Why Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman has limited his use of the transfer portal

Chris Klieman is the last person to badmouth the NCAA transfer portal.

After all, his Kansas State football program has made good use of the portal, which along with Name Image Likeness (NIL), has proved over the past three years to be a game-changer.

"The transfer portal has benefitted K-State, and if somebody has a better opportunity or wants to move back closer to home, I'm all for it," Klieman said recently during Big 12 football media days in Arlington, Texas. "Whether it's Kade Warner, whether it's Julius Brents, whether it's Josh Hayes (or) whether it's Adrian Martinez, we've had really good success in the transfer portal."

Brents, a former Iowa cornerback, was a second-round NFL Draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts, and safety and North Dakota State transfer Hayes went in the sixth round to the Tampa Bay Bucs. Nebraska transfers Warner and Martinez both signed as undrafted free agents.

That said, Klieman doesn't see the portal as a cure-all for his Wildcats, but rather as a useful supplement. There were many more homegrown players who contributed to K-State's 10-win, Big 12 championship season in 2022.

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"We'll do like we always do and grab a handful of guys that we felt could help us, but I'm not a quick-fix guy. I never have been," Klieman said. "The most successful teams are the ones that have three, four and five-year guys in the program that can express and teach the culture to the younger guys, that can take ownership, because we're a player-led team when coaches aren't around."

That has especially been the case since the NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Klieman was quick to point out that while the Wildcats brought in four Division I transfers this spring, they also have nine players on their roster who listed as super-seniors.

"What's so significant to me about that is you hear a lot of stories of guys that are there for their fifth or sixth year and going somewhere else," Klieman said. "All nine of those guys knocked on the door or called me and said, 'Coach, I want to come back and play for K-State. I love my teammates, I love my coaches.'

"When you've got nine six-year guys that vary from offensive linemen to wide receivers to everything in between, it's pretty neat to have that much experience coming back."

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Most of those super-seniors — starting offensive linemen KT Leveston, Christian Duffie and Hayden Gillum, plus middle linebacker Daniel Green chief among them — spent their entire careers at K-State.

"As long as we're here, we're going to do it the way we want to do it," Klieman said. "I don't care what anybody says. We're going to build it through the high school ranks and take a transfer here and there when we need them."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman and the transfer portal