‘I love it’: Why K-State players are excited about Collin Klein’s no-huddle offense

As far as makeovers go, it may rank up there with the unlikely prom queen from a teenage romantic comedy.

Collin Klein has made drastic changes to Kansas State’s offense since he was promoted to coordinator following an impressive 42-20 victory over LSU at the Texas Bowl, and the Wildcats are eager to show them off next season.

After years of watching K-State do everything possible to slow down the pace of games and dominate time of possession on offense, phrases like “no huddle” and “up tempo” are suddenly being used to describe the Wildcats’ attack.

“What you saw in the bowl game is what we’re doing in practice,” senior K-State receiver Phillip Brooks said at a Catbacker event in Salina. “We’re just attacking the defense and trying to score as many points as possible, not letting up. I love it, because our offense involves all of our playmakers now.”

If the Texas Bowl was an appetizer, K-State players can’t wait to taste the main course. The Wildcats amassed 442 yards on 62 plays against the Tigers. Skylar Thompson completed 21 of 28 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns while Deuce Vaughn ran for 146 yards and three scores.

Ten different players had at least one catch. Everyone was involved. Klein kept his foot on the metaphorical gas pedal for four quarters while calling plays high above the field in the press box.

It seems as though the former K-State quarterback pumped even more octane into the offense during spring practices.

“We will be no huddle this year,” Brooks said. “I’m excited about that. We are going to be playing with a lot of tempo, controlling the pace of the game, you know, keeping the defense on their heels really. It’s going to be beneficial to our offense, because we’re running more plays and we’re getting all our playmakers involved. I have always thought our goal needs to be to try and score on every play. I’m glad we have an offensive coordinator who shares that mindset.”

Just how fast will K-State operate on offense next season?

Klein has tried to keep his plans close to the vest. But it’s obvious the Wildcats will call plays with much more urgency than fans grew accustomed to with Courtney Messingham and Dana Dimel at the controls, even if they don’t flirt with 100 plays in games like Texas Tech.

Head coach Chris Klieman envisions the Wildcats playing fast, but also smart.

“Just because you don’t huddle doesn’t mean you are going to snap it within 12 seconds and you’re going to run off 95 plays,” Klieman said, “because on the other side of the ball you’re going to defend 93 plays and you’re not going to last ... Collin and I are on the same page. If you’re up 14 points, why are you going as fast as you can? To try and see how quickly you can get the ball back to the other offense? Maybe you got to slow it down, but at the same time you don’t allow that defense to dial up every blitz in America because you come out of a huddle.”

Klieman and Klein came up with their plan for a newer, faster offense while they prepared for the Texas Bowl.

They agreed that putting Malik Knowles, Vaughn and Brooks together on the field as much as possible and not giving LSU an opportunity to substitute on defense would open up plays for the entire offense. The plan worked so well they decided to make it permanent.

It did create a challenge for K-State players in the spring, though. After years of hearing calls in a huddle they needed to learn how to read signals as they come in from the sideline. Building up stamina was also a priority.

“We used to hear the call. Now we’re seeing the call,” Brooks said. “It took a while to get acclimated to that, but it wasn’t anything too long. Most of the plays are similar. Playing with tempo took a little more getting used to. Now you’re on the field constantly, lining up and attacking non stop for multiple plays in a row. Getting in shape for that was probably the hardest thing we did.”

Klieman is confident that hard work paid off. In his estimation, K-State was able to completely install its new offensive philosophy by the end of April.

“I think we did. I really do,” he said. “We had almost everybody that we anticipate playing in the fall on offense (healthy) so we were able to stay way ahead there.”

The makeover is still underway, but Klein has already put his fingerprint on K-State’s offense.