|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: KANSAS STATE v OREGONDecember 30, 2012Del MillerGLENDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Your first memory of Chris Harper getting on campus with the team, maybe any excitement level you had about his potential in the offense. COACH MILLER: Initially when he came, he came as a quarterback. I was looking to what he could do at that position. It became apparent he was going to be better off at a receiver position and probably end up making him a bunch of money. I'm pretty certain Chris will make it in the NFL. Great size, great speed, very talented. He's been able to hone those skills now a little bit. Chris is a good player. Q. How has he matured and kind of become a leader in the last couple years? COACH MILLER: Yeah, I think probably when he got with the wide receivers, he took over that group a little bit. I think some of his quarterback background probably lends itself to being a little bit more of a leader, too. Q. You were at the Heisman ceremony. What went through your mind there? COACH MILLER: Honestly, a lot of pride. I'm a little sentimental at times, so some tears came to my eyes. Excited for him and his family. I get more enjoyment, more gratification watching my players do something like that and have fun and excel than anything. So, yeah, it was a special moment certainly for him. It was a special moment for me. Q. How much more did he develop this year as a player? Seemed like he did a lot more things with the offense. COACH MILLER: You know, there's been a situation where he's continually progressed through last year, coming into this year. I think as we let him have little more of the reins this year, he's so knowledgeable. He thoroughly understands what we're doing offensively. He can get you into the right things, where a lot of times we would maybe, Check with the box‑‑ no, check with Collin, because he understands it. Q. Many quarterbacks that can do that? COACH MILLER: You have to be in the system for a while, understand it. You have two ways you can go: control it totally, which a lot of people are doing now, and we have that ability, too. We can do that. We knew that he was very knowledgeable. Not to use, that would be crazy. It's been fun with him in the film rooms this year. He and I, he understands our offense well enough, we'll be going through things. He'll suggest something. Coach, what do you think about this? Collin, that's a good idea, let's give it a try. It's been kind of cool working through game plans with he and I. He would be an excellent coach, knowing the X's and O's, how he treats young people. He collects them. They're going to follow him. Q. So much was made about his delivery when he first started. I'm curious what you thought when you first saw him throw, because you obviously saw something there. COACH MILLER: It's a technical deal really. Initially when he first started throwing, it had more to do with the angles of his arm. He was losing some velocity from it. We straightened out those angles a little bit. He spent time trying to direct that. That generated more speed on the ball, so... It sounds like it's not a big deal, but it's a bigger deal than you think because you have to break habit. Most kids can't do that. He was able to do that because he works so hard. What we do with our quarterbacks all the time is we're filming them from behind, side views, front views. We do it mostly in the off‑season. We break it down where you can go frame by frame. You can work on technique a lot easier that way. Q. A simple question, but how much are you going to miss him? COACH MILLER: I might go on Prozac when he leaves (smiling). No, as a player, obviously I'll miss him. But as a person, I'll miss him. I hope that we stay close all the time because he's pretty, pretty special. Q. Bowl game, this was preparation, you probably wind up having a pretty expansive play chart. COACH MILLER: You do, because you're looking at an entire season from their part. You also have to look at teams that are similar to you. Yeah, it's always difficult because with as much preparation as you have, they can really do some new things that you are going to have to adapt to at game time. If we could do something different, we'd have to adapt to it. Almost wish they'd shorten that. You almost end up doing the thing so long, you almost get bored, want to move on to something else. Q. You've been with Bill for a number of years. Winning the Big 12 title, adding to his legacy at K State, his achievements... COACH MILLER: It's difficult to add to because it's so tremendous. I think this season has been particularly gratifying for him. It's such a special group of young people we're working with right now. They're a good group of kids. I call them kids. They're still kids to me. They have done a tremendous job of buying into the Bill Snyder way. It's certainly a proven way of winning. The proof's in the pudding, and he's proved that over the years. Sure would like to have this last one. There's nobody in Kansas State that has had the 12th. Whichever way that goes, I mean, that legacy is tremendous. Q. What is the key to, in a quick time, having to meld players from different walks, transfers? What is the key there to making a move quickly, getting everybody on the same page? COACH MILLER: In terms of working with junior college youngsters that come in, we have a number that have come into our program over the years, and we have a number that are there right now. I think their acceptance when others come in, it's not an abnormal thing, whereas maybe some schools one or two come in. When they come in, they're accepted, become part of the group right away. The big thing is generally with some of our junior college kids coming in is learning a new work ethic. We work hard at it, so... Q. Do you think recruiting junior college players is almost out of necessity because of the location or you're finding players that other people aren't noticing that are gems? COACH MILLER: I think we've always found kids that people haven't noticed. We've been very, very good in terms of development of players certainly. Also with the Jayhawk conference, it's a natural feeder system into there. We expand from there into different junior colleges from there. Still we try to get the ones that are going to fit in and fit our particular needs. Q. I wonder how much something like that might change when you have a top‑five program, can you maybe have some more creativity with some of the bigger recruits? COACH MILLER: Yeah. You know what, it's kind of funny. I probably count four or five stars, so‑called, recruits that we've gotten there over the years. Might have been maybe two. I don't think they were very successful for us. We have an awful lot of three stars that are playing in the NFL right now. Q. That's Kansas State's formula, too. COACH MILLER: Yeah. I think you need to make your own rankings, your own evaluations, know how they're going to fit in. Q. Is that where Bill comes in, where he's really good at molding them? COACH MILLER: That's a real key to the success he's had through the years, is player development. Q. How many JCs have you walked into during your time at K State on the recruiting trail? COACH MILLER: I mean, I couldn't count how many. A bunch, yeah. A bunch. Q. Everyone talk about Oregon's offense, how good is their defense? COACH MILLER: Their defense is very good. This is a defense that has collected 24 interceptions from a variety of people, linebacker core, secondary core. Dion Jordan is a great backer, comes with pressure, sacks. No.66, I can't think of his name offhand, but he's had eight sacks for the season. They're physical up front and they can run. Yeah, it's a good defense. Q. With your ball control offense, how big of a role can Travis end up playing in this game? COACH MILLER: I mean, Travis is good in every game, not only from a blocking standpoint, the run game, but also the passing game. He's a good receiver. He'll definitely be an important part. Q. Doesn't have a lot of catches, but seems to make the big ones. COACH MILLER: He doesn't drop many, so he's a pretty consistent player. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|