K-State Slate: 8.7.14 - Has college football sold out?

BracketCat takes on a pair of #24s, Nate Jackson and Charles Jones, and Jon Morse reports on the Maui Invitational Bracket. Finally, Kitchen checks in with what's cooking with various teams and wonders if Charlie Strong's latest motivational tactic is a recipe for disaster.

K-State held its annual Media Day yesterday, and we have plenty of quotable material to discuss. First and foremost, Bill Snyder seems optimistic about the team's preparation:

I am pleased with the effort of the 105 young guys that we have out there for the most part. We are in a work in progress. I think the retention level this week has been very good. We put in an awful lot. We do not put it in all in one day, but we implement our entire offense, defense, and all of our special teams stuff, which is quite a bit, throughout the first four or five days. There is an awful lot that goes in and they have done a nice job of retaining all of that. The execution on the field from an assigned standpoint has been good, from the fundamental standpoint has been good, not great but good.

Given his general caginess, I think that might be a bit of a tip of the hand to a big season for K-State, but it's probably inappropriate to come to any real conclusion about the 2014 season. Snyder also offered savvy advice to his players, and riffed on whether it's really a good idea for a 22-year old (i.e. Collin Klein) to go into coaching.

But Snyder's big splash for the day was a lengthy monologue where he ripped into college athletics and used the term "sold out" a lot:

"I think we've sold out. We're all about dollars and cents. The concept of college football no longer has any bearing on the quality of the person, the quality of students. Universities are selling themselves out."

Snyder clearly recognizes he is part of the problem. But student-athletes have always made decisions based on things like facilities and the glitz and glamour around a program, and it's worth noting that the current paradigm has enriched the experience at schools that did not always have a lot to offer in terms of stadiums and tradition.

The players got a few choice quotes in as well, including what it's like to play for Bill Snyder. Tyler Lockett should get gold stars for recasting Snyder's sawing wood metaphor into a more sports-friendly analogy:

"You have to want to work, you have to understand he’s old school; it’s not going to be like schools who do it new school. If you don’t want to work, this might not be the place for you. It doesn’t matter if you grew up on third base, you’re going to start at home and work your way around. Being able to have every player do that helps because we all start in the same boat."

The K-State assistant coaches were also out in full force, and the take-home message seems to be team chemistry, especially on offense. We are, however, none the wiser about who will carry the load at running back, and it looks the rushing attack will be by committee, with all the usual suspects (DeMarcus Robinson, Charles Jones, Jarvis Leverett, Glenn Gronkowski and Dalvin Warmack) in the mix. Warmack, however, is not hiding from the ghost of Darren Sproles.

Despite the uncertainty at running back, the team is committed to offensive balance, so don't look for K-State to suddenly become a pass-heavy team. Waters' growing confidence should help, especially since he wants to lead by example.

On defense, Dylan Schellenberg has big shoes to fill as he takes over from Ty Zimmerman.

Don't miss the Media Day photo gallery, with some bonus Collin Klein making his first appearance on the K-State staff. The comments to yesterday's Slate featured some questioning of Klein's sartorial choices, but it looks like the assistants all wore the same unfortunate golf shirt.

Mr. Coach Klein pic.twitter.com/0IOEpRLLkD

— John Zetmeir (@J_Zetmeir) August 6, 2014