Goal No. 6: SELF-DISCIPLINE. Do it right; don’t accept less.

#6 Johnathan Durham

Redshirt Junior | 6-0 | 190 lbs. | Aledo, Texas

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Defensive Back
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Second-String
• Status: On Scholarship

Johnathan Nelson Durham (b. Aug. 9, 1996) is a fourth-year member of the program who made big strides toward the end of his sophomore campaign. He will compete for starting duties at cornerback or nickelback in addition to providing special teams support.

An athletic young defensive back from Aledo High School in Texas, Durham redshirted in 2015, then started for the Purple team in the 2016 spring game and performed well. He tallied four solo tackles and had decent coverage, although he gave up two touchdowns.

In 2016, he played in the Florida Atlantic and Oklahoma State games, but did not collect any statistics, and then had three solo tackles for the White team in the 2017 spring game.

Durham played in seven games in 2017, which included his first career start in the regular-season finale against Iowa State when he lined up at cornerback for the injured D.J. Reed.

He recorded 12 tackles on the year, with a career-high five against Central Arkansas and four more at Texas, and registered his first career pass breakup against Iowa State.

A two-year letter-winner for Aledo under head coaches Tim Buchanan and Steve Wood, Durham helped to lead the Bearcats to back-to-back state championships, claiming the Texas Class 4A Division II title as a junior with a 16-0 record and a Texas Class 5A Division I title as a senior with a 15-1 mark.

He earned first-team all-state honors from the Texas Associated Press Sports Editors and All-District 8-5A accolades as a senior, and also was a first-team member of the Class 5A Padilla Poll Coaches all-state team.

Durham tallied 31 tackles, five interceptions and 15 pass deflections in 2014; earned honorable mention all-state honors as a junior, in addition to first-team all-district honors; and tallied seven interceptions as a junior.

An academic all-district performer, he also competed in track and was a high school teammate of current K-State defensive tackle Jordan Mittie, the son of K-State women’s basketball head coach Jeff Mittie, who still was TCU’s women’s basketball coach at the time.