Watch Coach Klieman’s Press Conference  |  Listen to Coach Klieman’s Press Conference  |  Listen to Player Breakout Interviews

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and select players met with members of the media on Tuesday inside the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview Saturday’s season opener against SEMO. Links to video and audio of Klieman’s press conference – which was streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ – are above in addition to an audio link of player breakout interviews. A transcript of Klieman’s opening statement is below.

CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH

Opening Statement…

“Well, good afternoon, everyone. We’re excited for game week. It’ll be fun to watch a lot of veteran guys play that are excited about getting the season started, and then all the new guys that are going to have an opportunity to play out at the Bill for the first time. We have a number of young players that we feel are getting better and just need those game experience reps. So, I think we’ll play an awful lot of guys, partly because of injury and partly because we just want to find out more about people, especially on special teams. We know this is going to be a really good football game. Coach Tuke (Tom Matukewicz) does a great job at SEMO. I’ve known about his program and SEMO for a long time. They’re a playoff team, perennially, in the FCS. They’re probably the best team in the OVC this year. They have really good talent. So, we’ve got to play exceptional football to give ourselves an opportunity to be successful. That’s the key for us. We’ve got to continue to push these young guys because they need to show up and then play well on Saturday.”