K-State Sports Extra: Seniors set standard for program's future

* Reprinted by permission from K-State Athletics Communications

K-State football head coach Chris Klieman calls them "senior talks."

This week, after each of K-State practices, a senior will stand up and give a speech to the team. Then another. Then another. And a few more. This is their second week of it, too.

The seniors had to divide their "talks" out over multiple weeks of practice because there are so many of them, 27 in all — the program's largest senior class since 2012. The seniors will be honored before K-State's (7-4, 4-4) regular season finale against No. 22 Iowa State (7-4, 5-3) on Saturday at 6 p.m., on FS1.

There have been two main themes from these messages.

One: Gratefulness for all those who made this journey at K-State possible — current and former coaches, athletic trainers and nutritionists, the strength and conditioning staff and managers, and so many more.

Two: Take advantage, words aimed specifically toward the younger players following them.

"It's been a lot directed at the freshmen," senior defensive end Kyle Ball said, "I think because Coach Klieman really wanted us to help lay the groundwork for his time here and just wanted us to steer the boat in the right direction for the (future) and get those younger guys involved and committed."

"One of the big things to the underclassmen," senior center Adam Holtorf added, "is how quick it goes and to take advantage of your opportunities and not take anything for granted."

These speeches — the sheer amount of them and their substance — parallel what Klieman's raved about this senior class for all season. Togetherness and resolve.

When times got tough, this class got closer.

During the uncertainty between Hall of Fame head coach Bill Snyder's retirement and Klieman being hired, they tightened up. They led their position groups, making sure people got to workouts and kept working hard.

"I feel like our class has done such a great job of being together," senior tight end Blaise Gammon said. "Everyone is sharing the same mission and being together, providing leadership. Whether it's for the whole team, their position group, for younger guys, whatever the case is, I feel like everyone's been on the same path, with the same goal and it's really been a great thing that's come together."

Ten of K-State's 27 seniors are in their fifth year in the program, meaning most of them could have opted to become a graduate transfer and play immediately somewhere else. Any thought of transferring faded quickly, however, when they thought of their teammates and, more specifically, their classmates.

"Those guys have such a special bond and I see it every day, in the locker room, out on the practice field; they weren't going to leave their brothers," Klieman said. "That's why I have such a special place for those guys. Yeah, it will be our first team and they were the first group that had this coaching staff, but I look at it as those guys stuck together. Whether there were difficult times, great times, it doesn't matter, those guys said we're going to go out together, and that's pretty cool."

"The relationships I have with my teammates, especially the guys on the o-line, that was something, regardless of what the coaching situation was, I never would think of walking away from as a senior," Holtorf said. "There's such a core group of guys that have stuck it out. We have such a tight bond that I don't think anybody would want to walk away from something like that."

Instead, they stayed. And their first experience with Klieman, a team meeting in which he gave an impassioned speech, set the tone for what was to come.

"Everyone was fired up from that moment," senior receiver Dalton Schoen said. "I think everyone banded together."

K-State's seniors quickly learned Klieman wanted them to lead the charge of adapting to a new coaching staff. He wanted to work with them in the transition, not implement a one-way street of directives.

"He basically laid it out for us, saying, 'This is your guys' program. I'm just here to help you run it and guide you along the way,'" Schoen said. "So, he really gave us a lot of ownership."

Klieman had good reason to do so. Getting established leadership on board was obvious. But the class was filled with players who had the types of traits he wanted to highlight as much as possible before they were done.

Take Schoen, for instance, a former walk-on who's now the team's leading receiver who ranks sixth in program history in career average yards per catch (17.51).

Or Denzel Goolsby, a former receiver who moved to safety as a redshirt freshman and has been a mainstay in the secondary the last few seasons. Not to mention his off-the-field work that earned him recognition as a Big 12 Champion for Life.

Then there's senior defensive tackle Trey Dishon, who was headed to Division II football before being discovered really late by K-State. He's now started 48 games for the Wildcats in his career.

"I think leaving my legacy here is having people realize that you could play anywhere, you can go anywhere, and you can be however good you want to be," Dishon said. "That's what I encourage young guys and the freshmen in our program to understand, that you can come from small and be big."

The list could go on and on — Scott Frantz, a Lawrence native who will make his 50^thcareer start on Saturday; Reggie Walker, a Louisiana native whose nine career forced fumbles is tied for the school record; Nick Kaltmayer, an FCS transfer now anchoring the right side of K-State's offensive line; Tyler Mitchell, K-State's right guard from Bucksnort, Alabama, an unincorporated community, who has 41 starts to his name.

"A lot of toughness and a lot of heart. That's the biggest thing this senior class has that I've noticed," Dishon said of the senior class. "A lot of guys who have that want-to, they have a factor about themselves when they step in a room, when they wake up, go to class, they do everything right. That's the biggest thing I think makes a difference in this program."

The class also includes several community college transfers who are making significant impacts, highlighted this year by linebacker Da'Quan Patton (46 tackles, two interceptions) and punter Devin Anctil (on pace for career and season punt average records). Three graduate transfers, including the team's top two running backs in Jordon Brown and James Gilbert, along with starting defensive tackle Jordan Mittie, in his second year at K-State, round out the group that's laid the foundation for the program's future.

"I think the responsibility we felt was this is our last chance and (Coach Klieman's) first opportunity, so we obviously wanted to go out on a great note but then start this new era on such a positive note as well," Gammon said. "Obviously we faced some adversity, had some tough times, but we made a lot of strides and have done a lot of great things this year. We really began the foundation for what this new coaching staff and new era is going to be. We can't wait to see them keep going and move forward with it."

This season has provided plenty of reasons for excitement.

Picked ninth in the conference, the Wildcats have a chance to finish as high as a tie for third. They knocked off four-time defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma in Manhattan for the first time since 1996. It's still the Sooners' only loss this year. After missing a bowl game last season, they secured that status eight games in — the earliest since 2014, when K-State finished 9-4, which this team could match with two more wins.

"I really want to win this weekend, for sure, and the bowl game, for sure, but I just want people to say that we were that first class that Coach (Klieman) had and those seniors took control and set the example for years to come," Walker said. "'Those seniors, they set the example for the younger kids to do better as time goes so it can become a tradition. That's the standard around here.'"

This feature was produced as part of the K-State Sports Extra series by K-State Athletics Communications and is reprinted with permission. For more information contact Corbin McGuire, or K-State Associate AD for Communications Kenny Lannou.