Why K-State football coaches expect big things from new tight end Briley Moore
Kansas State football coaches were excited about the addition of Briley Moore when the senior tight end announced plans to transfer to Manhattan back in April.
Their excitement levels have grown exponentially since.
“We want him to come in and be a big impact player,” K-State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham said earlier this week. “We anticipate him being a matchup issue for people.”
It’s not hard to understand why the Wildcats are so eager to feature Moore within their offense. He is like a new toy ... with lots of bells and whistles. K-State didn’t have a single player like him last season when Messingham took over as the team’s play-caller, and it showed.
Anyone who watched North Dakota State when Chris Klieman and Messingham were winning FCS championships together in Fargo knows how important a big, versatile tight end can be to their offensive scheme. When they have one, they can keep defenses off balance with an unpredictable mix of power runs, deep passes and the occasional throw over the middle to a tight end.
When they don’t, well, the whole system becomes less dynamic.
K-State coaches did their best to incorporate tight ends last season, as Skylar Thompson connected with them 21 times for 258 yards and one touchdown with Nick Lenners serving as his preferred target of the group. Those numbers were a massive increase from the Bill Snyder days when K-State seemed to target tight ends as often as it punted on third down.
But Klieman and Messingham wanted more. They will have the opportunity to open up the offense this season now that a new tight end is on the roster.
“We are excited about the addition of Briley Moore,” Klieman said. “I think he will be a guy we lean on quite a bit at tight end along with Nick Lenners.”
Moore is a 6-foot-4 and 250-pound athlete from Blue Springs, Mo. He switched schools from Northern Iowa to Kansas State as a graduate transfer during the spring when he was granted a medical hardship waiver and an extra year of college eligibility following a season-ending injury in the Panthers’ first game of 2019.
During his time at Northern Iowa, he put up numbers that would make just about any former K-State tight end drool. He caught 85 passes for 1,116 yards and five touchdowns while playing in 36 games and making 22 starts. He was an all-conference player as a junior and appeared on his way to a repeat performance until his senior year was derailed by injury.
Now he gets another shot to go out with a bang. He is ready to prove himself at the Big 12 level after choosing K-State over Baylor and Missouri.
“The thing he will bring to the table isn’t just his physical skills,” Messingham said. “He’s really been a very good leader. He’s learned our offense without being able to get on the field to execute it really well. Day one practice, he had zero busts. Now you might say he didn’t get a million reps. He still had a pretty good number of reps, had zero busts and I really feel like he understands the scheme. He understands the why in why we’re doing what we’re doing with him.”
“Is he going to be a huge impact in our league? I don’t know,” Messingham said. “We have got to let that play out. We obviously feel really good about him.”
One thing that has helped him become so familiar with the offense is his report with Thompson. Moore grew up playing youth football with Thompson and they always dreamed about playing together at the college level.
They seem ready to do big things together now that it’s actually happening.