A Man for All Seasons

FACES OF THE BOWL SEASON

54 | REAL INSIGHT. REAL FANS. REAL CONVERSATIONS. DECEMBER 2012

A Man for All SeasonsKANSAS STATE SENIOR QUARTERBACK COLLIN KLEIN IS AS IMPORTANT TO HIS TEAM AS ANY PLAYER IN THE NATION, BUT PERHAPS THAT’S BECAUSE HIS LIFE DOESN’T DEPEND ON FOOTBALL

BY STEVE GREENBERG

Imagine tracing the outline of a flesh wound that starts off to the right, smooth and clean, seemingly

coverable, but then jags severely to the left, back to the right again, left, right—a bloody, gnarly mess that keeps getting worse because it is constantly being smashed into the ground.

Now imagine tracing the path of one of Collin Klein’s brutally hard-fought touchdown runs. Klein runs the ball like no one else in the college game. He’s the co-owner, along with former Navy star Ricky Dobbs, of the FBS single-season record of rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 27 last season, and he has added 22 more to his career total this season .

He is both fast and, at 6-5, 226 pounds, country-strong. As a runner and as a passer, he is jagged around the edges—much like the shredded elbows and forearms he played with throughout last

season, when he led K-State to 10 wins.Ever had an elbow torn up, grotesquely

scabbed, severely painful to bend—inconvenient in ways big (such as playing quarterback) and small (such as showering)? Klein had two of them last season. They were torn asunder on a dirt infield in September at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Thanks to that 28-24 win over the Hurricanes, Kansas State became relevant again. Thanks to that baseball field, Klein bled for months and K-State’s trainers, despite daily applications of Telfa bandages and Cover-Roll, couldn’t stop it.

“They would just start to heal, then they would rip off again,” Klein says of the scabs. “The bandages would come off and rip the skin off.”

As injuries go, it was a little thing. In its own way, though—like a cold you just can’t shake—it was awful.

“It’s just something you overcome.”

There are reasons Kirk Herbstreit calls Klein the “toughest player in all of college football—no doubt about it.” They probably don’t have much to do with Klein’s elbows. They may not even have much to do with the cartilage that was bruised in his sternum in the Oklahoma game last season, or the right (throwing) shoulder that was separated against Oklahoma State, or the ribs that were bruised vs. Texas A&M, or the damaged bursa sac in his ankle that pained him on so many runs throughout the year. These

are injuries that Klein preferred to keep quiet about, not for strategic reasons but because of who he is.

“Collin was more beat up than anybody,” says wide receiver Curry Sexton, “but if you had a little nick, he was far more worried about what you had going on.”

Pundits and fans see the willful abandon with which Klein plays, the way he crashes into and through walls of defenders and wrecks game plans by wearing down big, bad linebackers instead of the other way around. This is the toughness anyone can see when watching Klein play. It oozes from him, binds him to his teammates and enables the Fiesta Bowl-bound Wildcats to perform beyond the sum of their parts. This is how K-State, with middling talent, stays in games it probably shouldn’t and often wins them.

“He’s spectacular,” says Miami coach Al Golden, who lost this year’s rematch to K-State 52-13 in Manhattan in Week 2. Klein rushed for three touchdowns in the game. “I can’t imagine there’s a better running quarterback in the country. … He’ll make you miss, and then he’ll run over you. His durability must be off the charts. He

A Man for All Seasons

COLLIN KLEINIS AS IMPORTANT TO HIS TEAM AS ANY PLAYER IN THE NATION, BUT PERHAPS THAT’S BECAUSE HIS LIFE

season, when he led K-State to 10 wins.Ever had an elbow torn up, grotesquely

scabbed, severely painful to bend—

playing quarterback) and small (such as showering)? Klein had two of them last season. They were torn asunder on a dirt infield in September at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Thanks to that 28-24 win over the Hurricanes, Kansas State became relevant again. Thanks to that baseball field, Klein bled for months and K-State’s trainers, despite daily applications of Telfa bandages and Cover-Roll, couldn’t stop it.

“They would just start to heal, then they would rip off again,” Klein says of the scabs. “The bandages would come off

As injuries go, it was a little thing. In its own way, though—like a cold you just





All Seasons





In the past two seasons, Klein has

led K-State to 21 wins and accounted for

77 touchdowns. But those closest to him are more impressed

with the way he handles himself off

the field.

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AP Snyder switched Klein, who played receiver his freshman season, back to quarterback and ended up with one of college football’s great leaders .

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gets stronger as the game goes on.”Klein is strong in seemingly all aspects

of his life. In the classroom, he recorded a 4.0 GPA over his final undergraduate school year and is pursuing a graduate degree in finance. At home, he views his months-old marriage to wife Shalin, a former K-State basketball player, with wonderment. “It’s awesome,” Klein says. “It’s such an amazing, God-ordained relationship that I learn more and more about every day.”

Bill Snyder’s program has always had special qualities. Many strong leaders have flourished under the tent poles of the 7 3-year-old coach’s realm: faith, family, being the best person and being the best athlete. The one who stands out among them all is Klein.

“He’s a good player. I can appreciate that. He’s a guy who tries to improve his capabilities all the time,” Snyder says of the 23-year-old from Loveland, Colo. “But what he means is what college athletics—and life—should be all about.

“The landscape of college football isn’t about the Collin Kleins of the world, but it should be. It’s a high-finance world right now, all about TV and dollars and

cents—Taj Mahal buildings—and, to me, it’s a bad influence on people.”

With his teammates, Klein is a powerhouse of positive influence. He has what his father, Doug, a former assistant at Indiana and Kent State, calls a “servant’s spirit.”

“It’s leadership, but it’s much bigger than that,” Doug Klein says. “It’s his care and love for people, and his desire and willingness to be a part of a group and assume the group goals and direction, and then to help as many people around him get to those goals as he possibly can. It’s so powerful, and it’s real. He truly loves serving

people.”Senior tight end Travis Tannahill

recalls struggling through his first week of workouts at K-State in January 2009, immediately after he’d arrived on campus as a grayshirt freshman. Snyder had just been lured back from retirement, and “the coaches were killing us,” Tannahill says, “trying to weed out guys who shouldn’t be here.”

Tannahill wondered if he might be one of those guys.

“My body was in shock,” he says.He collapsed on his bed Friday

evening and intended to stay there all weekend, but that night his phone rang.

“Collin said, ‘Let’s go throw—8 a.m.’ I was like, ‘Man, I’m tired. I’m hurting.’ He knew that; that’s why he called. We went and threw on Saturday morning.

“I look up to him for that work ethic, that care.”

Sexton, who had all of four receptions as a true freshman last season, broke his collarbone in practice heading into the Wildcats’ final regular-season game. This was not one of the mainstays of the offense. “But Collin was always checking up on me,” Sexton says. “He called me over break, before the bowl game (vs.

Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl). He texted me, told me he was thinking about me, praying for me. He gave me inspiration.”

Every member of K-State’s offense—and most everyone on the roster—has a story like that.

“It really warms my heart,” Klein says, “because every one of my teammates is so special. I see them as my brothers. Anything I can ever do for them, I would, and I hope they know that.”

While top high school quarterbacks were receiving high-end training at the best camps in the country, Klein was traveling with his AAU basketball teams. In the football offseason, when Klein wasn’t playing basketball—which, through eighth grade, had been his only sport—he was more likely to be with his family or involved in a church activity than he was to be honing his skills as a quarterback. Or he was singing and playing music: the piano, the violin, the (yes, it’s true) mandolin.

Kansas State’s coaches got their hands on Klein and were so impressed by his quarterbacking that they made him

a wide receiver. In his second season as the full-time starter, Klein is still pretty inexperienced as a QB. Yet here he is, leading Kansas State to another astonishing season. The Wildcats, who at one point reached No. 1 in the BCS standings, revolve around their signal-caller’s play perhaps more than any other in college football .

Klein doesn’t live and breathe football, as some do. The son of a successful coach who quit the profession because he truly yearned to be with his family, he lives and breathes everything that’s good.

“You’d want your children raised by Collin,” Snyder says. “He’ll be a tremendous father. He’ll be a great husband, and I’m sure he already is.”

Whether or not K-State beats Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, this has been a most special time for Wildcats fans and also for Snyder. A lot of it has to do specifically with Klein, but all the Wildcats have played their parts.

Snyder awarded 4-by-4 blocks of wood last season to players and assistant coaches who’d displayed the most discipline, worked the hardest, and so on. Each recipient would have a chance to pass his block of wood on to someone else. When the time came for linebacker Tre Walker to present his to the next guy, he showed the team what he’d written on it: “FAMILY.” It was a simple gesture that brought all of them significantly closer together.

As for Snyder, he doesn’t much like to think about what it’ll be like when a certain member of his football family is gone in pursuit of his NFL goals.

“I don’t think I’m going to miss him, because I’m not going to leave him,” Snyder says. “He and I will always be close. I will certainly have an emotional attachment to him, wherever he is. I think a lot of us here at Kansas State will.”


of his life. In the classroom, he recorded a 4.0 GPA over his final undergraduate school year and is pursuing a graduate degree in finance. At home, he views his

wonderment. “It’s awesome,” Klein says.

relationship that I learn more and more

Bill Snyder’s program has always had special qualities. Many strong leaders

of the 7 3-year-old coach’s realm: faith, family, being the best person and being the best athlete. The one who stands out

“He’s a good player. I can appreciate

says of the 23-year-old from Loveland, Colo. “But what he means is what college athletics—and life—should be all about.

“The landscape of college football isn’t about the Collin Kleins of the world, but

right now, all about TV and dollars and cents—Taj Mahal buildings—and, to

me, it’s a bad influence on people.”With his teammates, Klein is a

powerhouse of positive influence.

former assistant at Indiana and

“It’s leadership, but it’s much bigger than that,” Doug Klein

for people, and his desire and

group and assume the group

then to help as many people

real. He truly loves serving

Snyder had just been lured back from retirement, and “the coaches were killing us,” Tannahill says, “trying to weed out guys who shouldn’t be here.”

of those guys.“My body was in shock,” he says.He collapsed on his bed Friday

evening and intended to stay there all weekend, but that night his phone rang.

“Collin said, ‘Let’s go throw—8 a.m.’ I was like, ‘Man, I’m tired. I’m hurting.’ He knew that; that’s why he called. We went and threw on Saturday morning.

“I look up to him for that work ethic, that care.”

Sexton, who had all of four receptions as a true freshman last season, broke his collarbone in practice heading into the Wildcats’ final regular-season game. This was not one of the mainstays of the offense. “But Collin was always checking up on me,” Sexton says. “He called me over break, before the bowl game (vs.


of his life. In the classroom, he recorded a 4.0 GPA over his final undergraduate school year and is pursuing a graduate degree in finance. At home, he views his months-old marriage to wife Shalin, a former K-State basketball player, with wonderment. “It’s awesome,” Klein says. “It’s such an amazing, God-ordained relationship that I learn more and more about every day.”

Bill Snyder’s program has always had special qualities. Many strong leaders have flourished under the tent poles of the 7 3-year-old coach’s realm: faith, family, being the best person and being the best athlete. The one who stands out among them all is Klein.

“He’s a good player. I can appreciate that. He’s a guy who tries to improve his capabilities all the time,” Snyder says of the 23-year-old from Loveland, Colo. “But what he means is what college athletics—and life—should be all about.

“The landscape of college football isn’t about the Collin Kleins of the world, but it should be. It’s a high-finance world right now, all about TV and dollars and

cents—Taj Mahal buildings—and, to me, it’s a bad influence on people.”

With his teammates, Klein is a powerhouse of positive influence. He has what his father, Doug, a former assistant at Indiana and Kent State, calls a “servant’s spirit.”

“It’s leadership, but it’s much bigger than that,” Doug Klein says. “It’s his care and love for people, and his desire and willingness to be a part of a group and assume the group goals and direction, and then to help as many people around him get to those goals as he possibly can. It’s so powerful, and it’s real. He truly loves serving

The landscape of college football isn’t about the Collin Kleins of the world, but it should be.”

— BILL SNYDER

054_FOBS_Klein.indd 55 12/8/12 9:02 PM

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