MANHATTAN — Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman has referenced the NCAA House settlement multiple times throughout the 2025 season and how it has negatively impacted his program, and he went into further detail when asked about it during his weekly media availability on Monday, Nov. 17.
Specifically, Klieman has spoken out against the number of roster cuts the Wildcats and every other program have had to make because of the new roster cap of 105 players for football programs.
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He said the changes have impacted the Wildcats’ number of available bodies in practice, making them operate more like a small-town high school team than a Power 4 program.
“That’s because we had to cut our roster down because of the House settlement,” Klieman said. “Other schools had to do it as well, but when we have had the amount of injuries that we’ve had, it just makes it more challenging because you can’t be out there forever because you just don’t have enough numbers to do it.”
Many of the roster spots cut were typically reserved for walk-ons, who tend to make up the scout teams during practices. But because of the cuts and Wildcats’ injuries, Klieman said the Wildcats have about 11 players available to play on the scout team. He said freshman linebacker Sawyer Schilke is having to play defensive end because the team doesn’t have enough defensive linemen.
On the other side of the ball, the Wildcats only have five available offensive linemen to play on the scout team, forcing them to take every snap. That will create more problems when preparing to play Utah this week, which sometimes uses six-linemen sets. Klieman said that will force the team to use defensive tackles Uso Seumalo, Holden Bass and Damian Ilalio on the scout team offensive line to create the look.
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Safeties Jet Dineen and Mikey Bergeron have had to split time at running back, sacrificing time they’d be working on special teams.
“Those are the things that frustrate me,” Klieman said. “That’s not what the House settlement, in my mind, was about. I understand the money factor of it, but we took away opportunities from kids that wanted to get an ag degree and run out of the tunnel. That’s a bad, bad deal. We’re not going to end up resetting that thing, but us coaches have to fight so that we can get 15 more guys on everybody’s roster.”
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State coach Chris Klieman sounds off on House settlement impact
