I highlighted the things that stuck out to me.
Snyder says defense finally has quality depth
Cole Manbeck
[email protected]DALLAS —
When there's a lack of depth, players get comfortable. They develop bad tendencies and often don't push themselves to their limits — because, hey, there's no one threatening them for their starting job. Turns out that was one of the biggest reasons for Kansas State's struggles defensively last season, senior safety Tysyn Hartman said Tuesday at Big 12 Football Media Days.
"
Certain guys felt like they were locked in on a spot, 'OK, well who else is going to play this?'" Hartman said. "
The coaches kind of felt trapped, like 'OK, I have to play this guy even though he may not be giving as much effort as some of those other guys that are competing.'"
Which led to this assessment from coach LHC Bill Snyder about his 2010 defense on Tuesday:
"It's not that we were not so good," he said, "We stunk. There was such a lack of consistency, and we weren't very good, as the statistics would tell you, against the run."
But
depth should no longer be a major problem area for the Wildcats, who ranked 119th out of 120 teams in run defense in 2010.
"The biggest thing — we now have the most depth that we've had since I've been here," said Hartman, who is in his fifth year at K-State. "There's a lot more competition at almost every position. It's just all across the board and that's something we haven't had.
"Now we have competition everywhere, pushing each other. The second stringers are pushing the first stringers to get better and so on."
The Wildcats still only have 69 players on scholarship, 16 below the maximum 85 that a team can carry, but Snyder feels much better now about the two-deep on the defensive side of the ball.
The biggest addition to the defense is Arthur Brown, who sat out last season after transferring from Miami.
"I'm very impressed with him," Snyder said. "
I like guys that do it and Arthur does it. He's a good player, he's an instinctive player and I appreciate that about him as well. Playing the position that he plays and to have
the kind of instincts that he has can become very vital in our defense."
The junior middle linebacker will be the anchor at what may be the strongest position group of the K-State defense, where sophomore Tre Walker and senior Emmanuel Lamur are expected to start on each side of Brown. The trio possesses speed — lots of it. And the guys who started at linebacker on last year's defense (minus Walker's two starts) have now been relegated to second string duty or below on the depth chart, a sign of growth at the position.
"The linebacker position we have created that depth," Snyder said. "We've got four guys at linebacker that played either extensively or a reasonable amount of time last year.
We've got six guys that we think give us a good two-deep that can be competitive with each other and we've got guys who are passionate about playing so they will compete."
This is where things got interesting, as Snyder made the media's job easy. He was asked a question about Arthur Brown, and proceeded to break down his entire defense by position over the next eight minutes as the reporters huddled around the K-State coach and simply listened.
"Where do we need to get better? We need to get better every place," Snyder said. "Can we?
I think we're a better defensive football team. We were a better defensive football team at the end of spring practice than we were at the end of the season. I think we have a chance — it doesn't mean that we're there, and we're not there, but
we have a chance that we haven't had before to create some consistent depth in our defense."
K-State brought in three junior college defensive backs in this past recruiting class, all of whom are expected to compete for significant playing time alongside senior David Garrett, who led the Wildcats in tackles with 92 while ranking fourth in the conference with 15 tackles for loss.
"In our secondary, we have a chance," Snyder said. "We've got some newcomers, we'll have three newcomers at the corner position and we don't know yet but it gives us the opportunity because
we think they have a chance to be decent players and would give us a chance to have a quality two-deep at the cornerback position."
Hartman returns at safety and will be flanked by sophomore Ty Zimmerman, who was a Freshman All-American last season.
"Our safeties are both back with a year's more experience," Snyder said. "They still have room to grow and if we can put two guys in behind them, which we think we might be able to do, to make those positions competitive to a greater degree than they are right now, then we'll continue to get better.
"I have great faith in both (Zimmerman and Hartman), it's in their nature to be competitive and they will strive to become better under any circumstances. But there's more to depth than just the improvement because you're looking at some point in time somebody gets injured, you've gotta have somebody there. If you have a good player underneath them, you don't always miss a beat."
And Snyder saved the defensive front for last — perhaps the unit that received the bulk of the criticism for last year's struggles.
"The defensive front is a big question — again," he said. "We'd like to think we have maybe three guys at the defensive end position, we could certainly use a fourth — but three guys are competing for two spots.
"The interior defensive line — we've got a number of guys back that have played and we've got newcomers coming but
I think we have a chance to have maybe five guys, maybe six that have kind of equal capabilities which will make the position more competitive. And if they bring the spirit, the passion of the game and the competitive nature to it, then we'll continue to get better at the spot.
"That covers all of our defense."
Indeed it does.
In summary: more depth equals more competition, and because of that, guys probably won't be getting too comfortable on the defense this season.
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We just haven't had any depth in the past two years," Snyder said. "if you create depth — by that I mean you've got two guys that are somewhat equal and have a competitive spirit and passion for the game then they will compete day in and day out and that's important to try and win a position. That makes both of them better.
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The more positions you get that kind of depth, the better the chance you have to get a little bit better. It happened 20 years ago and we're trying to get in a position where we can do that. I think we're closer to that.
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It really is significant to have a little better depth than what we've had."
Snyder says Bryce Brown hasn't separated himself
Bryce Brown was the only Wildcat on the All-Big 12 football team selected by the media.
"That's your fault, not mine," Snyder told reporters about voting the Tennessee transfer onto the team.
That's not to say Brown won't live up to the hype and make it, but as of now, the once-top rated recruit in the country may not even be the starting running back come Sept. 3, when K-State opens the season against Eastern Kentucky.
Snyder spent much of his day raving about the leadership and effort that's been displayed by Arthur Brown, Bryce's brother, but the same couldn't be said about Bryce when the K-State coach was asked about him.
"I haven't seen the same thing out of Bryce. It's just the way it is. They're just two different people," Snyder said. "Bryce, hasn't put himself in the same position that Arthur has.
"Bryce's situation is such — there's three, maybe four guys that are very competitive for that (running back) spot."
Snyder added that he expected the position to remain up for grabs in fall camp, as John Hubert and Robert Rose remain competitive for carries.
"If they bring the competitive spirit and the compassion to the game and the practice field it will be very competitive with those that do," Snyder said.
Tillman to arrive soon?
The K-State defense should get a big jolt to the defensive line soon, as Bo Tillman, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound junior college defensive lineman, is expected to arrive for fall camp.
"As we speak the possibilities become stronger that he will get here, Snyder said.
