On facing the Skyhawks…
“We’re excited about the opportunity of getting a really good UT Martin team here. Coach [Jason] Simpson has done a great job. He’s been there a long time. They have a great system, and he does a really good job of getting those guys to play within their schemes, offensively and defensively.”
“… They’ve won their league three straight years. As you guys know, [FCS football] is my background. I know how good the football is. Our guys are going to know how good the football is as well. So, we’ll continue our prep work the next few days, and then be ready to roll on Saturday.”
On what challenges UT-Martin’s offense presents…
“Kinkead Dent is a great quarterback that has played a lot of football for them. When you have a returning quarterback, it’s always a bright thing. They’ve got a number of interior offensive linemen that have played a lot of football … They have a lot of juniors and seniors that have played a lot of football on the offensive side, a bunch of wide receivers that can make big plays.”
“… The fact that they aren’t just a ‘You’ve got to stop the run, you’ve got to stop the RPO, pass game.’ They do both equally well and they’re really balanced. So for us defensively it is going to be a big challenge.”
On balancing winning and seeing a lot of guys play…
“It’s always tough to balance the first game because sometimes you just don’t know because you haven’t had as many live situations, whether it’s tackling or live special teams … We’ve got to put our best foot forward to have an opportunity to win the football game and play the guys that have given us the best chance to be successful.”
“We don’t talk about, ‘Well what if [we get up early]?’ I’ve been on the other side of this thing when I know that’s been talked about and then you end up getting beat by the FCS program.”
On how K-State needs to play…
“We’ve got to play really well on both sides of the ball with some inexperienced guys getting their first snaps. Our stars gotta be stars. If you’ve played two or three years of [college] football, step up and show people you have. Be the dude, be the guy.”