Coordinator Corner: Kansas State offense has a lot more to unlock

TOUGH FILM FOR KANSAS STATE

Kansas State hosts Tulane on Saturday, and the Green Wave are coming off two lopsided wins over UMass and Alcorn State. They were both so decisive that Willie Fritz and company have been granted the opportunity to be pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball.

Each of K-State’s coordinators pointed that out and how difficult it has been to prepare for them because of it. They haven’t been able to sink their teeth into what Tulane really wants to do because they have just not seen much of it.

Especially offensively, the Green Wave are a bit of mystery.

They’ve kept it simple and haven’t gotten too complicated. They have some standout skill position players, but they are operating under a new offensive coordinator and last season was not a perfect illustration of the roster because of how affected they were by Hurricane Ida.

When Tulane was at full strength and clicking, they nearly upset Oklahoma.

COMPLETING THE MISSION

“Completing the mission” is a phrase that Klein used multiple times to describe the offensive philosophy through two games. They’ve just done what was required to win the ball games, and in many cases, that meant not taking chances that they would have liked to do.

As Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman noted after the game on Saturday, they planned to open it up more and throw it around the yard versus Missouri. They began to do that a bit on the first two drives. Adrian Martinez threw for more yards on the first drive than he did the entire game against South Dakota.

But once the weather conditions impacted the game, they needed to adapt and modify the plan. Klein shared that Martinez was on the phone with him at one point in the third quarter and said they were dealing with as heavy of a ball as he’s ever had to throw.

It was probably not a coincidence that Missouri subsequently threw four straight interceptions.

Klein praised Martinez for being patient, mature and processing his reads very quickly. It hasn’t been easy to just take what the defense gives him and respond to the conditions at hand and not take some risks downfield.

But he’s wised up on that front and that’s why they didn’t make the same mistakes as their opponents.

With that being said, he reiterated that they make it clear to the quarterbacks in the room that they can’t play afraid to make a mistake or a turnover and they would never encourage that philosophy at K-State. He remembers what it is like to play the position.

Klein insists that the entire offense is still very confident and also excited because they know that there is a lot more in them, and that includes him.

HONAS AND ROBINSON

Klieman addressed the status of linebackers Will Honas and Shawn Robinson on Tuesday. He revealed that both are inching closer to being available for the Wildcats, but that neither are ready to see the field just yet for Kansas State.

There is no timetable on either one, and they remain situations that they have to monitor each week to check and receive an updated status report. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman echoed that, and he called both day-to-day.

DEFENDING PRATT

Klanderman also had nothing but strong words of praise for Tulane starting quarterback Michael Pratt. He called him a stud that is very experienced and probably not someone that they’ll be able to trick or surprise due to his years of experience in New Orleans.

Pratt is very capable of being the trigger man for all of the different RPO and different run game looks that they appear to want to deploy on the offensive side. It is an efficient scheme that works because of how savvy he is with the ball and his skill-set.

The signal-caller also took a few shots last week and got right back up and appeared to be unscathed. That showed his toughness, his heart and his comfort level under center and in the pocket.

CINCERE MASON DISCUSSION

The defensive coordinator in Manhattan couldn’t have been more complimentary of safety Cincere Mason, and much of it had to do with his perseverance and toughness, both mentally and physically. Folks forget that he is only nine months out from ACL surgery.

In addition to that, Klanderman joked that he’s a bit of a mash unit as an old player that has been around the bend a bit. He joked that Mason has old man knees and old man shoulders. The recovery process for him is a little more extensive.

Not just that, he ribbed his safety for swiping away an interception from Julius Brents last Saturday, too. During defensive meetings, they hand out candy to those players that force turnovers or intercept passes. But for Mason, since he’s a bit of a jumbo safety, they give him celery sticks.