Watch Coach Klein’s Press Conference | Listen to Coach Klein’s Press Conference | Listen to Staff Breakout Interviews
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Collin Klein, running backs coach Brian Anderson, tight ends/fullbacks coach Brian Lepak, wide receivers coach Matthew Middleton and offensive line coach Conor Riley met with members of the media on Wednesday inside the Vanier Family Football Complex as the Wildcats are the midst of spring practices. Links to video and audio of Klein’s press conference are above in addition to an audio link of staff breakout interviews. A partial transcript of Klein’s press conference is below.
COLLIN KLEIN, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On what he wants to see out of quarterback Will Howard during the spring…
“Will does such a great job of mastering his craft. The game of football and the quarterback position, you could spend every minute, all day, every day watching tape, fundamental principles, drills, improvements and you’d still be busy. So, for him, just to continue to push the envelope of his own game, whether it’s footwork, progression discipline or defensive recognition. I think – not that he wasn’t great at the line of scrimmage last year – but even just his comfort level this year compared to this time last year of being able to manage and run the offense. Whether it be little tweaks here or there or massive play changes or whatever, he’s doing a fantastic job and just being able to push the envelope.”
On considering other career options this offseason…
“It was obviously a tremendous honor to get that phone call, but again, I felt like going through the process the Lord really put on my heart that there was still work to do here. Knowing that my mission here wasn’t done and my guys really are the two things that made me a peace with knowing I’m supposed to be here.”
On Jake Rubley possibly being the No. 2 quarterback…
“It’s a competition. All three of those three main guys behind him will be competing through the duration. All three of those guys have done really, really good things. Jake obviously has a head start with his age and his experiences. But it’s a competition. Each one of those guys are going to have to earn it every day.”
On the breakdown of the three guys behind Will Howard…
“You can definitely tell that the game has slowed down for Jake a little bit. He’s got tremendous arm talent. It comes out of his hand and is accurate. He is able to really spread the field with his arm. Like I said, his comfort with the offense has allowed him to play faster and anticipate things better. Adryan Lara, now going into his second year in the program, he’s got tremendous arm talent. The field gets incredibly small when he’s back there. He can spread it around with attachments, with downfield passing game and do so from any platform at any time. His core strength is outstanding, and he’s a very natural passer. He’s still trying to get comfortable with the offense and what’s going on around him, but he’s done a great job and made extreme improvement from even the middle of last fall to now. He’s done a great job. I would say Avery (Johnson) coming in is, obviously, just kind of learning the lay of the land and trying to operate to allow him to use his skills. He’s obviously got the best wheels of the group, which is well documented. But again, all three of those guys have very strong arms, they’re accurate, natural passers of the football, all three of them study. I come up here early in the morning before our meetings start, and multiple guys are in here studying, drawing, asking questions, helping each other. I think that environment is truly tremendous for all of them as they go through this process.”
On Avery Johnson’s progression of gaining weight…
“Good. I think he’s 10ish pounds up, give or take, based on the date since when he got here. Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) and his staff are doing a tremendous job. I think for him, he was always competing at something, doing so many sports in high school. So, I think his growth physically will happen pretty fast that he’s just doing football, being able to spend some time in the weight room. It’s coming together.”
On if there is a too big of weight for Will Howard…
“I think more body composition – kind of to your question. Scott Trausch, our team nutritionist, does an outstanding job with body compositions and really, with Coach Tru’s staff, honed in on each individual’s specific goals and how their weight program works within that. Will’s weight, we wouldn’t want that to change drastically either way, him continuing to work on the quickness of his feet. Dropping a little bit of body fat and making that weight a little bit leaner is something that he’s working on, and I think will help his game. Again, as those quarterbacks being elastic athletes, core strength and flexibility are obviously extremely important in that realm.”
On what most excites him about getting back to work with the offense…
“It’s been a learning process for all of us. It’s been extremely exciting. Obviously, through any journey, there’s going to be challenges and things you have to overcome. This time last year, we were trying to really build and reestablish some things foundationally, offensively, and how we wanted to do things. So, being able to kind of build on that so now everyone’s not learning how to even operate, how to communicate and all those things, we can kind of continue to push into those second and third levels of how we want to use now what we have. So, it’s an unbelievable group to work with. You look at upfront, those guys are charismatic bunch, they work their butts off and really set the tone for all of us offensively. Then you got the leadership and some of the skill that we have around them coming together, it’s extremely exciting. There’s a lot of a lot of players that we’re excited to try, and as a coaching staff, push and again showcase all of their abilities to the best that we can to make us successful.”
