Kansas State University Athletics
Football in July
Jul 29, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Chris Klieman, tanned from football practice and assuredly not from golf, chuckled at the uniqueness of it all, how Kansas State is in the midst of its second full week of training camp, and how the Wildcats had just wrapped up their fifth practice, and how the 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. grind falls upon his program daily amid heat and under an unrelenting sun in Manhattan. Oh, and it's only July.
A month typically reserved for vacations has been cut short with so much to do, so much more to do, as K-State inches closer to its 2025 season opener against Iowa State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, on August 23.
"It's upon us," Klieman said, "and we're rolling."
Speaking to reporters for the first time since the Big 12 Football Media Day event in Frisco, Texas, on July 8, Klieman at his news conference on Monday said that "there's great excitement" while preaching consistency among a 110-man roster that includes 13 players that started at least five games last year and seven that earned All-Big 12 honors in 2024, and a roster that also features 15 Division I/II transfers.
"At the end of the day, it's just the recovery, and getting prepared for the next day," Klieman said. "That's the challenge. That's fall camp. That's what everybody has to face, is the fact that you're up here a little bit after 6:00 a.m. and out of here at around 9:00 p.m. with a lot of activity and meetings and walk-throughs and practice. It's the fall camp grind that all of us know. It's getting those young guys and new guys to develop a routine and that's how they win the dang day."
It appears they have several capable leaders to learn from.
"I believe this year we have a collective group of leaders, not just four or five," Klieman said. "In the past, maybe we had an Austin Moore, who was an Alpha guy, a Hayden Gillum, a KT Leveston, Noah Johnson, Kade Warner and Daniel Green. Now I think we have a collective group of guys that can really lead."
That, of course, starts with junior quarterback Avery Johnson, the 6-foot-3 native of Wichita who said at Big 12 Media Day that he would play above 200 pounds this season, and who has been touted as one of the best signal-callers in the Big 12 this fall.
"He's doing a really good job holding people and himself accountable and never being satisfied," Klieman said. "We're through practice five and I haven't seen the best of Avery yet. He'd tell you the same thing, which I like. He's hungry. He's never satisfied, and I really appreciate that about Avery before a lot of people hold him on a pedestal because he's the in-state kid who's stayed home. My appreciation for Avery is there's so much more in him and we haven't seen it yet.
"He knows there's more in him, and he's not going to be satisfied."
One player who coaches believe demonstrated some leadership capabilities this summer is not participating in training camp.
Klieman began his news conference by addressing senior left tackle George Fitzpatrick, an Ohio State transfer and likely starter, who suffered a medical situation at the end of summer workouts. Klieman said that Fitzpatrick is back in Manhattan and "doing much better."
"He's been to the facility a handful of times and really, it's just a day-to-day basis with George," Klieman said. "We don't really have a timetable but he's doing a lot better."
Klieman addressed the offensive tackle position in Fitzpatrick's absence.
"John Pastore was probably going to play 50 snaps a game last year until he got injured in fall camp," Klieman said. "He's playing left tackle right now. Terrence Enos Jr. is playing right tackle. Andrew Leingang is playing right and left tackle. Gus Hawkins is playing some right tackle, and Drake Bequeaith is playing some left tackle. So, we have some guys there that are providing some depth.
"The health of Pastore has us really excited about — George will be back — we have some other guys."
Klieman indicated that there appeared to be depth at quarterback as well in Blake Barnett, Jacob Knuth and Dillon Duff.
"Through five days, I see those guys doing some splash things, but who can be the most consistent?" Klieman said. "That's going to be an ongoing process probably throughout most of fall camp. I don't know if we'll be ready to name a guy by the end of fall camp or not because fall camp butts up against a game and game prep. We'll have to figure that out. It's a good battle.
"Jacob has been here the longest and probably feels really comfortable in what we're doing. Blake makes plays. He's got to minimize some mistakes as do all the quarterbacks. Dillion is learning, but he's getting the chance to get more reps so the few reps he got in the spring he's learned from and continues to improve every day. All three of those guys are going to continue to battle for that two spot."
On the other side of the ball, a battle could be underway for spots in the defensive secondary, where only senior free safety VJ Payne returns as a full-time starter. Klieman pointed out that the other returning defensive backs bring experience to the table.
"Colby McCalister has played a lot of football for us, Jack Fabris has played a lot of football for us, Gunner Maldonado started for three years at Arizona, Zashon Rich and Donovan McIntosh started the Rate Bowl and that experience helped them, and Justice Clemons has played two years at a high level," Klieman said. "It's not like you've got a bunch of guys who've never played before. We've got a lot of guys who've played a lot of football, whether it's here or somewhere else.
"Qua Moss came in at semester and is playing at a really high level right now for us. He and Daniel Cobbs and Kanijal Thomas are helping us out at nickel when we play some third-down stuff. We have some depth there — it's just you probably don't have a splash guy right now like Jacob Parrish of Marquis Sigle. But we have a lot of talent back there. We're excited because we can rotate some guys there, and that's important to us."
Meanwhile, the rotation at the wide receiver position could prove dangerous in the fall. K-State returns starter Jayce Brown and brought in a few talented transfers in Jerand Bradley, Caleb Medford and Jaron Tibbs. Couple that with K-State's collection of less-experienced or younger wide receivers, and Klieman, offensive coordinator Matt Wells and wide receivers coach Matthew Middleton could have their hands full — a good problem to have.
"Adonis Moise has done a really good job, Jemyri Davis has done a really good job, Issac Koch has been a great special teams player for us and is trying to get into that mix of five or six and is doing some really good things," Klieman said. "We have to keep pushing Sterling Lockett so we can use Jayce outside and inside, and Sterling can play the slot because Sterling has done a good job. We're trying to move more guys around, which sometimes will stunt their growth from a mental standpoint in having to learn multiple positions, but we probably need to do that so that if the fourth-best guy is only playing one position and someone else gets hurt we have to be able to move him to another position to get the best players on the field. That has helped us there."
One, if not two, of the Wildcats' most potent threats in the passing game might not be a wide receiver or tight end.
"A guy that jumps out at me that's a skilled kid that's playing some wide receiver, a running back for us, is DeVon Rice," Klieman said. "DeVon Rice flashes. He's a fast, explosive kid who was injured some in the spring and didn't get a great chance, and he had a really good kick return last year against Colorado but was just trying to find his way. He's an explosive guy that's playing with a lot of confidence.
"It helps us a bunch to have that other person with Dylan Edwards of the same skill set. We could put them both in the backfield or both out as a wide receiver or in the return game."
Klieman didn't address too many true freshmen during his news conference, as he hoped to see them do more on the practice field, but he didn't shy from discussing tight end Linkon Cure, the highest-rated player ever to sign at K-State. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Cure, a native of Goodland, Kansas, joins perhaps the most talented collection of tight ends in college football in 2025.
"Mentally, just like all our freshmen, you're swimming a little bit, because it's a lot of install in a short period of time," Klieman said. "(Tight ends coach) Luke Wells tried to get him up to speed as well as he could in the summer, but our summer was a lot shorter than it typically was. I'm confident Linkon, throughout fall camp, will continue to learn. He's with the biggest veteran group we have in the tight end room, and they're all putting their arm around him and helping him on the mental side of learning what we're doing.
"You can tell the physical skills are out there. You can tell he can really run and go and catch the football and be physical at the point of attack. It's the technique part of it. Linkon is 240 pounds, so he's put on some great weight from the end of track season to where he is now."
Cure, like the Wildcats, is just getting started.
Asked if after five practices he could put his thumb on what makes these 2025 Wildcats tick, Klieman replied, "We're going to find that out."
"The big thing that we've hammered on all through the offseason is handling adversity," Klieman said. "Everybody can handle things — it's not going to be 70 and sunny every day. Everybody can handle it then. How are we going to handle when we get punched in the mouth? Because we are going to get punched in the mouth, and we're going to get punched in the mouth in practice — offense beats defense, and defense beats offense — and the weather beats us, whatever it may be. How do we handle that adversity? That's the challenge we put on our guys all the time.
"That's going to be the tale of our season this year."
Chris Klieman, tanned from football practice and assuredly not from golf, chuckled at the uniqueness of it all, how Kansas State is in the midst of its second full week of training camp, and how the Wildcats had just wrapped up their fifth practice, and how the 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. grind falls upon his program daily amid heat and under an unrelenting sun in Manhattan. Oh, and it's only July.
A month typically reserved for vacations has been cut short with so much to do, so much more to do, as K-State inches closer to its 2025 season opener against Iowa State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, on August 23.
"It's upon us," Klieman said, "and we're rolling."
Speaking to reporters for the first time since the Big 12 Football Media Day event in Frisco, Texas, on July 8, Klieman at his news conference on Monday said that "there's great excitement" while preaching consistency among a 110-man roster that includes 13 players that started at least five games last year and seven that earned All-Big 12 honors in 2024, and a roster that also features 15 Division I/II transfers.
"At the end of the day, it's just the recovery, and getting prepared for the next day," Klieman said. "That's the challenge. That's fall camp. That's what everybody has to face, is the fact that you're up here a little bit after 6:00 a.m. and out of here at around 9:00 p.m. with a lot of activity and meetings and walk-throughs and practice. It's the fall camp grind that all of us know. It's getting those young guys and new guys to develop a routine and that's how they win the dang day."
It appears they have several capable leaders to learn from.
"I believe this year we have a collective group of leaders, not just four or five," Klieman said. "In the past, maybe we had an Austin Moore, who was an Alpha guy, a Hayden Gillum, a KT Leveston, Noah Johnson, Kade Warner and Daniel Green. Now I think we have a collective group of guys that can really lead."
That, of course, starts with junior quarterback Avery Johnson, the 6-foot-3 native of Wichita who said at Big 12 Media Day that he would play above 200 pounds this season, and who has been touted as one of the best signal-callers in the Big 12 this fall.
"He's doing a really good job holding people and himself accountable and never being satisfied," Klieman said. "We're through practice five and I haven't seen the best of Avery yet. He'd tell you the same thing, which I like. He's hungry. He's never satisfied, and I really appreciate that about Avery before a lot of people hold him on a pedestal because he's the in-state kid who's stayed home. My appreciation for Avery is there's so much more in him and we haven't seen it yet.
"He knows there's more in him, and he's not going to be satisfied."
One player who coaches believe demonstrated some leadership capabilities this summer is not participating in training camp.
Klieman began his news conference by addressing senior left tackle George Fitzpatrick, an Ohio State transfer and likely starter, who suffered a medical situation at the end of summer workouts. Klieman said that Fitzpatrick is back in Manhattan and "doing much better."
"He's been to the facility a handful of times and really, it's just a day-to-day basis with George," Klieman said. "We don't really have a timetable but he's doing a lot better."
Klieman addressed the offensive tackle position in Fitzpatrick's absence.
"John Pastore was probably going to play 50 snaps a game last year until he got injured in fall camp," Klieman said. "He's playing left tackle right now. Terrence Enos Jr. is playing right tackle. Andrew Leingang is playing right and left tackle. Gus Hawkins is playing some right tackle, and Drake Bequeaith is playing some left tackle. So, we have some guys there that are providing some depth.
"The health of Pastore has us really excited about — George will be back — we have some other guys."
Klieman indicated that there appeared to be depth at quarterback as well in Blake Barnett, Jacob Knuth and Dillon Duff.
"Through five days, I see those guys doing some splash things, but who can be the most consistent?" Klieman said. "That's going to be an ongoing process probably throughout most of fall camp. I don't know if we'll be ready to name a guy by the end of fall camp or not because fall camp butts up against a game and game prep. We'll have to figure that out. It's a good battle.
"Jacob has been here the longest and probably feels really comfortable in what we're doing. Blake makes plays. He's got to minimize some mistakes as do all the quarterbacks. Dillion is learning, but he's getting the chance to get more reps so the few reps he got in the spring he's learned from and continues to improve every day. All three of those guys are going to continue to battle for that two spot."
On the other side of the ball, a battle could be underway for spots in the defensive secondary, where only senior free safety VJ Payne returns as a full-time starter. Klieman pointed out that the other returning defensive backs bring experience to the table.
"Colby McCalister has played a lot of football for us, Jack Fabris has played a lot of football for us, Gunner Maldonado started for three years at Arizona, Zashon Rich and Donovan McIntosh started the Rate Bowl and that experience helped them, and Justice Clemons has played two years at a high level," Klieman said. "It's not like you've got a bunch of guys who've never played before. We've got a lot of guys who've played a lot of football, whether it's here or somewhere else.
"Qua Moss came in at semester and is playing at a really high level right now for us. He and Daniel Cobbs and Kanijal Thomas are helping us out at nickel when we play some third-down stuff. We have some depth there — it's just you probably don't have a splash guy right now like Jacob Parrish of Marquis Sigle. But we have a lot of talent back there. We're excited because we can rotate some guys there, and that's important to us."
Meanwhile, the rotation at the wide receiver position could prove dangerous in the fall. K-State returns starter Jayce Brown and brought in a few talented transfers in Jerand Bradley, Caleb Medford and Jaron Tibbs. Couple that with K-State's collection of less-experienced or younger wide receivers, and Klieman, offensive coordinator Matt Wells and wide receivers coach Matthew Middleton could have their hands full — a good problem to have.
"Adonis Moise has done a really good job, Jemyri Davis has done a really good job, Issac Koch has been a great special teams player for us and is trying to get into that mix of five or six and is doing some really good things," Klieman said. "We have to keep pushing Sterling Lockett so we can use Jayce outside and inside, and Sterling can play the slot because Sterling has done a good job. We're trying to move more guys around, which sometimes will stunt their growth from a mental standpoint in having to learn multiple positions, but we probably need to do that so that if the fourth-best guy is only playing one position and someone else gets hurt we have to be able to move him to another position to get the best players on the field. That has helped us there."
One, if not two, of the Wildcats' most potent threats in the passing game might not be a wide receiver or tight end.
"A guy that jumps out at me that's a skilled kid that's playing some wide receiver, a running back for us, is DeVon Rice," Klieman said. "DeVon Rice flashes. He's a fast, explosive kid who was injured some in the spring and didn't get a great chance, and he had a really good kick return last year against Colorado but was just trying to find his way. He's an explosive guy that's playing with a lot of confidence.
"It helps us a bunch to have that other person with Dylan Edwards of the same skill set. We could put them both in the backfield or both out as a wide receiver or in the return game."
Klieman didn't address too many true freshmen during his news conference, as he hoped to see them do more on the practice field, but he didn't shy from discussing tight end Linkon Cure, the highest-rated player ever to sign at K-State. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Cure, a native of Goodland, Kansas, joins perhaps the most talented collection of tight ends in college football in 2025.
"Mentally, just like all our freshmen, you're swimming a little bit, because it's a lot of install in a short period of time," Klieman said. "(Tight ends coach) Luke Wells tried to get him up to speed as well as he could in the summer, but our summer was a lot shorter than it typically was. I'm confident Linkon, throughout fall camp, will continue to learn. He's with the biggest veteran group we have in the tight end room, and they're all putting their arm around him and helping him on the mental side of learning what we're doing.
"You can tell the physical skills are out there. You can tell he can really run and go and catch the football and be physical at the point of attack. It's the technique part of it. Linkon is 240 pounds, so he's put on some great weight from the end of track season to where he is now."
Cure, like the Wildcats, is just getting started.
Asked if after five practices he could put his thumb on what makes these 2025 Wildcats tick, Klieman replied, "We're going to find that out."
"The big thing that we've hammered on all through the offseason is handling adversity," Klieman said. "Everybody can handle things — it's not going to be 70 and sunny every day. Everybody can handle it then. How are we going to handle when we get punched in the mouth? Because we are going to get punched in the mouth, and we're going to get punched in the mouth in practice — offense beats defense, and defense beats offense — and the weather beats us, whatever it may be. How do we handle that adversity? That's the challenge we put on our guys all the time.
"That's going to be the tale of our season this year."
Players Mentioned
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