Chris Klieman postgame Tennessee-Martin Press Conference | 08.31.24

good win um told the guys it's our last time we get to prepare 30 days for a team and and maybe over prepare and um now we get into the flow of of the Season uh was not particularly pleased with with the first half offensively um just didn't get into a rhythm didn't think we had a lot of uh energy and juice challenge the guys at halftime um because I thought we were better than that um and then we responded and played really well in the second half um as I told you guys when I sat up here whatever the first day I got hired football is football and I told the guys that on Monday um I think Tennessee Martin has a legit defense um they got about eight or nine starters that are older kids uh some grad kids I know coach pretty well he's got a bunch of kids that came back for their sixth year um they know how to win and when you get a team that you give them a little bit of life um they're going to believe it and those guys believed they had a chance and and they did and so uh we went at halftime and and uh had to make some adjustments and had to challenge some guys and then sure enough we um make a mistake on the opening kickoff and and I thought the defense did a great job of stepping up holding them to three and then I thought we kind of imposed our will a little bit uh from there on and made some explosive plays uh defense I thought was really good all night gave up one play that they probably want back but uh um about what I thought you're going to make a lot of mistakes in the first game and we've got to clean those things up because we've got a um put this one behind us quickly so we had a tough road road game next week about your quarter um I thought he did some really good things the second half um I know he probably wanted the one back that he threw in the first half but as we talked uh in Fall Camp um this is his second start and um he he made a mistake and and rather than sulk on and worry about it he went on to the next play and thought he made some big time throws in the in the second half um and then I thought he used his legs a couple of times that really open some things up uh and so uh first first real start at home I I know this he's going to continue to improve and get better as we will on offense coach what exactly was going wrong with that offense in the first half I just think we just didn't weren't in sync um we we had struggled with running the ball against some some different not different looks but some aggressive those kids came off the football and um I I knew they're good up front I mean as it was they played and it was 17 to three at half at Georgia this is a good football team and um we just we just couldn't get out of our own way a little bit and luckily on defense that we were we were holding our own and then Tai Bowman makes uh a big time play which I expect out of Tai and Tai expects and and as a team we expect because Tai is one of our best special teams guys and creates a big turnover to get us up two scores but uh we were just struggling a little bit I'm glad we got some things sored away but we got some work to do did the punt block take some pressure off the team absolutely it did but you still you go in the half you're saying man we've scored 10 points and they've scored three we we've got to turn some things around because we had probably good enough field position at times to do some things and we just we just didn't get it done and and um give those guys credit I thought they played really well on defense Chris what do you think of Dylan's first game in a K State uniform yeah I I was excited for Dylan to get this one over with get it behind him I knew he was probably had some anxiety and was a little anxious about uh coming back and playing at home um we all know what kind of talent this kid has and I was so excited to see him cut it loose and I think getting that first touch on the first play um and feeling okay this is home I'm ready and I thought he ran extremely hard with the football um and broke some tackles and ran through some arm tackles he's electric as we see and then and then he made that we had the Rous made a great call on the Red Zone play where we got the easy touchdown pass but I I was excited for Dylan and I know Dylan loved his his opportunity and experience here your defense also got quite a bit of pressure on their quarterback was there anything that you were impressed with in that area Brendan Mt and Toby osami played their tail off and got after the quarterback and thank heavens they did because I thought they had a couple really good wi outs number seven I thought was a really good player um four was a good player and uh I thought we just did a good job of of continuing to put pressure on them you know they didn't run the ball very well um which helped us get into some third and Longs um which we were able to get off the field we had one um busted coverage in in the third and long that that resulted in a in a field goal but uh um I was I was pleased with how we played on defense did you were Brian Anderson to say anything to Dylan Edwards before the game or maybe leading up to the game about the nerves or anything like that we talked to him about a lot of different things but nothing in particular Scott I I don't know D Scott it was just um we we kept encouraging him and um we knew we had to get him some touches and and uh um I was really glad and he probably should have made a fair catch but I was really glad that he ran up and caught the punt and said Okay I I can do this because we've bombed a bunch of punts to him Sterling as well um and you know you're first first game at home and and you know you you got to make a play and and he finally made a few plays but um no um Dylan's going to be fine I'm I'm glad and I'm sure he's glad this first one's done oh no I guess what I meant was we had two outstanding touchdowns and really looked L looked good out there it looked like he it was good for him to be home he was excited I know he was excited he came up gave me a big smile a couple times and I told him I love him and and appreciate him and he said coach thank you so much for this opportunity man this is what I dreamed of it's cool stuff I mean this kid um grew up with Avery and uh grew up watching kstate football and and now he got to play at the bill and make some big time plays so I think it's going to continue to get better and better is that the the Braden Lofton you've kind of seen throughout practice Yeah yes and I've been telling you guys that that uh he's continuing to get better and better and he's gaining more confidence and uh um maybe it wasn't easy easy throw and catch and it was an easy touchdown um but you still have to execute and he did some other things and caught a couple balls and and I'm excited because Braden gives us another element there and he's not just a receiving tight end he's a good point of attack tight end so um as he continues to get better that's going to uh open up some more things and when we're in that 12 Personnel is it fair to say that Desmond Perell is one of your best today as well yeah Desmond's a stud I mean that that kid is such he's a he's a great football player um probably gets not the recognition that uh he deserves um from outside but inside our walls and you guys when you guys have seen that kid that kid's a freaking great football player man does he play hard he plays physical he runs through contact doesn't miss tackles um you know um we're we're so excited that we have Dez and and uh the way he's playing and last year he was nicked up late and uh got healthy in the off season and now he's going to have a huge season coach going back to that punt block looked like you guys had set up some returns um throughout the game decided to go after that one that you ultimately got just I mean how important was that I know you touched on it but how important was that play yeah it was a huge play and we had not seen them rugby um yet we didn't think they were going to rugby but they had a different punter I'm assuming that they were a little nervous about are we going to have set up a big return or are we going to come after a block and and uh tyde tyde did an unbelievable job because he split uh the garden center and then split the shield and and reached out I mean it was a big time play and that was something that was critical for us because we were sputtering a little bit offensively um and uh I was glad we were able to get that one and get up 14 and you look throughout college football I mean it just seems like these games against the FCS teams for every major program you just never know what you're going to get in these week one games I mean how relieved are you just to be able to walk out of week one with the win well I I'm I'm happy we won I don't know if relieves the right right word um so I've been on that other side um I'm happy we won but I know we're going to learn and grow from this and we needed a game like this we didn't need a 65 to3 game or something we needed to be challenged and we were challenged and our starters went into the fourth quarter and and it was all those things were important for us so that we realized that we've got some work to do and that we have not arrived or not been been a complete football team we got a lot of stuff to get fixed and straighten out for his number for the number of guys that you were able to rotate in and out on the defensive side didn't really seem to be much of a drop off at all does that just kind of exemplify the depth that you guys that's what we were hoping um and I appreciate you noticing that because you know when when Jack fabis came in it he made some plays um we brought kendre in for Seagull and and kendre made a big time pass breakup and made a couple of nice tackles and um Colby and and VJ are interchangeable a little bit at strong safety and Rex van y came in and stepped up and made some plays and all those defensive linemen I mean we had guys um flying around at dline and making plays and um you know everybody knows about mat and stuff but uh to get Toby and to get cheaty and to get Ryan Davis and and some of those other guys uh some snaps was really goody wi just how is being it's important to us it's a really good football there we've got some really good ties Taylor Brat's the best in the business at uh recruiting his home area down there and uh couldn't do it without Taylor brat that's for sure how was it to get some carries for guys like Joe Jackson the James White with the touchdown show off that running back depth a little bit and get those guys comfortable with game speed yeah that was something that I when when the time came and we didn't know what what kind of the rotation was I wanted to get both quarterbacks in uh if we could and uh I wanted to get Joe and Le James I think those two guys are really good running backs and people got to see Joe Jackson with some burst and running through some people and they got to see the quickness of Le James uh I was really pleased with Jacob canth uh to come in and and make some plays and uh we needed we threw some easy easy quick game stuff um and then he scrambled out one time uh um we weren't trying to run the score up and I talked to Coach about that we just needed to see what some of these other quarterbacks and young guys can do so we were pleased on all fronts did you like what you saw with h the the additional depth of your defensive end it felt like you didn't really miss a beat there yeah it was really good like we said all those guys contributed and played well coach uh the second touchdown to Dylan was with Dylan and DJ on the field and we saw that a few times uh today what does that sort of add to the offense to have two guys like that who can make plays out of the back field you play together it gives us some versatility because both of them could Flex out and be wide receivers they both uh can block pretty well I thought our Jet Sweep game was really good and those sometime sometimes those guys LED through for like J Jack and and Keegan and stuff and um you know there there's going to be a lot more people that are going to get their hands on the ball um and that's what I'm excited about cuz we got a lot of really good depth the wide receiver as well as running back than okay he going to be here on Labor Day Fitz okay labor hope I hope you're lab