Watch Coach Klieman’s Press Conference | Listen to Coach Klieman’s Press Conference | Listen to Player Breakout InterviewsMANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and select players met with members of the media on Monday inside the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview Saturday’s season opener against UT Martin. Links to video and audio of Klieman’s press conference – which was streamed live on ESPN+ – are above in addition to an audio link of player breakout interviews. A transcript of Klieman’s opening statement is below.
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
“Good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be starting a new season. We’re finally in game week. I talked to the guys on Saturday – we had practice Saturday morning, and then we gave them Sunday off. We get back into our routine today. I know it's a change this year that we're doing this (press conference) on Monday rather than Tuesday. It helps us, for sure, as coaches doing this way. I don't know if it affects you guys (media) a whole lot, but it does help us. So, we'll have a normal Monday practice and have a normal week.
We’ve got some guys banged up a little bit. Nobody's actually been ruled out, but we have a couple of guys that we'll have to watch throughout the week and see if they progress well enough to play, which we hope that they do.
We're excited about the opportunity of getting a really good UT Martin team here. Coach (Jason) Simpson has done a great job. He's been there a long time. They have a great system, and he does a really good job of getting those guys to play within their schemes, offensively and defensively. They've won their league three straight years. As you guys know, that's my background. I know how good the football is. Our guys are going to know how good the football is as well. So, we'll continue our prep work the next few days, and then be ready to roll on Saturday.”