Sep 07, 2021

K-State's Klieman, Hennington reflect on season-opening win, look ahead to SIU

Posted Sep 07, 2021 9:30 PM
K-State SR Linebacker Ryan Hennington, image courtesy to K-State Athletics
K-State SR Linebacker Ryan Hennington, image courtesy to K-State Athletics

BY JACKSON SCHNEIDER

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State opened up its 2021 football season Saturday with a 24-7 victory over Stanford. The game was tabbed the AllState Kickoff Classic and held inside of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home to the Dallas Cowboys. 

Senior Linebacker and Junction City-native Ryan Hennington said the game was the experience of a lifetime. 

"It was truly incredible, kind of like a dream come true," said Hennington, who tallied three tackles in the win. "It's something kind of cool to start your senior season out. The stadium was an amazing experience and the fans were incredible." 

Ryan added that he knew the stadium was a lot bigger than Bill Snyder Family Stadium, but with as many Wildcat fans that traveled, the atmosphere was certainly special.

"I did my best not to focus on the crowd. Obviously, the Dallas Cowboy stadium is huge, but K-State fans did an amazing job of showing out. They made it feel like a home atmosphere, so it was great," he said. "I think I speak for the entire team, we're ready to roll. Especially with our new pregame tradition, this place is going to be off the hook."

Hennington's role was tweaked slightly in the offseason, with the Wildcats and Defensive Coordinator Joe Klanderman adding a three-man front into the mix of defensive play calls. 

According to Hennington, the staff told him back in January there were a few twists that would allow the 'Cats to play faster. The seemingly biggest of those changes, a three-man defensive front, appeared in the win on Saturday. That change slid Hennington to Linebacker, where he says he thinks he's a great fit. 

"The new position is a great fit. Linebacker is a great fit in just the way that we're able to run to the ball and run through our leverage," said Hennington. "It's just a lot better fit for our defense."

The Wildcats will certainly need speed on Saturday, with the upcoming task in Southern Illinois, a team that K-State Head Coach Chris Klieman said is very experienced and will throw some tricks at you.

“Tremendous, tremendous skill on offense, really good quarterback. Probably the best reverse team in the country. You're going to see some reverses out of different formations and reverse passes and gadgets and Wildcat. They make you defend sideline to sideline with everybody. You better not just key in on a couple of guys. They've got some tremendous players, but they hit reverses on everybody.," said Klieman. "So, we've got to make sure and have discipline within our defense. Then their defense, they're older, experienced guys. Have played a lot of football and had success last year, making it long ways in the playoffs and had a big road win.”

Hennington echoed his coach's thoughts, “Southern Illinois has a bunch of wrinkles in their offense, and they want to get the ball to the playmakers. I think it just comes down to us being disciplined and playing our assignment, understanding what they're trying to do, and how they're trying to manipulate us," he said. "So, if we can stick to our rules and principles, we can eliminate some of those explosive plays.”

Week-to-week, every opponent K-State will face will be vastly different, but Klieman added that because of the gadget plays and reverses that the Salukis utilize, his team will have to stay very disciplined in order to come out on top.

“Well, we were so prepared to play the run against Stanford and we had guys coming downhill. There were some times in big people that they'd have that we had everybody with the corner coming downhill at the run, and we can't do that this week because of the amount of gadgets and trick plays and double moves and just really variety of offense," said Klieman. "Stanford didn't give us that variety that Southern Illinois is going to. So, I think it's more of just the discipline of doing your technique and discipline of getting back to more spread-out football. Stanford wasn't as much spread-out football. These guys are going to run RPOs, and we're going to have all different personnel groupings. So it’s kind of back to what we did in fall camp versus our own offense that does so many different things. We have to get back to that because we had 12 full practices of nothing but Stanford. That's a different mindset playing those guys than it is playing a lot of teams.”

The Wildcats will welcome full capacity back into Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, when K-State and Southern Illinois face off for the first time in the history of the two programs. Kickoff will be just after 6p.m., with live coverage available on 1420 AM/107.9 FM KJCK.