Watch Coach Klanderman’s Press Conference | Listen to Coach Klanderman’s Press Conference | Listen to Defensive Staff Breakout Interviews
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State defensive coordinator/safeties coach Joe Klanderman, linebackers coach Steve Stanard, defensive tackles coach Mike Tuiasosopo and defensive ends coach Buddy Wyatt 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 Klanderman’s press conference are above in addition to an audio link of staff breakout interviews. A partial transcript of Klanderman’s press conference is below.
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Opening Statement…
“I just want to say, before we get started, congratulations Coach (Jerome) Tang. What an awesome deal that is for him. My family and I listened to that (winning the Naismith Coach of the Year Award) on the radio while the award’s ceremony was going on. I felt like I was up for the award. I was kind of nervous when that was going on. When they said his name, I was legitimately elated for him. It’s awesome, just him as a representative of K-State. Just taking my family to the Octagon this year, we got over there several times, and it never disappointed. It’s fun to watch those guys play and the run they had. So, I just wanted to say before we got started, congratulations to him.”
On the relationship between football and men’s basketball…
“It’s awesome. Coach Tang has been active with us. I know he’s obviously had his hands full with recruiting, but he’s been to some practices. He’s been at games, obviously. He was kind of the crowd control guy there for a while. Just his passion, I think, is something that helps the whole campus.”
On if the spring is more about player development or schematic changes…
“A little bit of all. Yeah, we’re experimenting with a few new things. It’s kind of the same process as we did a year ago. We threw some things against the wall, maybe not in tremendous detail, and we kind of learned some of the details as we went. Some of it was stuff we just didn’t think we wanted to work through because it was too taxing mentally. We threw it out and didn’t even mess with it in the fall. Others were things that we thought at some point in the year we might touch, maybe against a certain opponent or a certain look. There’s a certain thing that we might want to do, we’d like the rep that a little bit in the spring. So, we’re getting some of that stuff out of the way. We’re trying to develop depth as best we can. The Daniel Greens of the world, the Austin Moores of the world, the guys that have played a tremendous amount of football – the Khalid Dukes, the Nate Matlacks – some of those guys we’re not taxing as much. We’re trying to find those guys that they’re going to play around and try to find the best combination of guys. There’s other guys that have played a little bit – the VJ Paynes of the world – that we’re trying to tax those guys mentally by maybe trying to get a couple of different positions and seeing what kind of stress load they can handle. Then, obviously, we’re going to be excited to get some of the injured guys back with us that aren’t participating in spring.”
On what questions this year’s defense needs to answer right now…
“For starters, what is our depth situation like? We can’t run into situations and expect to be successful like we were a year ago at safety, where, honestly, the roof caved in a little bit on us with all the injuries that piled up there. We got to be extraordinarily thin at the end of the year. Hopefully we can get to the point where, at every position across the board, we’re not running into that. That’s the biggest thing I think we’re trying to do right now.”
On if this is the best linebacker room they’ve had since they’ve been in Manhattan…
“Definitely, from an experience standpoint, from a knowledge and scheme standpoint, and I daresay from a leadership standpoint also. Those guys are just incredible. When we talk about the Austin Moores, the Daniel Greens, but then you take some of these young guys into the mix, too, that have just incredible ability – a Jake Clifton, Tobi Osunsanmi, and then guys like Des (Desmond) Purnell who found a role last year and have gotten so much better, so much more comfortable. Then there’s a number of other guys in that room that I’m not mentioning, but that is a really good source of strength for our defense right now.”
On if Terry Kirksey Jr. can lighten the load for Daniel Green…
“Certainly. He’s flashing a little bit more and more. Not unlike a lot of others, he was swimming a little bit, not only at the volume of installation, but also at the pace with which we practice and the expectations of how we run the ball and some of that stuff. That was a little foreign to him. He didn’t bat an eye. We kind of got on him a little bit and got him going on some of that stuff. He’s getting better every practice. He will certainly be a factor in the fall.”
On moving safeties around to work on all three spots during the spring…
“100%. In a three-safety deal, you’d love to have nine guys that you feel comfortable with, but, in actuality, there’s some guys that probably we could dual train, and, if something were to happen, you could slide people around a little bit. But right now, I’m really pleased with Colby McCalister. He’s a guy that we weren’t sure what to expect in the spring, and he’s far exceeded expectations. I’m really pleased with Markquis Sigle as a transfer coming in here. He’s going to be a huge, huge part of what we’re doing. He’s been phenomenal. Our two young kids, Kam Sallis and Wesley Fair, as true freshmen, early enrollee seniors, they’re going to probably help us next year. Just a side note on all these early enrollee kids – those two guys mentioned, Austin Romaine at linebacker and Chiddi Obiazor at defensive end, I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of those guys playing for us in the fall. The only guy that’s here that I didn’t mention as an early enrollee is Collin Dunn because he hasn’t practiced. He’s been injured. But those other four that have practiced, it’s very, very plausible that those guys could see a role in the fall.”
