Watch: Defensive Coordinator Joe Klanderman | Safety Jordan Riley | Safety VJ Payne | Linebacker Austin Romaine | Defensive End Cody Stufflebean | Cornerback Jacob Parrish
Listen: Klanderman | Players
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and five offensive players – safeties Jordan Riley and VJ Payne, linebacker Austin Romaine, defensive end Cody Stufflebean and cornerback Jacob Parrish – met with members of the media for the first time during fall camp on Tuesday at the Vanier Family Football Complex. Links to video and audio of the media availabilities are above, while a transcript of select Klanderman quotes are below.
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On if the guys are hitting the wall or going forward through fall camp…
“Coach Klieman is pretty good at, ‘We’re not going to blitz them, blitz them, blitz them and then taper.’ We’ve got a plan, we’ve got progression that him and Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) worked on throughout the summer. Rarely do we have consecutive really rugged practices. So, we might go with a really rough and tumble practice followed by maybe an easier day on their legs. We try to keep it that way and build them up that direction. We did that last fall too, and we felt they were fresh early in the year. We were able to keep them fresh throughout. So, I think the grind is more mental, and I think we’re starting to get over that hurdle right now because of the installation. Day one, two, three are usually pretty easy, but then you get into four, five and six, and you start losing a few mentally; seven, eight, nine it really piles on guys and only the strong survive. We’re over that hurdle now, and we’re starting to get on the backside of that, and guys are starting to catch back up to the install a little bit and concepts starting to click. So, we’re starting to look a little faster out there.”
On if this is the deepest defense since he’s been here…
“I would say so. That’s hard to say because I haven’t seen some of those guys that we’re counting on in games yet, but ability-wise, there’s no question about.”
On what has impressed him most about the defense…
“I think we’re playing with more speed now. We were playing fast, I thought, the first few days. When I sat back and looked, especially when you looked at the secondary, those guys are playing fast, and I think it’s gotten even better. There hasn’t been anybody taking their foot off the gas. I think these guys are really driven. I kind of felt that throughout the spring and the summer, but you don’t really know until they show it to you with their actions. I think that’s one action that shows me that we have a really mature group. We come every day. We practice our butts off.”
On going against the K-State offense in practice…
“Yeah, talent-wise, they’re good, but the other thing that I always appreciate about our offense is the variety of things we see. We’re going to see RPO game, we’re going to see quarterback run game, we’re going to see downhill run game, we’re going to see I-backs, we’re going to see 13 personnel, we’re going to see spread pass game. We’ve got everything going on, and our guys are managing it. So, not only do we have to handle our installation, but then we have to manage it against all the different complexities. It would be one thing if we got 11 personnel and threw it all over the place. I think guys can handle that pretty easily. But, when you’re in unbalanced and you’re in all the different things that we do, it tests your rules and principles and makes sure that you know. I think that’s really helping our players defensively.”
On who would be considered the quarterback of the defense…
“Boy, I’d say we’re a, what do they call that? A dual quarterback system? I really would. The easy answer is Austin Moore, and I think if you asked, he’s kind of an unquestioned leader. He has everybody’s ear and everybody’s respect because of all the things he’s been through, because of how steady he is every day, because of how humble he is in the things that he does with all of what he’s done. So, he’s certainly a leader, but as far as who’s out there talking, we’ve seen an emergence of, in the corner room, Jacob Parrish, Keenan Garber. You haven’t heard those guys in the past, and they’re there. They’re loud. Marques Sigle. Jordan Riley is good communicator. VJ (Payne) is an excellent communicator. We actually did a walkthrough yesterday because I wanted to impress on the young guys. It was kind of a weird (thing). We took five minutes and did this. I wanted to impress on the young guys just how much those guys communicate. So, we had the young guys stand around, and I put out some offensive formations and gave our starters some calls, and just a presnap communication that was going on with those guys was electric. It was awesome, and it was a great lesson for some of those younger guys, the guys that are going to come up and be really good players, for those guys that hear what’s really going on up there. It’s more than just lining up and knowing what your keys are. It’s helping everybody else out with what you might see through your presnap process. So, it’s the quarterback by committee.”
On how K-State recruits good safeties out of the portal…
“Well, maybe it’s my good looks, I don’t know. I really vibe well with guys that love football. I don’t vibe that well with guys that are just all about the flash of being in the portal. So, what we’ve done is we’ve found kids that maybe aren’t the highest-profile names out there. They jump in the portal and maybe there’s not 70 schools that are recruiting (them), but we’re finding kids that really love the game, and we’re finding guys that want to get better, finding guys that want to get developed, that, for whatever reason, have hit a wall where they’re at. Jordan (Riley) is that. Jordan loves football. He loves practice, he loves meetings, he loves learning, and Marques (Sigle) is the same way. We’ve just hit home runs with those guys. Josh Hayes, you’re right, we’ve had a good strength – Drake Cheatham, you can go on down the line, Cincere (Mason). You don’t even have to stop me. I think it’s just that, with my experience and with Coach Klieman’s experience, we can find out who those guys really are, and then we walk away from the guys that aren’t like that like poison. We’ve done that too, and we’ve seen those guys too, and fortunately, we’ve landed on the right guys.”
