Weis breaks down Iowa State

Kansas head coach Charlie Weis went into detail about Iowa State.

On Iowa State's coaching staff:

"Coach (Paul) Rhoads has been at Iowa State for four years. He's done a nice job. He's an Iowa guy; he fit the personality there, what they were looking for. And it's a nice mesh with him and Iowa State. They are a well-coached team: they're tough and they're hard-nosed. They are really an extension of his personality, from what I understand. Coach (Courtney) Messingham runs the offense and coaches the quarterbacks. Coach (Wally) Burnham runs the defense and coaches the linebackers."

On Iowa State's defense:

"The defense is ranked 34th in the country in the scoring defense, giving up just 23 points per game and I'd say that's quite an accomplishment playing in this conference. Unfortunately for them, they lost (linebacker) Jake Knott a few weeks ago. I think (he) is one of the best linebackers in the country; an outstanding player. I wish him well, (but) I'm glad he's not playing, but I do wish him well. Due to his injury, they've gone to much more of a nickel package, playing just two linebackers and a nickel back rather than just their 4-3 personnel. However, they still will play 4-3 personnel at times. The defensive line is led by Jack McDonough. He's a really tough person to move inside as the one-technique. He, along with (Cleyon) Laing at the three-technique, provides a pretty formidable challenge. The defensive ends are (Roosevelt) Maggitt and (Willie) Scott. They're kind of those tweeners, between defensive end and linebackers and bring a lot of versatility to their defense."

"Even with Knott gone, they have two outstanding linebackers. Everyone wants to talk about A.J. Klein because he leads the team in tackles. He now plays their boundary linebacker. But Jeremiah George, he's all over the field and he's become more prevalent at Mike linebacker, ever since Knott went out. As a matter of fact, he's fourth on the team in tackles. But in the last two games, he has 27 tackles. He's just been all over the field. If they do play 4-3 defense, (Jevohn) Miller will stay in as the field linebacker. But as of late, (Deon) Broomfield, another DB, has come in to play nickel. They've been playing a lot more with him on the field. The safeties are the heart of their secondary, with both (Durrell) Givens and (Jacques) Washington. Givens is second on the team in tackles and Washington is third. It's kind of funny, everyone talks about (Jeremy) Reeves' only being 5-foot-7, but he also leads the team in pass breakups, because everyone wants to throw at him because he's 5-foot-7. He's a competitive guy, who makes a whole bunch of plays. And opposite of Reeves, it looks like (Jansen) Watson won't be back yet; it looks like (Cliff) Stokes is still going to be starting as their field corner. Watson may or may not be back. We'll have to wait and see how that goes."

On Iowa State's offense:

"Now on offense - here's the key thing: they've got eight returning starters on offense, but all five of their offensive linemen. Usually I talk about the quarterback first or the skill players first, but I'd like to start talking about their offensive line. They are a physical, workmanlike, well-coached group of linemen. And together as a unit, they play very well. (Carter) Bykowski is their left tackle; he's 6-foot-8, over 300 pounds. (Ethan) Tuftee is their left guard. He's 6-foot-4, 310; he's a road grader. Their center, (Tom) Farniok, he's the lightest of the bunch at 6-foot-4, 290 pounds. At right guard, (Kyle) Lichtenberg is 6-foot-6 and over 300 pounds. And right tackle, (Brayden) Burris is 6-foot-6, 300 pounds, as well. So, it seems like every week we're playing a bunch of big guys. But the thing about these guys, they were all the starters last year, so they've been used to playing together for quite some time."

"And then we talk about quarterbacks. Everyone wants to talk about (Steele) Jantz and (Jared) Barnett. It looks like right now, Jantz is the guy, but we have to be ready for both quarterbacks. Jantz is the experienced guy; he's got a nice touch and he also is not afraid to run the ball. And they're not afraid to run it with him. He's a nice player. They've gone back and forth, but Jantz has played much more in the last few weeks. Barnett's played a lot (in his career), as well. You kind of have to be ready for both of them anyway. It's very similar at running back. They play (Shontrelle) Johnson and (James) White. They're both very similar in stature; they're both about 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9, about 190 pounds. They're both quick and they're both fast and when one guy is in there versus the other guy, sometimes you don't really notice the difference. They're both really, really good players."

"(Ernst) Brun handles the tight end position and he's 6-foot-3, 240 pounds. He's got nice hands. He is often flexed, so he's playing like a wide receiver position and they look to him as a threat on third down, because a lot of the time he doesn't draw as much attention as those wide receivers do. With the wide receivers, I usually start by talking about the big guys first. The guy I would mention first is (Aaron Horne). He plays their slot. He's all of 5-foot-8, 178 pounds, but he's quick, he's fast, he has good routes and he's an excellent slot receiver. And when you're playing multiple wide receivers, especially this group that plays three or four of them on almost every play, you need a dynamic slot receiver. This guy's definitely one of them. You know, outside of him, (Chris) Young will definitely play. And then, as of late, (Quenton) Bundrage has been playing the wide receiver. I don't know whether (Josh) Lenz will be back or not. If Lenz is back, I'm sure they'll go ahead and play him."

On Iowa State's special teams:

"By the way, Horne is also the punt returner, which should come as no surprise. Their kickoff returners are (Jarvis) West and (Albert) Gary. Then there's (Edwin) Arceo; he handles both the kickoffs and the field goals, where (Kirby) Van Der Kamp handles the punting and he averages over 42-yards a punt. And their long snapper is a good one, a guy by the name of (Spencer) Thornton. And I only mention the long snappers when they're good snappers, plus they're not slugs. That means they can run down the field and cover. And this guy, you have to account for him, because a lot of times you don't account for the center, they don't usually make a play. Well, this is a guy who'll run down field and make a play."