The Kansas State football team added a boost to their offense back in April. It was a familiar name to Chris Klieman’s coaching staff and to senior quarterback Skylar Thompson: 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound tight end from the University of Northern Iowa, Briley Moore.
Moore played against Kleiman’s coaching staff at North Dakota State four times when at Northern Iowa. In those four games against NDSU, Moore saw how their coaching staff utilized the tight end spot in the NDSU offense.
“[Their system of tight ends] was one of the biggest reasons going into transferring,” Moore said.
He was thrilled when K-State gave him the call.
“I would have my fingers crossed hoping K-State would call because of the things I had seen them do with their tight ends while I was at Northern Iowa,” Moore said.
After he entered the transfer portal, he texted his hometown friend Skylar Thompson, having spoken to K-State a couple of times already.
“It was almost a no brainer from there,” Moore said.
The relationship between Thompson and Moore goes back to fifth grade, where the two would play against each other in basketball almost weekly. They remained good friends throughout high school, and in college they both returned to Missouri during the summer and practiced together.
During those summer reunions in Missouri, the duo always discussed one thing: playing on the same team.
“After each [practice together] we would talk about how crazy it would be if we were able to play together,” Moore said. “Not actually thinking that would come true. But now, looking back at it, it seems like it is almost too good to be true.”
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The excitement peaked for the duo the first time they reunited in-person at K-State, and it has continued ever since.
“I remember we both just started laughing — we were on the phone a lot texting each other,” Moore said “And still to this day we will say, ‘It doesn’t seem real.’ It is crazy how both of our paths ended up crossing the way they did with my injury from last year preventing me from playing my senior season, and now it is just unreal. God definitely has his hands over the whole situation to lead us together to play our senior year.”
Klieman said he is excited to see what kind of year Moore will have at K-State.
“Briley is going to be a definite impact player for us this year,” Klieman said. “You can tell his exceptional physical skills whether it is blocking to the point of attack or running routes. He has gained the respect from our older guys really fast just because of how he works and the fact that he competes on every down. You can flex him out. We’re going to utilize him in an awful lot of positions, so I’m excited for him to have the opportunity, which he’s earned.”
As the season begins this Saturday, it will be the first time the Missouri natives play their first college football game together. They are both very anxious, but most importantly, Thompson said — it’s about having fun.
“Even this weekend, we were texting back and forth during the Memphis game when [Arkansas State] was playing Memphis — we said, ‘Man, it’s really here. We’re about to go strap it up and have the same uniform on and go compete and play together,” Thompson said.
“I feel like [Moore] and I are personally very similar as far as our approach on life and our values,” Thompson continued. “He means a lot to me and I’m just so excited for him to have this opportunity to play on this stage and play in our offense. He’s going to help us out so much in the run game, pass game, but above all, he’s just a great person, he’s a great leader. I’m just super excited to go out there and make memories and plays with him.”
