Now we've got to put it together on the field."
Fresh off Big 12 Conference meetings last week, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman remains plenty busy in the middle of May. The Wildcats are still recruiting. On Tuesday, he took some time speaking with fans at the annual Catbacker gatherings in Salina, Great Bend and Liberal.
"That's the great thing about college football in general is that everybody gets excited about the upcoming campaign," Klieman said to a gathering in Salina. "Over the last X amount of years that we've talked on these Catbacker tours, there's always that excitement and thrill of what's going to happen this year. That dates to Skylar Thompson's last year of 2021 to what we did in 2022 to the excitement of the 2023 team. That's what is so great about college athletics is just the anticipation and excitement and expectations, which we have to temper as coaches.
"Last year, I think that was probably emphasized too much — what this group could do after what we did in 2022. Every team is different, and every year is different. The number one thing is you have to stay healthy and hungry as well."
Nearly five months have passed since K-State defeated NC State, 28-19, in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to cap a 9-4 season. K-State finished ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
K-State, which won the 2022 Big 12 Championship, is touted by some experts to have as good of a chance as any to win the title again this fall.
"We're a good football team," Klieman said. "We're a long way from being where we think we need to be to compete for a Big 12 Championship. We had so many guys in the spring that didn't participate and practice, so we have to have a great summer and a great fall camp.
"There are so many unknowns of teams that we're playing. We're playing five teams that we don't know a whole lot about. We have a long way to go."
But K-State is in a better spot coming off a bowl win.
"People don't realize the impact of a bowl win and what it can do for a team because everybody remembers your last opportunity and by the same respect people remember your last opportunity of the regular season not being very good," Klieman said. "That's why we wanted another opportunity. We beat a really good NC State team that hadn't won 10 games in decades, and they were on a mission. They were good."
Behind true freshman quarterback Avery Johnson, the Wildcats proved to be better.
Already Johnson is considered by some to be among the top sophomores heading into the 2024 campaign.
What can Johnson do during the summer to prepare to take on the task of leading the Wildcats throughout an entire season?
"The biggest thing is getting the rapport with wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, just throwing with those guys and getting on the same page with those guys," Klieman said. "That was a big thing this spring. We didn't have DJ Giddens a lot this spring but had a lot of the wideouts. Jayce Brown missed a good chunk of the spring. Just getting on the same page with those guys and throwing with those guys as much as he can is big.
"The captain's practices where the kids are involved and the coaches aren't — just making sure that he's leading those guys because he's going to be in a different leadership role this year. I think he's excited and ready for that."
Klieman continued.
"We're going to see a really improved Avery," he said, "even though I saw really great improvement from December to spring."
Klieman was pleased with the recent addition of running back Dylan Edwards, a Derby, Kansas, native, and sophomore transfer from Colorado. Edwards was rated as one of the top 10 running backs in the nation coming out of high school.
"We have Avery with his ability and DJ Giddens I still think is the best running back in the Big 12, and what we probably missed last year was the Deuce Vaughn aspect of the home run, which Dylan can do — hit that home run, whether he's in the backfield as a running back, flexed out as a slot, in the return game, catching the ball in the backfield," Klieman said, "It'll be interesting to see and watch Conor Riley and Matt Wells find ways to utilize him.
"We have some really good wide receivers in Jayce Brown and Keagan Johnson and Tre Spivey, guys who are getting better and better.
"We think we have our best on-paper offense. Now we've got to put it together on the field."
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