- 7 weeks ago
The Voice Of The Wildcats Wyatt Thompson checks in to talk K-States Impressive game 1 victory
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00:00to uh get this segment going Wyatt I don't know how you could be any more excited as a K
00:06-State fan
00:07uh I don't you know Monday's a holiday it's it's Nickel State we want to just have everybody tap
00:15those brakes just a little bit but man it's gonna be hard to get them to tap now after 71
00:22to 3
00:23goodness gracious yeah you said that perfectly because the team was they pretty much accomplished
00:30everything that Colin Klein said he wanted prior to the game with me um and several others I don't
00:37mean that is totally exclusivity there but you know what their effort was really good for the most part
00:44for four quarters I think you probably start there um if you really look at it honestly they
00:52they didn't have much where they put the ball on the ground Avery threw the ball he was 15 of
00:5921 and
01:00he probably could have been 18 or 19 to 21 if you want to know the truth um I thought
01:05the defense
01:06really competed tackled well for the most part just a lot of really good things and then you know all
01:12those ancillary things like the the lights and you know Willie doing the nearly 400 push-ups and all
01:18that kind of stuff with 71 points it was pretty good opening night let's put it that way but
01:25yeah Wyatt I mean the energy was there I mean basically well what a difference a year makes I
01:31mean that was a whole whole thing I was uh telling a lot of friends uh compared to last year
01:36and now
01:37granted we we keep talking about how things went overseas last year against Iowa State in that game in
01:41Dublin and if that was a win for K-State we're probably looking at it completely different
01:47and and summing it up in a completely different way but it didn't go that way and we know kind
01:53of
01:53how that feeling that that seemingly was felt all season long because of that game
02:00this week this time boy that that was just so refreshing that was like that was a lot more fun
02:07and again when you uh go over 70 points for only the third time in school history
02:12and Colin Klein's debut and also the great shout out that uh Chris Kleiman had during the game as well
02:18I mean just overall very special way to open the season for K-State but also just to open
02:25this era with uh with Colin Klein you you said so much there and I I do want to hit
02:30on the Chris
02:31Kleiman thing because he was asked to to open the door to let the players come out Colin was really
02:39excited about that and talked afterwards and yesterday during his media gathering about you know
02:45just what a class person uh Coach Kleiman has has been and and he's all of that of course uh
02:52from my
02:52perspective uh very consistent in how he went about his business and um that part of it was really
02:59really great too um you know it was a steamy day uh and yet maybe um as as the clouds
03:08kind of rolled
03:08in around five-ish or maybe a little bit before that I wasn't in it so it's it's easy for
03:14me to
03:14sit here and say it was pretty bearable but I think what made it bearable was once the game started
03:19and
03:20you started to see all of the things that were happening uh people kind of started forgetting about
03:25the forget forgetting about the heat and and uh enjoying a very very pretty good performance on
03:32the football field for K-State they did let's talk let let let's dig into it a little bit it's
03:37yeah
03:37it's nickels it's tough let's start with the biggest question everybody had going into the game which was
03:44the offensive line and no Colin Klein you know took the time to shout out a lot of guys on
03:49the offensive
03:50line it's it's not fair to probably set the expectations for this group on what we see from
03:59nickels state so what can you take away from it with that group great question from my perspective
04:05and this one even took me aback yesterday during the presser because coach Klein mentioned that in
04:13terms of the offensive line that it was a really good job well done effort and when he said we
04:20had
04:20zero MAs and there were some looks they're like wait let me think about what that means
04:26those are missed assignments and and and to have pretty much none of those um says I think a lot
04:36about how they played in unison and I think that's what he liked the the most right um everybody was
04:43going to focus in on Ryan Howard at left tackle because of what happened to John Pastore and I was
04:48one of
04:49them I was right in that mix but I think I mentioned with you guys you know over the last
04:54couple of
04:55shows that you know I I've said that these these guys in the other positions have a chance to be
05:03pretty good football players but there was just one start among the group and that was Gus Hawkins
05:09I thought Gus was good I I thought that you know everybody up there was solid is the questions
05:17answered no are we going to be talking about it you know when the competition ramps up a little bit
05:21yeah probably so but but I do think you have to be at least a little bit excited about you
05:28know
05:28some of the things you saw um Ryan Howard Dylan Villarreal at center I thought he did a magnificent
05:36job with the checks and all of those things no missed assignments you could go on and on but
05:42I know they love Keaton Jones um you know what Charlie Adams nobody probably even knows who Charlie
05:51Adams is but I thought he played really really well Dorte was okay with his snaps so there were
05:57a lot of good things there now this week they've got Washington State who has a really solid defensive
06:04front and two really good defensive ends let's see what we're talking about next Monday right I mean
06:10that's probably going to be one of the one of the things Wyatt uh talking about uh the running backs
06:18Jacob and I hit on that just a little bit uh right at the top of the show but Rodney
06:22Fields Jr
06:22well he uh we know his name now for sure don't we yeah he yeah and and and I think
06:30everybody
06:30if you go back and listen to what we've been talking about I mentioned that okay we may not
06:37have a Deuce Vaughn maybe even we don't have a DJ Giddens but in unison with those three guys
06:44I don't know that we've seen in recent times a stable of guys like that and that to me that
06:53is
06:53that is a real strength they're all productive in what they do they're all a little bit different
06:58I do think um coach Klein did mention that uh Rodney got the nod because of how he practiced
07:06a little bit better than the other two over the last couple of weeks and I think that you reward
07:10players that do those kind of things and he didn't disappoint not only did he have a hundred yard
07:16game but he did it in 14 carries right and yeah again we go back and say it for 100th
07:22time it was
07:23Nichols right but but I think you have to be pleased with what you saw with those guys and even
07:29all the
07:29way down to the fourth guy if if your fourth guy is Montario Elston not all bad well and Aver
07:37Johnson
07:37and his legs also need to factor into that and he didn't I he didn't run it much four times
07:44that
07:45was the whole storyline all year long last year why didn't he run why didn't well I think it's
07:51he's going to be his development as a passer that makes or breaks K-State this year but he didn't
07:55need
07:56to run much in this one I you know I don't think when they're blowing people out are they going
07:59to
07:59have Avery take off and run it's if this is my opinion why okay if Avery Johnson is going to
08:08be
08:08the best version of Avery Johnson and take K-State to its to its absolute ceiling it will be because
08:14he's developed tremendously as a passer who can run not a runner who can pass I think that's more
08:22than accurate um you know one thing that that keeps hanging with me when Colin Klein talks about
08:30Avery is just that step he took uh in camp um in in almost every way but I think some
08:41of it what I mean
08:42I I saw almost all of the practices guys I think I only missed a couple one was for a
08:47funeral and
08:48what have you but the point is is he was really consistent in everything and I think that's what
08:54uh Coach Klein has been uh wanting to see and hoping for I think uh Avery's worked really hard on
09:01the
09:01past game if you if you go back and look now in in fairness to everyone when you grade him
09:07it's pretty
09:08easy to say he looked pretty good because um there was not a lot of pressure there was one throw
09:15all
09:15night where he had a guy kind of hanging on him when he let it go other than that it
09:19was about as
09:20clean a pocket as you could possibly hope for and that's why I say he could he could have been
09:2418 out
09:25of you know 21 uh but the the thing that I think was really pretty good is that you know
09:34a lot of the
09:35receivers were involved which I was hoping to see and K-State didn't get a lot of production out of
09:41the
09:41tight end room necessarily and I really thought they would let's see what happens this week because
09:46I know they love Lincoln Cure and and Garrett Oakley and Will Anseo you realize Anseo had
09:51the most snaps at tight end so that was a little bit of an oddity too I suppose maybe some
09:57of that was
09:57the blocking part of it too. Now you mentioned Cure uh what did you think of such an early two
10:03-point
10:03conversion was that just an opportunity to practice it uh what were you what was kind of the
10:07motivation there you think? I have been asked so much about that because uh I think it was a little
10:14bit it caught everybody off guard I even had a a dear friend out in western Kansas say do you
10:20have
10:20a copy of the video because I was turning around after the touchdown high-fiving a friend and by the
10:26time I turned back around Lincoln's in the end zone I don't I want to find out more about it
10:32myself
10:33because Stan said he wasn't sure that it was Stanton who called it uh and going for the two-point
10:41try
10:42I need to talk to him more about that and find out what the what the the deal was there
10:47uh but
10:48it was a surprise to to everybody but and early yeah surprising certainly it was all of that
10:57uh let's talk about the other side of the ball Wyatt defense yeah it's you know whenever you have
11:03historic days offensively it's easy to overlook holding Nichols to three points they got over I
11:11think 40 in their opener I don't know what that means but you know you held a college football team
11:17to a field goal in a game that's pretty hard to do and and it means you did it both
11:22with your
11:22starters and a lot of backups did we get any sense of anything from the defense because of the
11:28competition they played I don't I don't know how to grade we had kind of the same situation for KU
11:33yeah I like it but I don't really how to grade it yeah that's that's a fair thought because you
11:41do
11:41have to take into consideration what they were and and I I would say tell me if you agree with
11:47this
11:47I think K-State really took away for the most part their pass game they they were having because of
11:55the pressure they were having having to get rid of it in two two and a half seconds yeah so
12:01you didn't
12:01see a lot of sacks and those kind of things and so the the first thing was well Wendell Gregory
12:07didn't
12:08do much well if you talk to Colin Klein he played terrific yeah right so there's some give and take
12:14there
12:15I think and you touched on what I think is the best best part of it in that even in
12:22late in the game
12:23when the twos and threes are in they really didn't give up very much I think coach Klein appreciated the
12:30effort and the tackling and the physicality in which they played more challenges coming absolutely but
12:37I I would say overall you have to be pleased um with with what we saw just because they did
12:45do it
12:45right well nickels or otherwise we'll see what happens here in the next few weeks because they
12:50will be more tested in a big way yeah I mean 71 to 3 is 71 to 3 that's always
12:56going to put a smile on
12:57your face and uh you know it was also Colin Klein's first uh win as a head coach first game
13:05as a head
13:05coach but why I gotta say just watching and just watching his demeanor watching a postgame his press
13:13conference I didn't feel like his first game I mean and his demeanor didn't you didn't get that vibe
13:21that there was any nerves really or anything like that maybe it were and he hit it pretty well but
13:26he
13:26he seemed calm seemed like he's been coaching on the sideline not in the booth forever I mean it just
13:32he just seemed like uh just seemed really even keel yeah I think that's perfectly said and let me give
13:39you a couple of thoughts there one he was calling plays from the sideline a year ago at A&M
13:48he's in
13:48the booth that's a big difference and he talked about how the communication with he and the staff was
13:55really good because when you're calling plays and things happen to to maybe quote take you out of
14:02rhythm a little bit like a penalty and you have to think about the yardage and the decision to make
14:07whether to accept or whatever it might be I think he felt great about that the other thing was is
14:14I've
14:14had a couple of the assistant coaches say to me since the game concluded that his focus uh throughout
14:22the entirety of the game um and just the the continued thought about we've got to do this all the
14:29way
14:30through all the way through finish and I think he was thrilled that they did that those were the
14:36things that really stuck out to me I get a lot of questions about him and how much he is
14:40like coach
14:41Snyder we've talked about that a lot and he is in a large way 100 but there are some subtle
14:47differences
14:48too and I you know the modernization he I think he calls it the new old school for a reason
14:53because it
14:54is going to look a lot like what he learned from the boss so to speak but maybe with a
15:00little bit
15:00of a twist with with Colin Klein on it too and that you know what that's a good thing that's
15:04a good
15:04thing are you saying that are you saying the halftime speech was probably a little different than Lane
15:07Kiffin's I'm not sure if you've seen the video of Lane Kiffin's Wyatt um not safe for work uh but
15:13it's
15:13it gets the job done right keeping them motivated and focused in there uh was the job but one thing
15:20in a game like that that we don't see for the new head coach who's taking I'm not hearing you
15:25right
15:25now sorry I'm not hearing you okay uh Brady can you hear me I got you now Jacob oh there
15:32we go
15:32okay there we go so why what I was saying is are you saying is uh his halftime speech was
15:36probably
15:37different than Lane Kiffin's I'm not sure if you've seen Lane Kiffin went away again
15:42I don't know what's happening with the audio there Brady take it I don't know why you got me I
15:46do now
15:47yeah I hear you it's been cutting in and out okay okay yeah Jacob you were asking uh remind me
15:53again Jacob that that halftime speech for Colin Klein probably a little different than Lane Kiffin's oh
15:58yeah yeah yeah did you hear that Wyatt okay he was he's cutting really really hard okay yeah why
16:05Jacob was asking or I guess a nice little tongue-in-cheek joke that uh Colin Klein's halftime
16:11speech may be a little different than Lane Kiffin's yeah I don't know about that but but I
16:18I do know the post game was something I think he'll never I don't know if you saw the video
16:23to that
16:23it was really really cool and and let's go back to what we're saying a moment ago with Colin and
16:29how
16:29calm and what have you that he appears I did ask him in the pregame are you as calm as
16:36you
16:36you know portray yourself on the sideline or or whatever and uh and how nervous will you be and
16:42he says you're not human if you're not a little bit nervous but you can't let that get in the
16:46way of
16:47the how of doing your job and being uber focused and I think we saw that on display I don't
16:54know the
16:54Lane Kiffin thing I don't know what to say about that I mean he's I just am so proud of
16:59how this thing
17:00went um for those guys because it was like Colin Colin said to me last Thursday this has been eight
17:09months and in some ways it seems like eight and in some ways it seems like three years but I'm
17:15glad
17:15we're cooking now and we're playing games and I think it would you know I think it went awfully well
17:21yeah I can't excuse me can't complain about that sort of performance and that sort of debut and uh
17:30going into Washington State I mean I don't know how much uh you've heard from uh
17:35Colin Klein about Washington State or even moved on to that part yet um what do you what do you
17:41think
17:41the approach is I mean I I know that probably the biggest relief overall is that it's gonna be back
17:46at Bill Snyder Family Stadium yeah for sure in an 11 a.m. game that'll be a little bit different
17:51that'll be two in a row because Tulane's also at 11 I think with Washington State even though they
17:57lost on the road in Seattle um you could see that defensively they really hit you and they they are
18:04well coordinated their coordinator is known as one of the really good young coordinators in college
18:09football they struggled offensively uh they do have a dual threat quarterback who did not throw the ball
18:18necessarily very well there's a question as to whether you know one of their best receivers probably
18:23their best receiver Tony Freeman was dinged up in the game it'd be significant if he doesn't go and
18:27there's speculation that he might not but I think you have to get yourself away from Saturday and I could
18:35tell yesterday being around the coaches they've blown all the way past Nichols it's time to get back to
18:39work and get to going on this one because it's it's a much different challenge and a better challenge
18:45we got to see Washington State on TV a little bit against Washington they were kind of featured
18:49there for the Apple Cup Wyatt we appreciate it not sure if you can hear me good luck on the
18:53call
18:53this week thank you guys it should be do it should be a very interesting ball game I can't wait
18:58we're listening to it right here on KFH voice of the K-State Wildcats
19:03hang on everybody let's let's just you know let's let's get excited but let's get appropriately excited
19:08here uh and let's uh let's go