Kansas State Football is at the halfway point of spring drills. The Wildcats have new faces in new places that will impact action this fall.
Bill Snyder’s Wildcats opened spring football practice last month and reached the halfway point of their 15 workouts on Saturday.
The head coach reassured players and fans last week with news that he’s finished the cancer treatments and working “full days” despite dealing with after effects.
He has some new names in new places on this spring’s staff. The most notable is new quarterback coach Colin Klein.
The former Wildcat star has a lot of responsibility in his new role. When Kansas State announced his hiring in February, I was pleased but cautiously optimistic. Klein did an excellent job as a grad assistant. However, he takes over for a man who had been with coach Snyder since the beginning in Manhattan.
In a media release from KSU, Snyder reminded, “Del Miller was the first coach I hired here. He has a great working knowledge of what our offense is. We will miss him.”
Sophomore quarterback Alex Delton is enjoying the change.
"“Coach Klein is so energetic and so fun to be around. He made the game so fun for us. The biggest thing that I got from him so far is to go out and have fun.”"
In addition to Klein, Snyder’s new group of starting linebackers get 9-year Wildcat assistant Blake Seiler. This is an interesting decision. In 2013, Seiler took over full time responsibility for coaching the defensive ends. He played the position at Kansas State. Snyder believes Seiler is ready to take over the linebackers among other responsibilities. Any new coach added to the staff will take over the coaching the defensive ends.
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The Wildcat offense, with the spring practice absence of starting quarterback Jesse Ertz is a concern. In addition, how will the coaching changes and new players on the Kansas State defense impact this team. It will be fun to see how Snyder pulls it all together.