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85 DAYS TO 2022 KICKOFF: Kade Warner

In which BracketCat counts down the 85th day until the 2022 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State wide receiver Kade Warner.

#85 Kade Warner
Kade Warner (85) had quite an effective first season for K-State, filling in for the loss of Dalton Schoen as a reliable possession receiver. Now he looks to extend his career, like this ball, for a sixth season as part of a stacked returning WR corps.
Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

NOTE: Kansas State has elected to advance players’ classification even though the 2020 season did not affect eligibility. Those who wish to take advantage of this extra year will be listed as a (“super”) senior again after their original eligibility would have been exhausted.

#85 Kade Warner

Redshirt Super Senior | 6-1 | 206 lbs. | Scottsdale, Arizona
Kade Warner
Kade Warner
Courtesy Kansas State Athletics
  • Position: Wide Receiver
  • Previous College: University of Nebraska
  • Projection: Second-String
  • Status: On Scholarship

Kade Warner (b. September 29, 1998) is a wide receiver who transferred in last summer from Nebraska after a mildly productive career, but he probably is most famous for being the son of Super Bowl champion quarterback Kurt Warner.

A graduate student who is working on his master’s degree in academic advising, Warner saw action in all 13 games last season as a regular member of the rotation at wide receiver.

He hauled in 14 total catches for 166 yards, set a new career high with 42 yards in K-State’s win over LSU in the Texas Bowl and also tied a season high with three catches against the Tigers, a mark he originally had against Kansas.

He also tied his career-long catch with a 26-yard reception at Texas Tech and looks for even more production this fall as he reunites with his former quarterback, Adrian Martinez.

A former walk-on who redshirted in 2017 and was placed on scholarship prior to the 2020 season, Warner finished in Lincoln as a three-time Academic All-Big Ten performer and was named to the Brooks Berringer and Tom Osborne Citizenship teams in 2019 and 2020.

Warner played in 24 career games through four seasons at Nebraska, with 16 starts. He saw action in nine games in 2018 and started seven of the Huskers’ last nine contests.

Warner had a 2018 season career high of 17 receptions, which included a pair of career-high four-catch games against Illinois and Iowa. He also rushed once for 4 yards against Ohio State and earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades.

He then played in seven games in 2019, with five starts, after missing the first four games of the season due to an injury, but still set a season career high with 101 receiving yards.

Warner tallied a career-best 38 yards — which included a career-long catch of 26 yards — at Minnesota and again picked up Academic All-Big Ten honors.

He played in all eight games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, with four starts, hauling in five passes for 40 yards. In 2020, Warner was voted a team captain and earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades for the third straight season.

He prepped under head coach David Sedmak at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was a two-time all-state receiver, the 2016 Arizona Wide Receiver of the Year and the 2017 District Player of the Year.

Warner finished his three-year prep career for the Wolves with 2,892 receiving yards and 35 touchdowns, and also rushed 11 times for 53 yards and three more scores.

He broke the Arizona state record for most career catches with 241, passing Desert Mountain alum and current Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, and also competed in basketball, track and lacrosse.

Warner’s father, Kurt, was a quarterback for Northern Iowa from 1989 to 1993 and was a college teammate of K-State head coach Chris Klieman.

Kurt Warner went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL and led teams to three Super Bowls, including a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and his career was capably documented by Zachary Levi in the movie “American Underdog.”