How Kansas State football's defense looks to evolve after a year in a three-man front

ARLINGTON, Texas — As he stood on a stage at AT&T Stadium last week during Big 12 media days, Chris Klieman reflected on Kansas State's 2021 season opener against Stanford and how the Wildcats unveiled a brand-new defense.

It was that same field that they threw the Cardinal for a loop with a three-man front on the way to an impressive 24-7 victory.

And to think at the time it was more of an experiment than anything.

"Last year when we went into fall camp, we were still unsure if we were going to wholesale three down (linemen) or still play four down," Klieman recalled. "And so we practiced both of them because we recruited mostly to four down.

"So we had them both working all through fall camp. And then it was kind of our players that said they felt more comfortable with the three down and that's how we started this game — the game against Stanford in here — and played really fast, and the kids fell in love with it."

More: How quarterback Adrian Martinez won over his new Kansas State football teammates

A year later, the Wildcats' traditional four-man front is for the most part history. Klieman and his coaching staff are all in on the new look that served them so well as last season progressed.

"This will be our first full season with not wavering to think, are we going to go to a four down, but we're staying with the three down," Klieman said. "So it gave us the opportunity in the offseason to do some professional development with our staff, to go to different places that are running some three down.

"We were pretty vanilla, we thought, last year with our three down, and we probably need to be a bit more aggressive and add a few more wrinkles."

A full spring of working exclusively as a three-down defense already is paying dividends in the eyes of senior middle linebacker Daniel Green, who had a breakout 2021 season where he led the team with 89 tackles, including 16 tackles for loss and three sacks.

"Last year we were juggling three down and four down at the same time at the beginning of the season," said Green, a preseason all-Big 12 selection after receiving honorable mention at the end of last year. "Now that we're three-down based and that's our focus, I feel that everybody — not just up front, but even the back end — is settled in and they feel way more comfortable with the scheme and what we're trying to do with the defense."

More: Kansas State football undaunted by middle-of-the pack Big 12 prediction

Defensive tackle Eli Huggins, a super-senior back for a sixth year granted by the NCAA in response to COVID-19, agreed that a full season in the new system has made a big difference.

"It was a big transition," he said. "We were playing a completely different defense, totally different techniques and stuff.

"At the beginning of last year we were kind of trying to play a little bit of both, so we were playing two different defenses. We're focused on one defense now, have a year under our belt with that, so I think we'll open up the playbook a little bit this year since we're so much more comfortable now."

After shutting down Stanford and holding off Southern Illinois and Nevada in their other two nonconference games, the Wildcats lost three straight to open Big 12 play, allowing 30-plus points in each of those games. Clearly there were some growing pains, not to mention the element of surprise was gone now that they were committed to the three-down look.

More: Why Kansas State AD Gene Taylor is impressed with new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark

Klieman and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman's solution was to simplify and get back to basics, realizing that less was more as the players adjusted to the new scheme. Suddenly, starting with a second-half shutout in their 25-24 comeback victory at Texas Tech, the Wildcats found their groove again and did not allow more than 22 points in any of the last six games.

"I think the defense allows us just to play fast," Green said. "It's almost a little less thinking than the four down."

And now that they have the basics down, Huggins added, they're ready to push the envelope a little. After all, the Wildcats return seven players with a minimum of five starts.

On the line, Huggins is back along with end Felix Anudike-Uzomah, the Big 12 preseason defensive player of the year, and Jaylen Pickle, who can play either end or tackle. Robert Hentz and Nate Matlack provide the depth.

Green is penciled in at middle linebacker, with graduate transfers Will Honas from Nebraska and Shawn Robinson from Missouri looking to fill the outside slots. And then there is Khalid Duke, a fierce pass rusher who missed most of last season with a knee injury.

More: Here's where Kansas State and Kansas football rank in the 2022 Big 12 preseason poll

Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe return at the corners, and TJ Smith has starting experience at a safety. Senior Cincere Mason is coming off an injury that forced him to miss the last four games last year, while graduate transfer Josh Hayes and junior college transfer Kobe Savage are expected to fill in as well.

"We're so far ahead," Huggins said. "I feel like the end of spring ball we're probably at where we were during fall camp last year. I feel like now that we've been in this defense for a year and everyone's got the basics and fundamentals down, it's going to give us the ability to open it up and do some more unique things.

"I think last year we just kind of played it safe in a lot of areas, just because it was so new, and people were playing different positions and different techniques and stuff. With a year under our belt, I think I'll be able to open it up a lot."

Now that they're all in on the three-man front, the coaches also can tailor recruiting players that better fits the scheme. The focus is on versatility, especially at the second level, where outside linebackers might be deployed either as extra pass rushers or transition to more of a nickel back to help the three safeties and two corners on the back end.

"We're still looking for long athletes that can play in space or put their hand down from a linebacker/defensive end standpoint," Klieman said. "And then we're looking for that big defensive lineman like and Eli Huggins, like a Jalen Pickle, that can hold point at the nose.

More: Kansas State football's Felix Anudike-Uzomah named Big 12 preseason defensive player of the year

"We're still trying to recruit guys that can run and hit in the secondary."

The 6-foot-4, 297-pound Huggins, who starts at nose tackle, said he expects the look of the defense to keep evolving after he's gone at the end of this season.

"I'm sure they've had to change (recruiting) up a little bit, because it is a different defense and there are different spots to be filled there," he said. "You pretty much have an extra secondary guy on the field at all times."

So just how good can the defense be in year two?

"I always say we can be as great as we want to be," Green said. "It takes effort and work and preparation.

"We've got the personnel to be anything we want to be, but the work we put in is going to be the determining factor."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football looks to expand on its new defense