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Give the award for the best quotes of the Big 12 football preseason to Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman.
According to the junior, who will be a starter for the third straight year, the most important thing to happen to KSU in the offseason was graduation.
"Guys on the team look to the seniors as role models and for a lot of leadership," Freeman said. "We just didn't have that in the way we needed it last year.
"This year, we have a strong backbone to the team. We have a sense that if you're not rowing with us, you need to get out of the boat. And if you're unable to row, we'll pull you along with us."
This kind of talk makes the story of where Kansas State football is headed under third-year coach Ron Prince even more fascinating.
Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman is critical of some of last year's seniors and is optimistic for a fresh start. "This year, we have a strong backbone to the team," he said. "We have a sense that if you're not rowing with us, you need to get out of the boat. And if you're unable to row, we'll pull you along with us."It's hard to believe Freeman would throw last year's seniors under the bus if he hadn't heard Prince discuss the need for former coach Bill Snyder's recruits to move on so the "New Age" of Wildcat football could progress.
Read what Freeman said about last year's finale, a 45-29 loss at Fresno State that ended a 5-7 season and a winless November:
"That was somewhat of a watershed moment for our team. It was kind of 'out with the old' — a lot of people who had been hindering our team. Guys who had been there for a long time kind of were rejecting the movement the team is trying to go on."
Freeman's calling out of teammates is pretty bold talk for someone who is 9-11 as a college starter and has more career interceptions (26) than touchdown passes (24). (Top draft pick, Jigs?)
Surely Freeman would like to have All-America receiver and second-round draft pick Jordy Nelson back, wouldn't he?
"It was fun playing with him," Freeman said, "but I won't miss him at all."
Come again
"We won't have to rely on a guy like Jordy," Freeman said. "People said Jordy was your offense. We take that as a slap in the face. He was a big contributor to our offense, but we had a lot of other guys who showed week in and week out that they were capable of getting the job done as well."
Kansas State will get to see if several newcomers can fit in, too.
Prince signed 19 junior college players for this season. The final tally for the number that showed up and actually stayed was 15.
The heavy juco move looks like a huge gamble, but Freeman is on message with that strategy, too.
"It's not risky at all," he said. "The mistake a lot of people make is they look at a junior-college player as a second-rate player.
"We've got guys who got major Division I offers coming out of high school, but just didn't make the grades. They are still really good players."
So everything looks great in the land of the Purple People. Prince even got a new contract and a $350,000 annual raise after getting outscored on average 51-28 in four November losses.
Look closer, though, and you'll see it was more of a reformulated contract that added two years to his original deal — very similar to the one Bill Callahan got last August at Nebraska four months before he was fired.
No one is suggesting Prince is in immediate hot water. But note that the president involved in hiring Prince is retiring and the athletic director at the time is gone.
Was the contract extension just for public-relations purposes? Or does the K-State administration and fan base really believe that Prince, who has proclaimed his style as "bold and daring," can get this program back into the North Division title mix?
Those questions make this Kansas State football season worth close scrutiny.
According to the junior, who will be a starter for the third straight year, the most important thing to happen to KSU in the offseason was graduation.
"Guys on the team look to the seniors as role models and for a lot of leadership," Freeman said. "We just didn't have that in the way we needed it last year.
"This year, we have a strong backbone to the team. We have a sense that if you're not rowing with us, you need to get out of the boat. And if you're unable to row, we'll pull you along with us."
This kind of talk makes the story of where Kansas State football is headed under third-year coach Ron Prince even more fascinating.
Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman is critical of some of last year's seniors and is optimistic for a fresh start. "This year, we have a strong backbone to the team," he said. "We have a sense that if you're not rowing with us, you need to get out of the boat. And if you're unable to row, we'll pull you along with us."It's hard to believe Freeman would throw last year's seniors under the bus if he hadn't heard Prince discuss the need for former coach Bill Snyder's recruits to move on so the "New Age" of Wildcat football could progress.
Read what Freeman said about last year's finale, a 45-29 loss at Fresno State that ended a 5-7 season and a winless November:
"That was somewhat of a watershed moment for our team. It was kind of 'out with the old' — a lot of people who had been hindering our team. Guys who had been there for a long time kind of were rejecting the movement the team is trying to go on."
Freeman's calling out of teammates is pretty bold talk for someone who is 9-11 as a college starter and has more career interceptions (26) than touchdown passes (24). (Top draft pick, Jigs?)
Surely Freeman would like to have All-America receiver and second-round draft pick Jordy Nelson back, wouldn't he?
"It was fun playing with him," Freeman said, "but I won't miss him at all."
Come again
"We won't have to rely on a guy like Jordy," Freeman said. "People said Jordy was your offense. We take that as a slap in the face. He was a big contributor to our offense, but we had a lot of other guys who showed week in and week out that they were capable of getting the job done as well."
Kansas State will get to see if several newcomers can fit in, too.
Prince signed 19 junior college players for this season. The final tally for the number that showed up and actually stayed was 15.
The heavy juco move looks like a huge gamble, but Freeman is on message with that strategy, too.
"It's not risky at all," he said. "The mistake a lot of people make is they look at a junior-college player as a second-rate player.
"We've got guys who got major Division I offers coming out of high school, but just didn't make the grades. They are still really good players."
So everything looks great in the land of the Purple People. Prince even got a new contract and a $350,000 annual raise after getting outscored on average 51-28 in four November losses.
Look closer, though, and you'll see it was more of a reformulated contract that added two years to his original deal — very similar to the one Bill Callahan got last August at Nebraska four months before he was fired.
No one is suggesting Prince is in immediate hot water. But note that the president involved in hiring Prince is retiring and the athletic director at the time is gone.
Was the contract extension just for public-relations purposes? Or does the K-State administration and fan base really believe that Prince, who has proclaimed his style as "bold and daring," can get this program back into the North Division title mix?
Those questions make this Kansas State football season worth close scrutiny.
