With Mike Elko taking over as the head coach for the Texas A&M Aggies, he had to build his staff from the ground up, but now, he's secured his offensive coordinator for the future with Collin Klein.
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Texas A&M is set to hire Kansas State's Collin Klein as offensive coordinator 👍 https://t.co/av4nFVVf4y
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) December 6, 2023
Klein was the offensive coordinator for Kansas State before coming to Texas A&M. That name might sound familiar to you as Klein played college football somewhat recently but has been coaching for the past ten years.
Klein was a Heisman finalist in 2012, finishing third behind Manti Te'o and winner and former Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 2014 before working as the quarterbacks coach for Northern Iowa in 2016.
From there, the 34-year-old returned to Kansas State in 2017 and has been there since. He was the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator and finally took over as the full-on offensive coordinator in 2022. From 2019 on, he was also the quarterback's coach, along with his offensive coordinator duties.
Klein reportedly received interest from Notre Dame in 2022, but of course, he stayed with KSU. During his tenure as the quarterback for the program, Klein threw for 4,724 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions and completed 61.3% of his passes. He was an excellent dual-threat player, adding 2,485 rushing yards and 56 touchdowns.
In 2023, Kansas State averaged 37.2 points (11th), 197.4 rushing yards (14th), and 236.1 passing yards (55th) per game.
Kansas State has put together one of the most efficient offenses in College Football.
With Collin Klein heading to Texas A&M here is a quick Thread some of my favorite K-State Plays!
— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) December 6, 2023
With this hire, we could see an offense based more around a dual-threat runner. Notre Dame reportedly is interested in former Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard, but he could be an excellent fit with this offense, especially under his former head coach.
Elko was hired on November 27 and now adds Klein to its staff. The Aggies next game will be against Oklahoma State on December 27 in the Taxact Texas Bowl.
