Klein takes Aggie offensive coordinator job
Collin Klein, who transformed Kansas State's offense into one of the highest-scoring in college football over the past two seasons, agreed overnight to become the new offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
Klein, who turned down overtures from Notre Dame and Penn State for their offensive coordinator jobs, takes over an offense with plenty of firepower but was limited by Jimbo Fisher's insistence that OC Bobby Petrino work within his system. The Aggies finished 52nd in total offense in 2023, while K-State ranked 23rd.
Where the Wildcats were most impressive, however, was putting points on the board. K-State averaged 37.7 points per game in 2023, second in the Big 12. They were also second in the Big 12 in Red Zone offense, converting 90.2% of the time. The Wildcats were elite when it came to converting third downs, ranking in eighth in the nation in that category while picking up better than 49% of their attempts.
Kansas State held onto the ball for nearly 32 minutes a game last year, ranking 20th nationally in time of possession.They ran 888 total offensive plays, averaging exactly 6 yards per play. The Wildcats also played with tempo; even though they only averaged having the ball 14 seconds a game more than A&M did, K-State ran 66 more plays over the course of the season.
The Wildcats were pretty balanced in 2023, throwing for more than 246 yards a game while rushing for exactly 200. They averaged 41 carries per game and 33 pass attempts; A&M, on the other hand, averaged 35.9 carries per game and 32.6 pass attempts.
The Wildcats averaged a full yard per carry more on the ground than A&M did (4.9 to 3.9), with DJ Giddens averaging 5.5 yards per carry on his way to a 1,000-yard season. In spite of a lingering leg injury, quarterback Will Howard put up nearly 3,000 yards of total offense -- 2,643 passing, 351 rushing -- while completing 61.4% of his passes and throwing for 24 touchdowns. He added another 9 rushing.
Klein, 34, will take over an A&M lineup that has far more talent than any K-State team he has coached. In their 31-28 win over Kansas, the Wildcats started -- according to the Rivals system -- one 4-star (a transfer), four 3-stars, three 2-stars and three unranked players. A&M, at the start of the 2022 season, started two 5-stars, seven 4-stars and two 3-stars.