1 DAY TO KICKOFF: Dalvin Warmack

Goal No. 1: COMMITMENT. To common goals and to being successful.

Dalvin Warmack True Freshman 5-9 | 183 Blue Springs, Mo. Bio

Position: Running Back Previous College: None Projection: Redshirt Status: On Scholarship

The first commit of K-State's 2014 recruiting class, Dalvin Dashawn Warmack (b. Nov. 14, 1995) was a two-time Simone Award winner as the top prep football player in the Kansas City metro area while playing for Blue Springs.

He is the only two-time recipient of the award in its 31-year history and was only the second junior to win it. He also was named the 11th best all-purpose back nationally, and rushed for 2,223 yards and 29 touchdowns as a senior.

The list of recent Simone Award winners includes such notable K-Staters as Josh Freeman, Maurice Mack, and one of Warmack's idols and role models, Darren Sproles. And not to put too fine a point on it, but I truly think it's fair to say that Warmack could be the closest thing we've seen to Sproles since that brilliant man was drafted.

Warmack committed to Kansas State over offers from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Toledo. He prepped at Blue Springs High School under head coach Kelly Donohoe, with teammates Elijah Lee and Kaleb Prewett.

He earned Missouri Class 6 Offensive Player of the Year honors from the Missouri Football Coaches Association (MFCA) in 2013, and was the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year in both 2012 and 2013.

Named a first-team all-state player by MFCA and the Missouri media in both 2012 and 2013, Warmack also was selected to the American Family Insurance All-USA Missouri Team as both a junior and a senior.

A two-time Kansas City Star All-Metro team honoree, Warmack was rated the ninth-best player in the state by Rivals.com after he hauled in three touchdown receptions to help to lead Blue Springs to the Missouri Class 6 State Championship for the second straight season in 2013.

He totaled 2,300 yards and 45 total touchdowns, including 40 rushing scores, as a junior and was selected to play in the Blue-Grey North-South All-American Bowl in Tampa, Fla., in January. He maxes at 490 on the squat rack.

Warmack was drawn to K-State early, mostly for familiarity's sake, he explained to K-State Sports Extra:

"The way Coach Snyder does things, it was very similar to how we did things in high school," explained Warmack on his decision to commit to K-State so early. "The offense was similar. He's always had successful smaller backs, so it just all drew my attention."

Warmack expressed similar sentiments to GoPowercat.com when he committed a year and a half ago:

"We're the Wildcats at Blue Springs and we even wear the same Powercat," exclaimed Warmack after school Tuesday. "From the time I walked in, just seeing all the purple… it felt like I was back at home."

Though he is only a true freshman and thus likely to redshirt, we should not rule out the possibility of injury concerns with Jarvis Leverett Jr. And DeMarcus Robinson and Charles Jones certainly aren't impeding him:

Though he's the young guy in the competition, Warmack said Robinson, Leverett and Jones have each helped him out so far during his time at K-State. They are, in fact, all competing for a common goal.

"The older guys, I thought maybe they were going to come in and maybe not want to show me things," Warmack said, "but it's a friendly completion. Everybody is coming out here and giving it their all. I'm a smaller guy, so I have the ability to hide behind lineman, see a crease and go. I make people miss, but (the other running backs) can do almost anything I can do too."

Hm, does that last part sound like anyone else we might know...? You can watch Warmack's highlights here.

And now I'll leave you with some parting words that hopefully will make you drool a little more over this specimen as we wrap up the 2014 iteration of these countdown posts and prepare for kickoff tomorrow:

"My goal is to be the best running back to ever go through K-State," he said.

"I know you had Darren Sproles. I understand a lot of people compare me to him, but I'm going to K-State to be Dalvin Warmack, not Darren Sproles. I just want to create a name and leave a legacy."