J
Jeffrey Martin
Guest
It’s time again to go “Off the Record” here at K-StateOnline, when we present you within a collection of tidbits we feel more confident sharing in a message board post than we do a content item. The intention is for the contents of this post to be kept exclusive on The Foundation.
Per the norm, we save a few quotes from our “Player X” that we feel a little more comfortable posting in an exclusive message board post than any Rivals paid subscriber – from any site – can see on a content item. This week, J-Mart asked what a bye week practice routine was really like, how the coaches would respond and ultimately what will happen against Baylor.
Q: Honestly, how do you think the coaching staff approached practice with a bye off the Vandy loss?
A: I think kind of how the game played out, how it was very undisciplined - I haven’t even addressed the penalties we had, and that was bad in itself - I think practice is going to ramped up this week, more than a normal bye week. I’ve been in a few of those ramped-up bye weeks and they’re not very fun. Coach (Andre) Coleman is a very intense coach, and I imagine the receivers will be doing some extra catching drills this week, getting extra reps in. My dad asked me, ‘Do they have any punishment for dropping balls?’ I said, ‘Absolutely. He makes them do up-downs after every day after practice.’ I imagine it will be ramped up, probably more than usual bye weeks. Maybe a little extra running as well.
Q: Bill Snyder said this loss was essentially on coaching. How will his coaches respond?
A: Shit rolls downhill, man. That’s how it goes. I’ve been around for a few losses, unfortunately, and the pressure kind of gets ramped up. The coaches take the opportunity to refine what they’re doing, but Coach Snyder will be even more focused on practice. If we have a rhythm and everything is going well and we’re winning, he’ll let some things go in practice in terms of maybe a drop, etc. But when you’re losing, every day after practice he’ll go over exactly what went wrong, who did it, everything he saw during practice. I’m sure in staff meetings, he’ll be even more excited about what he sees during practice. It ALL rolls downhill. The coaches will certainly try to coach his message to the players - I can assure you that.
Q: What’s your prediction for the Baylor game?
A: I can see Baylor have a little success early on offense, maybe building on what they did against OU. But as the game wears on, I think we’ll impose our will on offense, really lean on our offensive line, run the ball a good amount, control the clock. At the end of the day, we’ll probably win, 45-14.
We can’t be the only ones who noticed that sophomore Alex Delton warmed up – rather rigorously – on the sideline in the second half of K-State’s game at Vanderbilt, right? Beyond that, all indications we’ve received are that Delton was back to his preseason spot of #2 on the depth chart in Nashville, ahead of redshirt freshman Skylar Thompson.
This is an interesting battle to keep an eye on, even though it’s one we likely won’t hear much about “on the record.” There are certainly plenty of people in the camps of each Wildcat signal caller, but at this point in time you’d almost certainly see Delton hit the field first in the case of a blowout or injury situation.
Everyone saw starting fullback Winston Dimel get dinged in the second half of the Vanderbilt game. Those who watched the game know where the injury is, but out of respect for Bill Snyder’s desires not to openly discuss where a player his injured in the interest of the player’s safety we won’t speculate/report on exactly what the injury is or the extent on it.
Dimel is obviously not 100 percent right now and probably won't be the rest of the year. He's probably going to miss his share of practice as well throughout the season. However, he's tough as nails and will probably still trot out there every Saturday giving nothing but full effort and looking still like every bit of the best fullback in the country. He's still expected to start Saturday against Baylor.
If something were to happen where Dimel did happen to miss time, you may see a surprise as to who his replacement would be. Dayton Valentine has seen some practice reps there while Dimel has been recovering. If that were to hold true, the playing time at tight end would likely be between Blaise Gammon and Nick Lenners.
Dimel is a key part of the Wildcat offense and we don’t question his toughness one bit. We expect him to be on the field and playing as if he were pain free, but fans should respect the effort and sacrifice the son of K-State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel is making.
Additionally, we've also been told that Dalton Risner is still not 100 percent healthy from what has been ailing him. Despite that, he also should be starting and not missing any time.
The idea that K-State still has everything to play for has been mentioned a lot in press conferences the last two weeks, but it’s not just a company line – the Wildcats know they still have a lot to play for. Past and current players have promised us we shouldn’t expect any type of “Vandy Hangover” when the Wildcats take the field against Baylor. The Wildcats’ overall confidence level truly hasn’t been shaken, and don’t be shocked if K-State makes a bit of a statement against a team that just put a huge scare into Oklahoma.
We know there are a lot of Eli Walker fans out there. Some have wanted him to slide into the “nickel” role or move to linebacker to insert more speed into the lineup just so he’d be on the field at the same time with Denzel Goolsby and Kendall Adams. We can't and won’t speak to that happening. Plus, Bill Snyder and his staff want to keep it simple for Walker so it probably won't happen, which means he’ll likely just remain the third safety.
But what you see in games is what you get in practices from Walker, according to what we have heard. He's a bit of a nuisance for the offense because of how physical he is all the time. His future in Manhattan for the Wildcats is bright, but it’s just not his time yet. Everyone realizes his time will come because what he’s capable of and how physical he is has been apparent - it doesn’t just show up in games. Let’s just say they see it - and feel it - every day in practice.
MORE FROM PLAYER X
Per the norm, we save a few quotes from our “Player X” that we feel a little more comfortable posting in an exclusive message board post than any Rivals paid subscriber – from any site – can see on a content item. This week, J-Mart asked what a bye week practice routine was really like, how the coaches would respond and ultimately what will happen against Baylor.
Q: Honestly, how do you think the coaching staff approached practice with a bye off the Vandy loss?
A: I think kind of how the game played out, how it was very undisciplined - I haven’t even addressed the penalties we had, and that was bad in itself - I think practice is going to ramped up this week, more than a normal bye week. I’ve been in a few of those ramped-up bye weeks and they’re not very fun. Coach (Andre) Coleman is a very intense coach, and I imagine the receivers will be doing some extra catching drills this week, getting extra reps in. My dad asked me, ‘Do they have any punishment for dropping balls?’ I said, ‘Absolutely. He makes them do up-downs after every day after practice.’ I imagine it will be ramped up, probably more than usual bye weeks. Maybe a little extra running as well.
Q: Bill Snyder said this loss was essentially on coaching. How will his coaches respond?
A: Shit rolls downhill, man. That’s how it goes. I’ve been around for a few losses, unfortunately, and the pressure kind of gets ramped up. The coaches take the opportunity to refine what they’re doing, but Coach Snyder will be even more focused on practice. If we have a rhythm and everything is going well and we’re winning, he’ll let some things go in practice in terms of maybe a drop, etc. But when you’re losing, every day after practice he’ll go over exactly what went wrong, who did it, everything he saw during practice. I’m sure in staff meetings, he’ll be even more excited about what he sees during practice. It ALL rolls downhill. The coaches will certainly try to coach his message to the players - I can assure you that.
Q: What’s your prediction for the Baylor game?
A: I can see Baylor have a little success early on offense, maybe building on what they did against OU. But as the game wears on, I think we’ll impose our will on offense, really lean on our offensive line, run the ball a good amount, control the clock. At the end of the day, we’ll probably win, 45-14.
BACKUP QB BATTLE CONTINUES
We can’t be the only ones who noticed that sophomore Alex Delton warmed up – rather rigorously – on the sideline in the second half of K-State’s game at Vanderbilt, right? Beyond that, all indications we’ve received are that Delton was back to his preseason spot of #2 on the depth chart in Nashville, ahead of redshirt freshman Skylar Thompson.
This is an interesting battle to keep an eye on, even though it’s one we likely won’t hear much about “on the record.” There are certainly plenty of people in the camps of each Wildcat signal caller, but at this point in time you’d almost certainly see Delton hit the field first in the case of a blowout or injury situation.
EXPERIMENTS AT FULLBACK
Everyone saw starting fullback Winston Dimel get dinged in the second half of the Vanderbilt game. Those who watched the game know where the injury is, but out of respect for Bill Snyder’s desires not to openly discuss where a player his injured in the interest of the player’s safety we won’t speculate/report on exactly what the injury is or the extent on it.
Dimel is obviously not 100 percent right now and probably won't be the rest of the year. He's probably going to miss his share of practice as well throughout the season. However, he's tough as nails and will probably still trot out there every Saturday giving nothing but full effort and looking still like every bit of the best fullback in the country. He's still expected to start Saturday against Baylor.
If something were to happen where Dimel did happen to miss time, you may see a surprise as to who his replacement would be. Dayton Valentine has seen some practice reps there while Dimel has been recovering. If that were to hold true, the playing time at tight end would likely be between Blaise Gammon and Nick Lenners.
Dimel is a key part of the Wildcat offense and we don’t question his toughness one bit. We expect him to be on the field and playing as if he were pain free, but fans should respect the effort and sacrifice the son of K-State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel is making.
Additionally, we've also been told that Dalton Risner is still not 100 percent healthy from what has been ailing him. Despite that, he also should be starting and not missing any time.
BOUNCING BACK
The idea that K-State still has everything to play for has been mentioned a lot in press conferences the last two weeks, but it’s not just a company line – the Wildcats know they still have a lot to play for. Past and current players have promised us we shouldn’t expect any type of “Vandy Hangover” when the Wildcats take the field against Baylor. The Wildcats’ overall confidence level truly hasn’t been shaken, and don’t be shocked if K-State makes a bit of a statement against a team that just put a huge scare into Oklahoma.
ONE LAST THING…
We know there are a lot of Eli Walker fans out there. Some have wanted him to slide into the “nickel” role or move to linebacker to insert more speed into the lineup just so he’d be on the field at the same time with Denzel Goolsby and Kendall Adams. We can't and won’t speak to that happening. Plus, Bill Snyder and his staff want to keep it simple for Walker so it probably won't happen, which means he’ll likely just remain the third safety.
But what you see in games is what you get in practices from Walker, according to what we have heard. He's a bit of a nuisance for the offense because of how physical he is all the time. His future in Manhattan for the Wildcats is bright, but it’s just not his time yet. Everyone realizes his time will come because what he’s capable of and how physical he is has been apparent - it doesn’t just show up in games. Let’s just say they see it - and feel it - every day in practice.
