Notebook: Takeaways from Kansas State assistant Van Malone

Kansas State speed

I already wrote about and mentioned the Kansas State team speed on the defensive side of the ball getting complimented by defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman. Strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll must be doing something right because Van Malone did as well.

Malone is also tagged with the assistant head coach title in Manhattan, so he gets a little bit of extra time on the microphone during training camp. And his discussion about the improvements in speed was the moment of his press conference, in my opinion.

I liked the way he put it. He said he would go into a K-State position room his first few years in Manhattan and be able to pick out just a couple guys that could really run. Now he can go into every position room and struggle to find someone that can’t.

Importance of communication

Klanderman shared an anecdote of what he did at one practice this year. He threw his starters on the field in what was essentially something they would do in a walkthrough of a game week. It was because he wanted the inexperienced, young players that will play this year see how much they had to communicate.

The Kansas State defensive coordinator said it was “electric” and eye-opening even to him how well it looked, how much his first unit knew and how quickly they could play because of it. It sounded like something he had not seen at that caliber while in Manhattan.

And when I asked Malone what the key would be to go from a good defense to a great defense, his reply was communication.

In-helmet communication

We can stick to the communication theme and discuss the in-helmet component that will be new to college football this year. Like the NFL, someone on the defense will have a helmet with the green dot and be allowed to listen to a coach up until a certain time on the play clock.

Malone (and Klanderman) think it will be less impactful on the defensive side. That is because they were instructed by friends in the NFL not to say too much and overwhelm the player just before the snap, and that the more uptempo nature of college football could eliminate its use or relevance.

Their top objective will be to get the operation down in general. K-State likes to rotate quite a bit on defense, even at linebacker, and that makes it more of a challenge to make sure the right guy has the right helmet on at all times.

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