Kansas State Starts Second Phase Of Spring After Massive Gains In Weight Room

The offseason is progressing as Kansas State moves on from "Phase One" of their offseason workout where they saw improvements in the weight room and in speed training as they move to spring practice.

Nov. 23, 2024: Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman greets quarterback Avery Johnson (2) as he makes his way off the field in Kansas State's game against Cincinnati at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. | K-State Athletics

Kansas State spent more time in the first phase of their offseason workouts.

"Phase One" officially ended on Wednesday. Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman said that many different people were consulted about lengthening the first phase.

"We had talked about this with our strength staff, coaches, support staff," Klieman said. "We were going to have a longer first phase this year to try to put on more weight, more mass, more strength, do more change of direction, do more speed work."

The decision to extend phase one by three weeks proved beneficial for the Wildcats. A post made to X, formerly known as Twitter, by Kansas State's director of football student-athlete development said the Wildcats have four athletes running over 23 miles per hour, and had gained 700 pounds of muscle from January to April.

This is development. @KStateFB #EMAW #AfterTheStars pic.twitter.com/fTCoZM0Ztp

— Mr. Joe L. Hall Jr. (@joehall310) April 1, 2025

While the extra time in "Phase One" of the offseason was good for Kansas State, Klieman said he felt like the players and coaches were ready to make the move to "Phase 2."

"I know the kids are excited to get into this second phase with the football part of it," Klieman said, "Excited about seeing some of the new guys that had just joined our program, as well as a lot of other guys that are going to have an opportunity because of appreciation or guys that graduated and left our program."

"Phase Two" is important for a number of reasons, one of them being second-year quarterback Avery Johnson needs to build a connection with the new players.

The Wildcats have one less week to prepare for the season as they play Iowa State in a "Week 0" game this year in Dublin, Ireland Aug. 23.

"This is going to be a really big spring for Avery," Klieman said. "He's going to practice, he needs to build rapport with the lineman that are going to be new, he needs to build rapport with the wide receivers that are going to be new, so he's excited about it."

Seth Kunz is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at sethkunz988@gmail.com

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