Wearing a black suit, a white collared shirt, and a Kansas State pin, an emotional Collin Klein stood before family, former coach Bill Snyder, administrators, and media members during his introductory press conference. 

“I love challenges,” Klein said. “I love going and doing hard things. To take this program where it’s never been is going to be hard, and I want it to be hard… We’re going to take this program where it hasn’t been before.” 

Klein learned how to do hard things from his mentor, legendary Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder. 

In 1989, Snyder arrived in Manhattan with a legal pad and a set of 16 Goals for Success that he’d learned from his mother. For decades, those goals—Commitment, Be Tough, Expect to Win—were the foundation for the Wildcats’ football program. Back then, every player, including a young Collin Klein, was molded with those goals in mind.

Now, Klein, the young man Snyder himself once labeled the “total package,” returns home to fix things the only way he knows how. 

Klein has a big job ahead of him. College football looks almost nothing like it did when Snyder’s principles turned Kansas State into a perennial winner. The Big 12 is not one of the sport’s top two leagues. Money runs the sport more than it ever has. Finding talent and nurturing it has become more difficult in the instant-gratification era of the transfer portal. 

Last season, Kansas State flamed out early with losses in three of its first four games. Thus far, quarterback Avery Johnson hasn’t lived up to his sky-high potential. And for all the good things Chris Klieman did in Manhattan, the program clearly needed a refresh. 

As a player, Klein famously carried a notebook of scripture to keep his mind right on the field. It was the type of old-school reminder that has seemingly gone by the wayside in modern college football. 

Now, Klein will attempt to rebuild Kansas State in his mentor’s image. He’s betting that 16 goals still carry plenty of weight and that he can be the protege to bring magic back to the Little Apple. 

Kansas State endured a dramatically difficult season in 2025. The Wildcats dropped a brutal season-opener in Dublin to conference foe Iowa State. After the game, videos surfaced online that featured Avery Johnson’s family members fighting in the streets of Ireland. In that very same game, star running back Dylan Edwards suffered an ankle injury that ruined his season. 

In the weeks that followed, the Wildcats beat North Dakota by three points at home before dropping back-to-back games against Army and Arizona. The season went off the rails before it ever really got started. 

Kansas State recovered somewhat down the stretch, winning four of its last six to reach bowl eligibility. But the team declined a bowl invitation and, soon after, Klieman retired.

Entering 2026, there’s a whole new outlook around this team and what’s left of last year’s roster. 

Star quarterback Avery Johnson is back in the fold after a down year in 2025. Perhaps he’ll be the single biggest beneficiary of Klein taking over in Manhattan. Klein had a great run with Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed in College Station. Despite Reed’s topsy-turvy nature in big games, the Aggies’ offense ranked 11th in the country according to Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings. 

Klein will need to simplify things for Johnson, who struggled with decision-making at times over the course of his first two seasons as the starter. If he can find a way to make him a more consistent passer, while sprinkling in his rushing abilities, the Wildcats' offense should be back in business.

Up front, Kansas State took six offensive linemen from the transfer portal. Notables include former Missouri interior lineman Keiton Jones and former Auburn tackle Tyler Johnson. Last season, the Wildcats’ o-line gave up only 13 sacks across 12 games, a testament to their pass protection. But the Wildcats frequently struggled in the run game last season and will need to find more balance in 2026 to take some of the burden off of Johnson.

The transfer portal giveth and taketh away. Kansas State lost two solid offensive starters to the portal in Edwards and leading wideout Jace Brown. The defense took hits too, with star linebacker Austin Romaine off to Texas Tech, and defensive ends Chiddi Obiazor and Tobi Osunsanmi joining Indiana. Those are some big shoes to fill, and it’ll take some real creativity to find replacements and turn them into good players. 

Klein is a bright offensive mind, and the smart money is on him finding a way to replace Edwards and Brown. But defense is a totally different story. It’s not hard to envision some early struggles if Kansas State’s portal acquisitions aren’t immediate home runs. 

In a college football landscape that feels more corporate than ever, there’s something refreshingly defiant about Kansas State’s restoration project. The Big 12 elites are spending their way to success, while the Wildcats are hoping that a return to basics is just what’s needed to get back to winning ways. 

The current iteration of the roster has holes. The defense is a question mark. And last season’s wounds are still fresh. But the good things in life are worth working hard for. Just ask his mentor. 

At his press conference, Klein talked about taking the program “where it hasn’t been before.” For Snyder, that meant elevating the Wildcats’ program to never-before-seen success. For Klein, in the 12-team playoff era, it means arriving on the national stage. 

The Collin Klein era at Kansas State should be a fascinating look at what happens when you mix new-school ambition with old-school values. But if anyone can prove that the “Snyder Way” still works, it’s the man who spent his entire career as its most perfect student. 

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In this June Q&A episode, we open up the Verballer mailbag and start looking ahead to preview season with some early college football summer loves. Which teams are we already talking ourselves into before the magazines arrive? Which programs are interesting, dangerous, confusing or just fun enough to pique our interest as the 2026 season gets closer?

We also dig into first-time College Football Playoff possibilities, the rising risk of major transfer portal investments, and whether Curt Cignetti’s championship run at Indiana was more impressive than anything Nick Saban or Kirby Smart ever did in a single season. Plus, we talk through what fans of rebuilding teams should actually look for in Year 1, why playoff expansion arguments still feel slippery, and which players or teams are perfect for showing off at a June cookout.

And, naturally, the episode eventually drifts into Brendan Fraser playing Dwight Eisenhower in a D-Day weather drama, bad old predictions, Drake Lindsey discourse, Arkansas despair, and Dan’s ongoing effort to make Ty regret his phrasing.

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