In the third and final press conference of the spring football season, K-State football head coach Bill Snyder made it clear the only difference in this year’s annual Purple/White Spring Game is the venue. Snyder’s tried and tested formula of spring games will remain the same because for him, it’s just another practice.
“It’s important to see how guys, especially younger guys who haven’t been involved with it, can respond to some of the distractions that exist in the crowd noise,” Snyder said. “Just being in that environment is different for some of them. The 15th, even if it’s in a different environment, is still our 15th practice. I don’t see it as a spring game.”
Here are more notes from Tuesday’s press conference:
Snyder’s philosophy behind Purple/White Spring Game format
As in every spring game in the Snyder era, fans will most likely see the first team offense against the second team defense and vice versa. That’s for one simple reason: it protects Snyder’s sanity.
“It’s for my own preservation for my state of mind,” Snyder said. “If we go one’s against two’s, I have a chance to win on both sides. If we’re one’s against one’s, then I’m going to be unhappy, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be unhappy the way it is, because the one’s still have to perform well.”
Replacing Lockett’s skill-set
With Tyler Lockett heading toward the NFL Draft, K-State is still searching for a playmaker who can make up for Lockett’s production. With the diamond that Lockett was for the Wildcats, however, a huge question has risen: can the Wildcats even come close to finding someone as explosive as their departing wide receiver?
“We’re just not going to be as explosive, at least in the way Tyler was,” Snyder said. “We’re going to have to find other ways to do it, it’s not going to be done the same way. I think there’s other ways to replace it, we’ve been able to create those big plays (in practice).”
Lockett, Finney’s chances in the upcoming NFL Draft
“As is true with any of our guys, if they get there they’ll make it,” Snyder said. “Tyler will surprise some people when he get’s there. Size is obviously an issue in some minds. The NFL is cookie-cutter — they’ve got this chart on the wall where you got to match up on the chart, and he doesn’t match up to the chart in just physical nature, but he runs as fast as anyone that they’ve got.”
