- 6 days ago
The Voice Of K-State Sports Wyatt Thompson checks in to talk K-State Football
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00:00It'll be with us each and every Monday here pretty quick, wrapping up the weekend's game and looking ahead to
00:06the next one.
00:07We are that close, right? How are you this morning?
00:09I'm doing very, very well. Good to be on with you guys.
00:12You're right, man. First day of classes here at Kansas State. Everybody's excited.
00:17Camp is basically over. Now they're a couple of weeks from playing, and I can't wait, man.
00:22We've had a very interesting camp, I think, in all honesty. I think everybody that follows K-State knows that
00:29they've had an injury or two, but that's football, man.
00:34It happens. Let's go. Let's go play.
00:36I want to get your take on, and we'll talk about all the happenings in college sports right now in
00:40a little bit, but as we're talking about K-State and you bring it up and camp and a couple
00:45injuries, it feels to me like the biggest question might be the offensive line,
00:50and I just want to sort of get your take on it. Are they going to be good enough for
00:55K-State to reach its potential?
00:58And I think the potential is good enough to win the Big 12. I don't know if that's a fair
01:01expectation, but I think the potential is that high.
01:04But we all know if you've ever watched football, you can't do much without a good offensive line, and I
01:09think that's been the biggest question we've seen or heard from people watching them.
01:14Well, I don't think there's any question that the offensive line is the key to the team, but truthfully, it
01:21was that before the injuries and before camp started.
01:24You had just one returning starter there in past story, and let's be honest, that's a pretty difficult loss.
01:33Preseason first team All-Big 12 left tackle. Those are two pretty big deals, right?
01:40Can they overcome it? Can they be what they want to be? I think potentially yes is the answer, but
01:47they're going to have to have some things kind of bounce their way and go right.
01:53And I guess what I would mean by that is I think you have two guys there that are really
02:01key, Jake, to be real honest with you.
02:02And both are kind of somewhat coming back from being nicked up a little bit.
02:07Tanner Morley, Colorado State transfer, really good player.
02:13I'm hopeful that he'll be ready by opening week, but it's not a guarantee.
02:17Keaton Jones, the transfer from Missouri, is another guy that I think will be a key individual, and he is
02:24now back practicing again, so that's really good news.
02:28I think they have enough pieces, but again, with that left tackle position, what happens now?
02:36And I don't think we really know for sure yet.
02:38Could it be somebody like Ryan Howard?
02:42Could it be Tyler Johnson?
02:43Could it be the freshman from Cherry Creek in Denver, Oliver Miller?
02:47But you get that from what I'm saying.
02:50That's three guys that are potentially guys that are capable of playing that.
02:55They could also move Gus Hawkins from right to left and work to the right side to replace him there.
03:02So they do have options, but they're going to have to be put together pretty quickly here in a couple
03:10of weeks
03:10and hopefully stay a little bit more healthy than they have been to be, in my opinion, what they want
03:16to be and what you're asking about.
03:19So, Wyatt, I guess that kind of makes it the first challenge for Klein as coach of K-State, right?
03:25It's like, you know, as far as where we're going to evaluate him immediately, it's probably going to be like,
03:30well, how much depth is shored up in the offensive line?
03:33And I guess, where do we feel about that right now as far as the overall depth of the offensive
03:38line?
03:39Well, I think for the most part, it's pretty good.
03:42Coach Klein had told me that you really want to try to be at least seven deep.
03:47And I think when you start counting bodies there, I think even with the losses, they are that.
03:54But it's just guys are going to have to come through.
03:57Tyler Johnson, let's take him as an example.
03:59He's a transfer from Auburn, which would give you pretty indication that he has a tall, large quality frame, has
04:08a chance to be a really good football player, but hasn't necessarily had a great chance to show what he
04:15can be.
04:16He may get that now, right?
04:18I think he's going to get it, whether he is a starter or not, if I'm being honest.
04:23Ryan Howard, I'm so proud of Ryan.
04:25It's Will's brother, if you're not aware.
04:27He's a downing town, Pennsylvania kid.
04:30And I'm proud of him from this perspective.
04:33He's been here a while now.
04:35Excuse me.
04:37And with the new people in the strength and conditioning department led by Jeremy Jacobs, he has really retooled his
04:43body.
04:43He's in the best shape of his life.
04:45He's had a good camp.
04:48I'll never forget when I first saw him on the sideline in a spring practice when Will was quarterbacking.
04:53I said to Kenny Leneau, our media relations director, oh, my God, who is that guy?
04:58And he said, and I quote, as he does the quote in parentheses, he says, that is Will Howard's little
05:06brother.
05:08I'll never forget it, because there's nothing little about Ryan Howard.
05:13And then, you know, there's been a lot of talk, to be honest with you, about Oliver Miller.
05:19I don't know if you guys have heard much about this guy, but wow, you can tell he's been really
05:24well coached.
05:25He has a big-time frame, big-time motor.
05:28He's really smart.
05:30It's rare, really rare, for a freshman to come in and start at this level.
05:36But he is going to play, whether he starts or not, and he's going to play tackle, guard, whatever.
05:44That's the other thing about him.
05:45He's been well-schooled, and not only here, but prior.
05:49He's going to be a factor, 100%.
05:52It'll be key, because I look at the schedule, Wyatt Thompson, voice of the K-State Wildcats joining us, our
05:57weekly visits begin right now.
06:00I look at the schedule, and I honestly, like, we, and I'm guilty of this, too, never, in college football,
06:09pay enough attention to what the schedule is.
06:12Right.
06:12And what we perceive it is.
06:14And I look at it, and all the perceived most difficult games are at home, basically, until the very end
06:24of the season with Iowa State.
06:26I mean, if we had to jot these down on paper right now, Wyatt, I'm not sure K-State's not
06:31favored in every game they play outside of that finale.
06:37It's strange.
06:39Like, we need to probably pay as much attention to who they play as how they play.
06:44At least on August 24th.
06:46Yeah.
06:47You know, it's a really good point, and I've been saying this, and there are others that have seen this.
06:52When I first saw the schedule, it's hard not to notice no Tech, no BYU, no Utah.
06:59Right?
07:00But we all know that this is a league that is pretty balanced.
07:05It is a league that you're going to play a lot of close games.
07:08I think we're going to get that out of the teams like Oklahoma State and Houston, probably Kansas, probably Colorado
07:16and Boulder.
07:17You mentioned Iowa State.
07:19But let's be blunt and honest here.
07:22It is an advantage to not see those three teams.
07:25And everybody has seen that in looking at Kansas State's schedule under first-year head coach Colin Klein.
07:32What I would say, too, is I think there are a couple of games there that concern you a little
07:39bit in terms of probably winnable games if your mind is right.
07:44You execute and those kind of things.
07:46And they're relatively early.
07:49Tulane, I'll remind everybody, won 11 games a year ago.
07:52The last time they were here, they beat Kansas State.
07:55They gave K-State everything they wanted the last time we saw them in New Orleans.
08:00Yes, they have a new coach.
08:02Yes, they have a lot of change, but so do we.
08:04And then that following game at Cincinnati, first game of the year on the road, first conference game,
08:10you cannot, under any circumstances, take that for granted.
08:15Are they winnable games?
08:17Sure.
08:17I think they all are.
08:19But, again, you've got to go do it.
08:21I've said this a million times, and I'll say it to you guys.
08:24This is the deal.
08:25K-State was 6-6 last year, and they were just fractionally this much away from being 9-3.
08:31But what did they do?
08:33They did not.
08:34Did not win close games.
08:36They've got to do that this time.
08:39Yeah, absolutely, Wyatt.
08:40I keep looking back at last year's scores, and it seems like the average margin of loss
08:45was like three points or less on a lot of those games.
08:48And they didn't play well, either, most of last year.
08:51Right.
08:51Yeah.
08:52Up and down, right?
08:54And I think what encourages me, though, is that last year they struggled a little bit
09:01and kind of just out of the gate with the game in Ireland, right?
09:07That didn't go as planned.
09:09Then they come home and lose a non-con game, which doesn't happen very often.
09:14And then you get into those hard conference games, and you lose the gun against Baylor
09:19and Waco, as an example.
09:20You know, those types of games.
09:23Even struggled to beat Oklahoma State in Stillwater because it's a hard place to play, right?
09:29So, again, I think they have the chance to be better, especially offensively.
09:36I'm excited about Colin being the head coach, but also the offensive play caller.
09:42You go back and look at the numbers in the two years that he was the O.C. here, they're
09:47pretty good.
09:48And I think we have the ability to be a balanced team that can play, if they want to, a
09:55little faster,
09:56hopefully a little bit more physically.
09:58We'll see how that plays out.
10:00You know, Wyatt, talking about the new head coach, Colin Klein, you know,
10:04we all know he's a younger guy, one of the younger coaches, you know, in college football right now.
10:08But as we also know, a very, very old school approach to things and being pretty,
10:15I'd say keeping a lot closer to the vest probably would be the way to put it.
10:19You know, when it comes to this new climate, the college football,
10:23and Jacob and I have been trying to follow all this litigation and legislation
10:27and trying to stay on top of it, and it changes from one hour to the next,
10:31it feels like what happens in this court and this state and this court and that state.
10:36We haven't heard much from Colin Klein.
10:38I mean, like a lot of coaches, you know, issuing a lot of their disgust with a lot of this
10:42and trying to deal with it.
10:44But I imagine even Colin Klein probably can get a little frustrated with a lot of this
10:50and just how much unknown there is right now.
10:53Well, it's a pretty fair statement, I think.
10:56I think the state of the game frustrates all coaches, in all honesty.
11:01It's probably how you handle it.
11:04I do think they are trying in some ways to kind of get their arms back around it, so to
11:11speak.
11:11But yet over the weekend, what do we see?
11:13We saw a guy that was in an NFL camp signed with LSU.
11:17That makes no sense.
11:19It should not be happening anywhere.
11:22But who knows how that's going to play?
11:25Will he really play this year, right?
11:27And the truth is, K-State just got a commitment from a kid who has requalified.
11:32He's going to be here on Wednesday.
11:36So everybody's trying to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak.
11:41You know, there's so much money on the table now with – I mean, I saw a graphic this weekend
11:47on X about quarterbacks in the Big 12,
11:50and most of them that were listed were in the $2 million a year range.
11:54That's a lot of money for nine months worth of work, fellas.
11:57So this is what it is.
11:58But in regard to Colin respectfully, I think he handles it better than most.
12:07And I say that because he's young.
12:11He understands it.
12:13He embraces it.
12:15Works with it.
12:16Has a really good young GM in Trey Scott.
12:20They're very similar in age.
12:22And, you know, he spent 10 years with – well, actually a little over 10 years working in professional football.
12:29So I think he has a pretty good idea of how to, you know, handle those types of things
12:33and take a little bit of that away from Colin and let him coach the football team.
12:37And that's kind of where everybody's at now, right or wrong.
12:40Yeah, it's interesting, Wyatt, and that we try to follow it here.
12:44I don't know if you saw the news Wichita State added a fifth-year guy back to the basketball team.
12:49And his case is a true 2022, only played four years.
12:54What is your sense of after this class of 2022 situation, which I would tell you a lot of those
13:03guys have, I think,
13:04a very legitimate argument that they kind of got screwed on that deal.
13:08Do you think, regardless of what Congress does, as you watch and observe this,
13:14is the five-in-five rule going to be enforceable by the NCAA?
13:20Or is it a constant challenge?
13:22Like, is that something they can actually make stick?
13:25Because if that's the case after this year, we kind of don't have any more problems with this.
13:31Well, let me compliment you on the question because, one, you're the first to ask it like that.
13:36And I think it is one of the biggest questions out there.
13:40What I would tell you is the thing that's different now from my perspective alone,
13:46and I have a little input from the Gene Taylors of the world and, you know, Tim Weiser and people
13:51like that,
13:53I think the NCAA is digging their heels in on this one, and they're going to do five for five
13:57and do everything they can to get it through.
13:59And I do think there are coaches, including Colin Klein, and a lot of others around the Big 12
14:05that have come out pretty strongly and said, this is a good change.
14:10We need to do this.
14:11It takes away all of the grayness of the blue shirt, gray shirt, red shirt, whatever.
14:17Your clock starts, five years to play five, and then you're done, and let's get out of this, you know,
14:24bringing kids back that didn't make NFL rosters or NBA rosters and all of that.
14:29I think that's what they want to do.
14:31You get your five years and you're done.
14:32There's no, you know, very little leeway, let's say.
14:36Now, are there exceptions to every rule?
14:39Of course, right?
14:40And John Pastore might be a perfect example here, right?
14:44Will he petition and potentially get what I used to call and what we used to call a hardship waiver?
14:54If there's ever anybody that's going to get one, it'd be him.
14:57Didn't play it down, right?
14:59But I don't know that he'll get it or not.
15:02It's going to be really interesting to see.
15:04I love this subject because it is kind of hanging there on the cliff, right?
15:07And we don't know exactly how it's going to play out.
15:11I would tell you this, why.
15:12I think from a fan's perspective, if they can, I don't know what's going to come out of Congress.
15:19I do know that that stuff has gotten into the weeds a little bit.
15:24And it's all important.
15:25But from a fan's perspective, I feel like if five and five is enforceable after they, you know, get through
15:31the class of 22, which is a little bit more tricky.
15:34But if they can do that and get the transfer one time for free thing through, if you could just
15:44do those two things from a fan's perspective, I think we'd have everything fixed.
15:49I think we'd be good.
15:50I'm in 100% agreement with that.
15:53And I think every coach is, too.
15:55That's probably the key.
15:57And probably you could throw athletic directors in there, too, or any kind of athletic department personnel.
16:03I think it's the most fair thing.
16:06I mean, I don't know if, you know, the rev share is everybody gets a certain amount, right?
16:12So that's pretty even.
16:13If you do the five for five, those types of things that you're describing, that's pretty even.
16:19Really, the only thing that wouldn't be even after that, if all of this goes through, is the secondary rev
16:25share, right, which is going to be different at Ohio State than it is at Oklahoma State.
16:31Let's be honest.
16:32That's probably never going to change.
16:34But I profess to people on that subject is there's always been a difference between them.
16:43It's just a different, different now.
16:45Does that make sense?
16:46I've been saying that forever.
16:47Exactly.
16:48People act like only now Ohio State and Alabama have an advantage.
16:53Yeah.
16:54And the other factor is, and just throw it out there so everybody knows what the secondary deal is, is
16:59television revenue.
17:00It's probably never going to be even, Steven, all the way through, right?
17:04Are we going to have a 16-team playoff?
17:06Are we going to have a 20-team playoff, 24-team playoff?
17:10Those things are apples and oranges, right?
17:12But those two things are probably never going to be, you know, apples to apples, oranges to oranges, even Steven.
17:19I just don't see it happening.
17:20I don't.
17:22And the reason I don't is, is because I think television and those two, the biggest leagues, the SEC and
17:28the Big Ten, they don't, what's the advantage of them of trying to get everybody on an even page?
17:33There's no advantage to them.
17:35And they shouldn't.
17:36And they shouldn't be.
17:37They put more butts in the seats.
17:39They're better.
17:39They're more attractive TV.
17:40They shouldn't be even.
17:41Wyatt, we appreciate it.
17:43We got one more week to sort through that stuff.
17:45We will have a full Nichols State scouting report a week from today.
17:50Get ready, everybody.
17:52Voice of the K-State Wildcats, Wyatt Thompson, back in the weekly groove.
17:56Appreciate it, Wyatt.
17:56Looking forward to all the conversations.
17:58Me too.
17:58Looking forward to it also.
17:59Good to talk to you, fellas.
18:00Take care, man.
18:01Here goes Wyatt Thompson.
18:02We're going to take a quick break.
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