Kansas State football’s Desmond Purnell speaks at Big 12 media days
Check out what Kansas State football’s Desmond Purnell had to say while appearing at Big 12 Conference media days for the Wildcats this year.
For Kansas State football fans who will head to Dublin, Ireland, next month to watch the Wildcats’ season opener, it’s a dream vacation.
For coach Chris Klieman and his K-State team, the Aer Lingus Football Classic against Iowa State on Aug. 23 is a vacation buster.
“It stinks from a vacation standpoint, I’ll tell you that,” Klieman said Tuesday during Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas. “Because we’re back to work a full week earlier than we would typically be. Time away from family and children, that’s the hard thing.
“I think our guys have another maybe 10 days of workouts and then we get rolling and get started. And so, vacations are a little bit shorter, but what an opportunity to showcase the Big 12. The benefit of it is we’re going to have the experience of a lifetime going over to Ireland and taking our players over there and support staff and all the people.”
The truth is K-State thought enough of the opportunity to sacrifice a Big 12 home game in order to ship the Farmageddon rivalry with Iowa State overseas. The national exposure in front of a national ESPN television audience to kick off the college football season was too much to pass up.
Actually, vacation time is the least of the Wildcats’ concerns. Starting a week early and opening against a Power Four conference rival presents enough logistical challenges.
“We’ve got to realize it’s not a bowl game,” Klieman said. “We have to get that across quickly, that it’s not the Rate Bowl where we get a month off afterwards. We’re flying back the next morning and we’re going to work, because we’ve got a game the next week.”
The Wildcats, who ended last season with a 44-41 victory over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl, follow the Iowa State contest with four straight games before getting a bye week Sept. 20. They report for preseason camp on July 22 and begin practice the next day.
“There’s just a sense of urgency for the team and myself,” senior linebacker Desmond Purnell said of the early start. “Have them understand what’s going on so fast (and) so early.
“There’s a reason behind how we’re training right now, and that’s to get after guys to be sure they’re up to speed, because we don’t have that extra week to do anything. We’re way ahead of schedule, so we’ll keep pushing the envelope.”
While the Week 0 matchup pushes everything up a week, it can’t come soon enough for quarterback Avery Johnson.
“It’s going to be a really fun experience for us, but I’m really just excited to get out and start playing,” Johnson said. “If it’s at K-State or it’s an away game, I really don’t care where the game is . I’m just excited to get back out on the field.”
While Klieman never imagined as a young coach that he would play a game overseas, he and his staff have done their homework.
“I’ve watched all those that have been over there and I’ve talked to every coach or somebody on that staff, people that have gone over there,” he said . “Shoot, we’ve talked to a lot of NFL teams that have taken teams over there. We’re turning over every stone to find out ways to take advantage of that.”
The last time the Wildcats opened the season against a then-Power Five opponent was 2021, when they beat Stanford at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“I think it increases the urgency of the players, increases the urgency of the coaches and the staff, because you need to put your best foot forward,” Klieman said. “We had that same situation against Stanford. I looked at a lot of notes to see what we did during that prep. It’s a big challenge, but you’re going to have to play all these teams anyway.”
The fact that the opponent is rival Iowa State adds to the urgency.
“It’s definitely extra motivation for us, knowing that we lost to Iowa the last two years,” Johnson said. “They beat us to end the regular season last year and left a bad taste in our mouth.
“It definitely doesn’t sit right with me, and I know it doesn’t sit right with the rest of this team. We feel like we still owe those guys, so we’re going to prepare our hardest to go out there and get the win.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.
