Powercat Podcast | Kansas State’s biggest spring football storylines

Kansas State spring football has started, so what are the biggest stories for fans to follow at GoPowercat? The crew talks all football in this edition of the Powercat Podcast, with another football-focused edition arriving later this week. This edition of the Powercat Podcast features GoPowercat.com publisher Tim Fitzgerald and the insights of GPC’s Ryan Wallace and Cole Carmody, and streams on the 247Sports Podcast Network at Megaphone.fm. And, as always, the Powercat Podcast is sponsored by Fridge Wholesale Liquor.

Welcome to the power cat podcast presented by fridge wholesale liquor now let’s go to The Rolling Flint Hills Home of the cats and dogs Studio here’s your host Tim Fitzgerald welcome to this edition of the power capat podcast I’m having Deja Vu I I swear I recorded the same thing

Earlier today with two different human beings but I’m here Fitz Cole and Wall-E the other dudes we talking basketball these guys are here to talk Spring football as Kansas oh that that thing always changes and starts read starting the music I don’t want the music restarted there’s so many bells and

Whistles uh we’re GNA talk Spring football we got some great questions from Wabash Station we might use them as a framework we might spin off into the Wilderness of spring football I don’t know where we’re going with this I’m tired I’m cranky and I get to read the

Questions today and I wish I was at fridge wholesale liquor I mean not just shopping I mean like consuming on the spot like throwing $20 at the employee and just open up in a six-pack right there think I get in trouble but don’t do that when you go to the fridge I

Could get away with it because you want to know why because I run real fast I’m really fast you know there’s been I wish I could insert sound effects there’s there’s been this whole thing uh going on today as we record this on Wednesday not sure what you’re talking about with

Uh with with barol sports and the guy of of whether or not they’re going they’re going to live stream this guy’s solitary confinement Dave portway says it’s it’s boring it’s bad content you know anyway it’s going back and forth but it got me thinking you’ve kind of been in solitary

Confinement in the studio all day today no doubt no doubt and and let’s be honest I could bring up I mean I could live stream the whole damn thing um hold on what am I doing here present extra camera I had it in here then I had to

Leave share um we we’ll bring them in real quick um crap I didn’t want you guys over there uh add to Stage there that worked great there you go there’s your solitary confinement cam just get get the back of my head and Sleeping Dogs it looks like dude was shot over

There in dude you okay okay he’s dead that’s fine he was a good dog while he lasted solitary confinement with uh with unlimited fridge access wouldn’t be that bad though well I mean well just the regular fridge for me if I could have solitary confinement

With dogs and and food and booze and a few other things I would be perfectly happy what about football what do I get some kind of like entertainment yeah watch Spring football K State practi sorry sorry Cole not a K State there will be no none of that no

No gam none of that no fun you think uh Chris clim and let me have a stream cam just hooked up oh the kly cam and I can just get a little GoPro and clip it to his vest yes and you hear him and see what he’s looking at and hear him

Cursing then he probably start telling jokes about me I don’t want it now go to the fridge that’s all I got to say they’re just so wonderful I I I’m passionate about those that advertise with this and that’s why they advertise with this because I I want them to I

Only end things in which I truly believe and I endorse these two guys they’re swell let’s get going with the questions I know it was a lot lot AR friend El Camino cat where would we be on the message board some days with without El Camino cat he’s sometimes the adult in

The room I I did a whole DD based on his U um nit you know breakdown all that and then I didn’t credit him like a real Primadonna like I am anyhow El Camino cat has this is the focus of spring football at k mostly about integrating new arrivals evaluating young players or

Working on tweaks of the system I kind of think it’s all that what do you guys think I was gonna first go for I’ll go first okay sure I I was shaking my head to the last one I think it’s tweaks of the system I really do um they don’t add

Somebody in the transfer portal without knowing what they’re getting right like they know what they’re going to get in Dante cus or at least they hope that’s going to be a guy who’s going to come in and I think at best I don’t think they’re counting on him to be a number

One or even a number two receiver I think they want him to be the third receiver um if all things go well so they know what they’re getting in Dante cus you can throw Jordan Riley Travis Bates and some of those other guys they brought in but I really believe it is

Tweaks to the system and Fitz and I were kind of talking about this before we started to record but like I I I’m of the opinion that this off season is probably the most important um they’ve had I don’t know maybe since Chris kman got there um they are going to be

Changing the the way they do things I don’t know if you guys had a chance I know Fitz you did um W I’m sure you did as well but when they when they talked and Chris kman talked at his spring press conference about uh they want to simplify things specifically for the

Receivers um that kind of struck me and I kind of want to get your opinion on this because I have a theory that I’m going to come back to but I I really do believe this is a we’re going to install some things and we’re going to change

Some things um because they do know what they have with their personnel you know I think I think this year is um is a little bit different because I think in years past particularly like maybe last year the the obvious being the year before that when they went to the odman front and

Had that that big install of that in the offseason I I would agree probably with you more Cole that it it is kind of maybe some schematic tweaks here and there but I think because we’re witnessing the overhaul of the roster um probably more so than we’ve seen in

Maybe climate tenure I think I think obviously the goal number one that kimman says every year is to just come out of spring healthy but I think number two it’s the development the progression of of young players and when I say young that could mean freshman sophomores in

The system uh it could also classify just guys that are inexperienced so a guy coming from Joo a guy like Easton kilty who has played a lot of college football but has never played it at Kanza state so I think this year to me that’s what it’s about more than

Anything is just getting guys developing and within that development it’s you are evaluating you’re evaluating who looks like they’re on the right track who’s not um who looks like you know Midway through spring they might have one foot in and one foot out into the transfer

Portal that sort of thing so I I think there’s there’s a constant state of evaluation in in the you know roster management if you will a nod to uh Clint Brown’s new role that is going on all the time but definitely and and going back quickly to what you you said Cole

About the wide receivers and simplifying things I mean Fitz this is something we’ve been talking about it seems like kind of behind more behind the scenes than public facing um I I tweeted about it probably going back to like the messingham years I mean I can remember

The year uh it was the only year Tyron how was on the team and hearing from some insiders that like Tyron how was really good in certain situations particularly like again probably what they want Dante cus to do kind of those Zone situations when you know the field

Starts to get condensed a little bit and you need a bigger frame wide receiver that can go win a ball in traffic and Cade Warner surprisingly enough kind of in his senior year took off in that respect but this was the year before that and Kade really wasn’t there but

Cade Warner kept playing on every down because Cade Warner was the guy that they knew knew the system in its entirety and yet instead of trying to find ways to sprinkle Tyrone how in in situations where it’s like this is a down and distance thing uh this would be

A perfect matchup that we can get him in he just didn’t really ever see the field and I think being able to get Matt Wells and Conor Riley to go okay in this situation this would be perfect for Trey Spivey this is we we just need him to do

These these two or three routes or these two or three things really well we’ll get him on the field for that we can try and mix and match so it’s not so obvious in week eight that that’s the only time we bring him in but at the same time I

Think you’ve got to start getting these guys feet wet particularly at the skill positions and Fitz kudos to Chris kman for kind of recognizing that they need it this year yeah I agree I think the what’s going on here offense and defense are two separate things excuse me they

End up being both tweaks they realized during the course of last season they were often too light on the front three and you know the the sad thing is Nate mlac left because of that when they were going to fix it but he probably also

Know M was coming back and he was going to be the guy that might be the light one so we’re going to see some more beef out there we’re going to see some fourman they’re going to go back to that occasionally it’s not going to be the r

They’re still look this defense is built to stop the Big 12 offenses but now is the I love football Evolution I mean you do one thing to stops people eventually people stop doing it and do the opposite thing and you go back and I mean now

We’re moving into a running era of the the conference and they want to be prepared to handle that offensively they have a generational quarterback who has a unique set of skills much like Liam niss with a football um thank you for that you’re you’re welcome I was waiting and he is

Going to kill people fig leave you know he’s not gonna actually do that that’d be bad that might be a 15 yard penalty um but yeah I I think they’re going to try to put things in really layer the offense to bring the most threat the

Often the best threat in football is the perceived threat not the real threat he’s going to run it here he’s going to run it here and to to the point where you don’t know when he’s going to run it because you keep running um you know some Zone read and some reverse things

Is he gonna pull the ball back is he G to do this and uh I think that’s what they’re working on and and maybe um some more option things where uh what I’m talking about is he can roll out and wing it downfield or tuck it and run you

Know let him decide uh as the play designed so I’m intrigued and I understand why they want to keep it bottled up uh because there’s there’s going to be some new teams on the schedule that have never seen Kate and if they go back and watch film that’s

Going to be somewhat useless but you think about it Chris kimman inherited Skyler Thompson Wally is Skyler a lot like the quarterbacks he had at North Dakota State yeah yes is Will Howard a lot like those quarterbacks yes oh Aver Johnson isn’t he’s a different beast and

I I think he recognizes that and instead of being this is our offense you run it it’s going to be what kind of offense will be best for you to run and I think that’s where we’re headed and I think there’s getting into the simplification

Of it I mean kind of timeing what you said what you guys all said together um I think Wally when you are looking at your personnel there is something to be said for you you’re looking at your personnel and trying to Tinker according to the Personnel that you have um well

There there he is I don’t know why I did that that was weird you’re you’re trying to Tinker to the Personnel that you and so you have to see okay like you said maybe Dante cus is going to be a guy who’s going to be able to go catch a

Ball in the red zone or but we maybe maybe Keegan Johnson’s that guy that they need in the middle of the field um so Dante cus comes out of the game right so it’s one of those things where they’re they’re trying to Tinker and I don’t think that happened um even under

The last two offensive coordinators I think Colin Klein deservedly uh got the pay raise that he is he is a rising star there’s no doubt about it but sometimes I feel like he got a little stuck in his ways with trying to play the guys out

There on the field because they knew the offense as opposed to like you said Wally finding roles for other guys instead of saying let’s get Trace by like you said into the game for this situation it was well if we put them in they’re going to know what’s coming so

We’re just going to keep the same guys that we have in the game and use that personnel and I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with that but in today’s era of college football Ty what you said with the rer management piece in you have to make every single

Person on your team feel like they are important because if you don’t they will leave very good El Camino ask also ask this without a spring game and with many veterans getting limited reps is there really anything for fan to be interested in or excited about concerning Spring

Ball that’s a really good question I hate Spring ball I I just don’t I I’m just not into it well it’s funny because I I mean I was just about to say before you said what you said I’m not the guy to answer this because you’re looking at

The guy that DVRs the entire four days of the NFL scouting combine so I love Spring football this is this is what I live for fellas here to me I don’t if you don’t like spring football this doesn’t make you less of a fan but to me Spring football really is

The die hards because it is forget the starters nobody Spring football you know and I think getting back to how you know K State isn’t having any sort of public facing um spring event I think a lot of that stems from the idea that people want to come and see

Starters but I think they would be surprised at how many people there are that are interested in seeing who the two is who the three is who the guy that we thought that’s going to be on the two deep is actually running with the fource

You know what I mean that that is of intrigue to people and then at the same time like if you’ve got a guy like Avery Johnson people are going to come out just to stand in line to get that kid’s autograph I don’t think anybody cares if

He does anything on the field for a spring game but anyway getting back to you know is there enough like excitement around spring I think there is and again I think anybody that’s on W Bas station we are catering to to you to those people because I think our subscribers

Are the ones that want to know um you know who’s winning out in certain jobs again I we can we’ve already done it actually I think a lot of people could probably pencil in some starters by now or if not you know say 80 to 85% but

Spring ball is so exciting to see again kind of trying to get some Buzz about who’s looking good who’s running with who um I mean guys again I I I shouldn’t admit this but Ryan Lackey already knows because he’ll text me about it I I I will go through the highlight plays that

They release on social media and I will mark down the numbers that are in the the video because I want to know okay that’s Avery throwing so that might be there’s a good case that could be the one offense who’s he throwing against that could be the two defense who’s

Who’s out there yeah I I I’m a terrible person to ask this to because I I love Spring football but I definitely think that there is reason to be excited again going back to what I said in the first question which is if there was ever a

Year to be excited about it to want to know what’s happening it’s this year because there is I I think such an overhaul in certain positions and even positions where there isn’t a giant overhaul say wide receiver where you’ve got jce brown returning you’ve got Keegan Johnson returning you’ve got a

Guy like Dante cus that you expect to be in the mix and Jaden Jackson hell we’re equally interested to know what’s going on with Trey Spivey what’s going on um with Bradley Demps I mean there’s there’s a there’s a lot of intrigue I think if you’re willing to look past you

Know the the common knowledge if you will and and get past that some of the those experienced guys are probably going to sit for good reason to stay healthy the one player you didn’t mention was every K State fans’s favorite wide receiver and that’s Sterling locket by the way Sterling

Lockett of course there you go um I I think that when I look at Spring football it’s one of those things it’s like Major League Baseball spring training you know how like every single time the coach says oh he’s in the best shape of his life we’re really excited

For what he can do uh he’s going to be a really big time producer for us this year if you were to just go to mlb.com and look up any clip from any manager ever and they ask about a specific player that’s what the answer is going

To be guess what guys if we go ask Chris kimman any question about any single player that’s what his answer is going to be so like there is a lot of Coach speak and I get that but I’m with you Wally like I I wish there was a spring

Game because I think it could generate a lot of interest and we’ve talked I mean for years on on the on the podcast um about what they could potentially do you could tie it in with uh a baseball home series and a whatever else they have

Going on at home and you make it a big giant Fan Festival day you could do that and will they ever do that probably not um but I do think if they had a spring game it would be interesting to see especially because they’re at a point

Now where the recruiting has ticked up enough to where the depth between the twos and the threes are not as noticeable in the past there was obviously a difference between the ones and the twos yeah but now the difference between the two in the threes is not as

Noticeable because they are recruiting a higher talented player maybe they’re not as good on the field but they have more raw ability and so the twos and the threes are a lot more equal than they used to be in the past okay my two thoughts uh one um Spring football for

Me uh after covering Bill Snyder for so many years and learning almost nothing and everything you learned seemed to be false like this receiver is going to be be great and then you never see him again is that uh it’s like that maybe the breakfast food you ate as a child

Poptarts maybe let’s go with Pop-Tarts G stick with the theme you ate Pop-Tarts every morning as a kid very healthy and uh now that you can either think Pop-Tarts make me feel nostalgic or you can think I never want one of those damn things again that’s

Where I am with spring football I just look I’ve got Trauma from so much nothing us of spring football the other lesson from this conversation here folks is if you ever start a business find yourself a Ryan Wallace that does the stuff and enjoys the stuff you

Don’t Wally how long you been with me now uh I mean I always tell people that from a recruiting standpoint right I started kind of uh right after Bryce Brown so that was I want to say 2010 but I was doing some video work with Old Shane Howard probably back in 2007

So 15 16 years yeah that’s a long time I love to party so um that’s for the OG’s there yeah exactly so anyhow that uh I get it that’s what Wally will tell me stuff I’m like I looked at that video he’s a prer films and stuff he’s

Breaking it down frame by frame he’s I’m so wrapped into this today I did the whole Magic lugie thing from Seinfeld on Twitter today because of the all the film stuff going on but yeah I mean it’s like he just studies everything and I’m like yeah that’s a nice

Here’s the other thing too just and again kind of this is our chance to vent a little bit about a lack of any kind of I’m just gonna call it a spring event because I I think we’re past the point we know Chris kle is not gonna have any

Sort of scrimmage or game but some sort of something the other reason I think I’m such a big proponent for it and and I think we might see more of it returning not just a K State but in the future is what what we’re sensing uh and

I say we I mean the the National media sensing is going to take place with the recruiting calendar if they start having the ability for kids to sign in June I think that makes spring official visits more tangible um I I think it’s something that more staffs are going to

Have to be more open to because the simple fact is June is going to be crunch time for a lot of kids and they’re not going to want to be taking visits right up until they’re supposed to announce and therefore even though the Calendar’s open right now you could take official visits in

April right now no coaches want anybody to come in and I think K State could be kind of on the Forefront of that if they chose to be um doing that aren’t they junior days and then they have announced a spring game which you and I went around about and it’s not an

Official spring game it’s just a the final scrimmage but they’re gonna have visitors yeah they will have visitors not of the official variety to my knowledge and I think that’s where I think they could would maybe get a couple on board and not be so hammered

Come June and and if K State doesn’t I would imagine we’ll see some other teams that start to do that moving forward and that way you’re not going into June you know on pins and needles am I stupid for thinking that they could sell out a spring game yes you’re stupid yes yeah

There’s no way not a Cas no no 15K 15 yeah I was say is that why maybe they don’t want to do an official you know official visits for a spring game is because they don’t want recruits to come and see but but here’s but oh oh here we

Go I’m just I I genuinely am curious here’s the thing though when you look at what Kate has done in the past and I think they’re getting a lot better at it they’re starting to have more visitors come in the fall even though I know they

Don’t want to do that you want to have the bulk of your class kind of done in the summer um but again at the end of the day kstate might get 50% of their of their class in June but they’re going to always have to trickle some into the

Fall but here’s the difference too is as as the calendar keeps moving up you’ve now eliminated one of K States kind of go-tos that they love to utilize whether it was kimman or Snider and that’s that December visit and to me it it makes zero sense to bring a guy in in December

Just like I don’t know if you really get that much coming on in a June visit because the campus is dead it’s empty in June there’s nobody there which means the town is what like half its size uh and then even in December they were bringing kids in during finals week it

Doesn’t have the same kind of oomph even if you only have 10 to 20,000 people in Manhattan it gives those kids A Taste it’s a reminder uh you can get I think it would be a great idea in April to get some of the guys that have already seen

Manhattan um maybe you get those kind of guys in and and worry about some of your unofficial visitors being from from out of state or maybe you go vice versa I mean I don’t know I think there’s you could make cases for for either or about

Coming in on a spring visit uh an official and seeing kind of the campus at a buzz but you can’t tell me that that’s not more beneficial in many ways as opposed to June because we’ve heard time and time again that Kate I mean they struggle in comparison to other

Communities to other towns about finding things to do on official visits they can’t take a kid to a top golf they can’t take a kid somewhere there’s not that much to do so why not at least have people around the community when you’re taking them out to dinner when you’re

Having them walk around campus I mean anyway I I could go on on a rant about it more than I already did but I I definitely think I’m with I’m with Fitz I don’t know if we’ll ever get more than you know 15 what was the prince year was

32 I think I don’t know if we’ll ever get that back again but you can’t tell me that you couldn’t draw 10 to 15 especially in a year like this with Avery Johnson well I I hate to say this I I always find myself regretting to

Admit this Ron Prince had it right make it more of a festival make it a big deal not just come watch a scrimmage like Bill Snider didn’t and hey we’re gonna flip the score at halftime wo that’s exciting you know I mean he would make a real game they would draft players have

Head coaches and then you’d have a damn Ferris wheel and a til whirl I love I loved it out in the parking lot I think it’s great but I Chris kemman wants that 15 practice it’s that’s what it’s about you get 15 practices do you

Want to give up the last one to put it in public view where you don’t want to put everything in public view or do you want to have a full-on scrimmage and get after it um and that’s what he prefers and so be it uh but yeah look just don’t

Whatever you do when a kid comes on that official visit don’t have any candy in his room the NCAA will CR you I was just going to say that don’t do it I think we’re telepathic because I literally was going to say well now that K State’s

Best part of their official visits which is giving the candy which I’m not making that up there have been recruits who have said the snack package that K St offered was better than any other school they visited that is a real thing now do I think that actually matters probably

Not but it was something that they were really good at and now they can’t do ity and whatever you do don’t do those photo shoots that we love because we have awesome photos how many times have we used great photo of recruit now the NCAA won’t allow

It anyhow you know what guys uh we’re going along here so let’s just park a break right here and then we’ll come back with more of this powercat podcast and I’m going to call an audible right here in the middle of the show because we can do one really long one or

We can do two football podcasts we’re now going to do two we’ll be right back we’ll be right back after these messages from our sponsors please visit the fridge wholesale liquor located at the corner of Claflin and Westport Road in Manhattan Kansas welcome back to the show let’s

Return to the cats and dogs Studio okay it’s Fitz and Wally and Cole and we’re calling an audible here uh we have like seven questions we’re through two and it took 25 minutes well so Spring football I look look I’m with you it’s I don’t want to cut it short so

What we’re going to do is I’m going to use like some of the questions for the podcast that what I’m doing right now this talking will be on Thursday morning and then we’ll do we’ll just roll into another one and that’ll be on Friday morning oh look at that look at that

Well let’s move on to the second half here as I skip over some questions that I’m saving for special uh Power parat Ryan wants to know I’m having a hard time setting realist realistic expectations for the 24 football season What would you project K State’s 2024

Record if Will Howard stayed where is it with Avery Johnson now what I find interesting about this entire topic guys is Will Howard is considered one of the top five or six Heisman candidates by most of the books and I think that’s you know what we’ve long argued that there

Is Elite Talent at K State it doesn’t always have enough Elite Talent around it now is Will Howard El leite as a quarterback well I think right now college game I think we’re seeing the reflection that maybe he is give him those receivers and those running backs

At Ohio State we’ll see what happens but right there with him is Avery Johnson in the top 12 of most lists for odds for the Heisman Trophy is Avery Johnson so this isn’t just kstate hype this is college football fever as they’ve getting glimpses of this kid and know

How special um but I I’ll I’ll say this I think will got too emotional for the ups and downs of being a quarterback at Kansas State and I think they’re better off right now with Avery but what do you guys think and um I’m going with 10 and

Two on the record I don’t know who’s gonna beat them but I think they’re gonna be pretty good I have a hypothetical question here okay because you know I love my hypotheticals yeah if they do go 10 and two yeah yeah there’s a good chance that they’re in the

College footall playoffs yeah yep okay if K State’s in the college football playoff with two losses I don’t know if Avery Johnson is a Heisman candidate but if they’re 11- one and they win the Big 12 and they get one of those top four buys there’s a real chance that Avery

Johnson had such a good season to where he is in that conversation because if you just look at I mean that usually the top teams in the country the quarterback is has a really good season and is in New York for the Heisman C for the Heisman Trophy presentation this this

Year was an aberration it was yet it what an eight and four quarterback right he was so good that yeah I mean and plus he was SEC so all those people voted for him so if that is if that’s what CU I’m I’m right along that line and I I

Haven’t really like dug down into it and looked at all the teams to make my you know we have the whole summer to do that but if K State goes and wins the Big 12 championship and they have 10 or more wins I would tend to believe Avery

Johnson would have a at least a chance to be um in the conversation for the Heisman if Will Howard does anything close to what Ohio State expects him to do and what they expect their team to do he is going to get that treatment of as

Long as he stays healthy and keeps that job the entire year if they’re 12-0 or 11-1 and in the college football playoff honestly probably like they should be that rosters loaded um he might be there too how crazy would it be to see Avery Johnson and will Howard both at the

Icman Trophy presentation I’m not saying that’s GNA happen but if you were to ask me will one of those two guys be in New York I don’t I don’t know what the odds would be but I I I don’t think they would be crazy ridiculous to see either

One of those two guys in New York York at the at the presentation because both of those guys are going to have a chance to be really really special this year I need to ask my personal odds maker um because Kelly could figure out Kelly and

Vegas could figure out the odds based on the odds of either one of them being the winner what maybe it’ be to be in New York both of them that’d be interesting that’d be a great prop bet if someone would make it I don’t know Wally your thoughts on

This I’m gonna be the painful realist here it’s again again it’s your It’s Your Role with me to bounce I’m gonna be the painful realist here here’s my thing though is is like I’m realistic but in my realism I still think because of the new system I’m I still could see a path

Where K State makes the college football playoff I’m just I I’m not quite there and this kind of goes against I know Zach has kind of done some math on it right that they kind of need to be double digit wins or at least nine right

Is kind of where they need to be I think I think nine to me feels like the ceiling for this team so again I’m not saying that it’s it’s unattainable I’m I’m not quite there yet and here’s here’s my thinking on it is for one I think we should have learned from the

Years past about when you lose multiple guys I mean Big T big name big production guys to the NFL they’re very hard to replace we did we didn’t really learn that with Felix Anu dek and JuJu Brent and Eko Boo and we we kind of got a taste of that this last

Year you you can’t replace immediately Cooper BBE you can’t immediately replace and I love Garett Oakley he’s not going to immediately be Ben Sate um and Beyond those guys I’m really nervous about the trenches I’m very high on Avery Johnson I mean I’m high on DJ giddens coming

Back and um you know I was more of a tan Ward guy most of last year but DJ proved something just like you know Carver Willis and those guys proved something too but can they repeat it can Carver Willis come back we is Carver Willis

Gonna be the Carver Willis at the end of the year I mean it we’re again he’s a guy that what is he a junior or senior now but kind of by experience standpoint he’s kind of going into year two for me are we goingon to see the sophomore

Slump or do we see the more Junior and seeden car Carver Willis is the real who’s the center is it Sam heck you know I love Sam heck technically sound as hell he’s also 285 pounds um so I mean we we think the world of Avery but

If if you can’t protect Avery and you can’t block for DJ I really worry a little bit about this offense and Jace Brown’s gonna be a Markman now is Keegan Johnson gonna break out or is he gonna be the majority of the Keegan Johnson we saw last year is Dante cus Kent State

Dante cus or Penn State Dante cus there’s a lot of question marks on offense I feel fairly good about the defense I think I’m with Cole I think there’s enough Parts on defense they’re going to be pretty damn sound on defense they’ll take some experimenting early on

To figure that out but to me I look at that schedule guys and if you’re not 4- one heading into that first buy and we’re not you know we’re seeing some offensive sputters a little bit that middle part of the schedule is so unforgiving going up into the Rockies I

Don’t care what Colorado is at that point that’s just a different something that Kate won I guess they will have tested it a couple weeks before at BYU but that altitude thing is different at then going the the opposite way I mean one of the other longer trips that K

State has to take the next week at West Virginia you come back to a game that couple years ago used to be your kind of your your cruise control week not anymore with KU and then you go down to Houston that guys we talked about it

Last year and they’ve had to reload a little bit but that roster as individuals wasn’t that bad their coaching staff just sucked well now they’ve got a hell of a coach coming in so again I’m I’m I’m the realist I’m I lean more pessimist but even my

Pessimism here is still this is still a seven- win team an eight- win team I I just don’t know if they can get over the hump and get nine nine to 10 we’ll see but it’s it’s all gonna be fits on offense it all comes down to the offense

I I agree with all everything you said uh my problem with guessing you know predicting a record is I don’t have a baseline understanding of some of these opponents I just don’t I don’t have enough experience with BYU or Colorado or Arizona and certainly if they run into

Them in the Big 12 Championship Utah maybe by the end of the season I will uh I you know I don’t know where those programs are in comparison but I can tell you if I know the head coach and I know the program like Oklahoma State or

West Virginia or Iowa State I have a pretty good feeling what I’m gonna get from those games I’m really you know now that the half the conference is new within the two-year period it’s crazy to try to predict these records because you just don’t have a proper Foundation of

Understanding of how everyone fits together it’s it’s going to be a little chaotic at times I think so I don’t know if this means anything okay but Kate on the record they play six teams with either first or second year head coaches at their respective institution I don’t

Know if that means anything besides the fact that a they’re not used to probably going up against a team like K State now you can say the same for whoever K State plays but I I think more about like the roster turnover so again Fitz we don’t

Know much about the teams that K State’s playing against because a lot of them have brand new head coaches and teams are completely different and I’m throwing to Lane in into that mix as well because obviously Willie Fritz goes from two line to Houston but I think

That might be a storyline that kind of emerged is like okay you’re playing two lane in week two you’re playing Arizona in week three it’s probably a good thing you’re playing those schools in week two and week three as opposed to week 10 and week 11 because they might have figured

It out by then and so I I think there’s something to be said for playing the two lanes in Arizona’s early in the season the Colorado’s earlier in the season um you know obviously you get Houston and Arizona State at the back end um not sure that those games are necessarily

Going to be as challenging as the first three that I mentioned but again I just think there’s something to be said for Kate having experience they have an experienced coaching staff and as much as we want to talk about the players on the field Kate’s coaching staff right

Now I would argue is I mean what top two in the Big 12 and I I’m not sure you know maybe top three if you want to throw KU in there as well um but I I look at Utah Kate probably KU and then Oklahoma State um as the top four

Coaching staffs and other than that I don’t know if it’s particularly close okay are we are we also though guys underestimating to to an extent the I don’t want to say enormity um because I don’t I don’t know the the the severity of of how fresh it’s going

To be but the the the task that it is especially for an relatively inexperienced roster to pick up a new offensive set I mean it’s not going from Courtney from Courtney minghan to Colin Klein where I think some of the the pre-nap things were different but at the end of the day

The the the blueprint was kind of the same I mean this is from at least what we’re Gathering and we’ve kind of been told this before right Fitz but like it’s gonna be different it might not look remarkably different but it’s gonna be different well I think as long as you

Stay within the basic concepts of your blocking schemes and your language that you’re using the players will adjust and I’m not opposed to different different route trees and things like that CU what they’re doing isn’t exactly great so yeah I can see that uh but getting back

To the nature of the question because of what Ryan Wall said about that offensive line I much rather have a guy mobile like Avery Johnson yes yes oops you totally whiffed on that block he whiffed on tackling me where you know credit to will Howard he he wasn’t a big stiff but

Yeah I mean you got him in your sight you got him you might bounce off of him but you’re gonna hit him and Avery just hard to find one more important real quick Fitz that I think again leans more where you would say I kind of prefer

Avery in this situation as we saw last year will Howard had such a bond with guys like Cade Warner with Ben sinate those guys are gone he would have to kind of develop a rapport during this off season whereas a lot of these guys Jace Brown in particular he was throwing

With Avery Johnson last year while will Howard was throwing with Ben cinate so a lot of these guys Avery already has that rapport with it would be a little bit of a transition if Will Howard was still the QB and I’m going to add this too

Before we move on you know how Ryan Gilbert does the GPC film study if you haven’t watched that um on our website go go check that out for basketball you got to subscribe you have to subcribe you got to subscribe this is a sales opportunity young Co I need to figure

This out subscribe to gopowercat.com so you can see um gills is what’s his name I don’t like guy he does a good job yeah did they’re well done he does a good job and somebody was asking me if we plan on doing that for football I don’t know but

If we did I can just tell you there will be there will be plays where I will be sitting there saying guess what the defense did everything they could possibly do and number two just he just beat him oh he was in a position to sack

Him man he made a mo and he made a miss and he ran 10 yards for a touchdown like y sorry that happens so when you’re adjusting to a new offense it helps to as Jerome Tang would say have a dude at quarterback and Kate has one of those

Guys I agree O2 CAD asks this what potential contribution would be the single biggest impact to the football team for success in 2024 this is a tough one guys because it you can go so many different areas I’m just gonna say this if Kate somehow has

A deep a legitimate deep threat that can just burn and get past you they haven’t had that since Tyler Lockett they’ve had guys that can pretend to be that but not a real pain in the ass if someone develops like that and gets downfield and let Avery stretch it and the

Safeties have to stay back I’m buying I’m I’m buying if if you get that kind of receiver play and the safeties have got to be careful and they can’t just creep up to keep an eye on Avery I think it opens up everything for the offense I kind of agree honestly I was

Thinking what single contributor maybe not contribution I was goingon to say a guy like Trey spy I mean this is a guy who Connor Riley talked about at the bull prep and I think maybe didn’t play more than like two snaps in the bowl

Game I don’t get it uh so I would hope that he’s kind of developing um again Kate fans I think it’s kind of turned it into a thing on W bash station oh what’s happening with Trey spy why isn’t he playing I I think he’s gonna play and so

If he can turn into somebody who is your uh a consistent rotational player that bumps one of those three receivers down to the fourth receiver spot and if you’re running four receiver sets with Jace Brown Trey Spivey Keegan John and Dante cus and Trace py is turned into a

Legitimate weapon that is a really good receiving core so I I’ll say that maybe not just Trace byy but how about just developing a quality fourth receiver okay Ryan Wall yeah I mean that those are all good um loow hanging fruit I like it I I agree I I go back to the

Interior of the offensive line I think that’s that’s going to kind of make or break things for me so whether you want to talk about it being Sam hect whether you want to talk about it being Hadley Panzer taking that next step which Chris kimman I believe just put out there

Pretty public facing the other day I mean it was kind of a challenge to Hadley of like what’s Hadley Panzer need to do take the next step he didn’t say he’s been bad he just said we need we need him to be the the dude this year um

He’s critical um and then I think a lot of people want to talk about TP about Taylor poder but uh and I’m not saying that getting his contribution isn’t big because of everything he provides on off the field but again giving his injury history you just don’t know Andrew

Langang is absolutely enormous for this team I mean to me he solves a Litany of problems if he’s just a a dude I think it allows them to be able to experiment a little bit more with the interior so I’m gonna go Andrew Lang gang for me

Because again I I go back I think the defense is pretty well established we could name some guys on defense but if you want to talk about the contribution that can I don’t want to say make or break the team but I mean really put the pendulum in the right direction I look

At the interior the offensive line that’s good stuff and by the way you you weren’t privy to this because you were listening or just watching the the camera on Chris climing right Hadley Panzer was in the room so was Jen Jackson it was towards the end and and

The players showed up a little bit early and they just they opened the door and Kenny lenu just waved them in to stand there at the side and and our guide D Scott FR Daddy was asking uh about those players and they were in the room when

He answered and Chris didn’t know it so I’m glad he didn’t say that Hadley he really stinks so I had to rewind it though Fitz because I was like who did he just talk about I mean it was that blunt where I was like whoa that’s a

Challenge I loved it and you’re right I think he’s he’s gonna be at Center uh if Li gang can you know step up and do the things we expect and then then all of a sudden it kind of changes the uh the feel of this team it really does yeah

You have you have you had beibs last year I wouldn’t want to be the person that playing left guard no now you have as as they call him Bubba great nickname by the way which one’s that Andrew no langang yeah that’s right or no not Lang

Gang um Hadley they call him Bubba I didn’t know that Bubba I got a friend that called Bubba I don’t know why we ended up calling him Bubba shout out to Kevin muff hey uh that’s it for this edition of the power cat podcast but don’t don’t worry man don’t we’re going

To go make some more magic in fact we’re not going to stop this recording we’re just going to cut the recording in half but I do have to do this at the end of the podcast because it’s called the ending we’ll be back tomorrow with more

Football talk here at go park at this has been a gopowercat.com and spirit Street production please support this show by subscribing to this YouTube channel or follow us on your favorite podcast platform