Kansas State’s Jordan Willis still waiting for 2017 NFL Draft call

Yesterday, Kellis Robinett ran down the top 23 draft picks from K-State’s 23-year draft streak. (No, Darren Sproles is not #1. Neither is Jordy Nelson.) Last night, we hoped that Jordan Willis would extend the streak to 24, but were disappointed — especially at the tail end of the first round, when teams kept calling the names of arguably inferior linemen.

But that’s okay, because the streak will absolutely be extended this evening, perhaps even with the first name called. Here is a rundown of teams whose bloggers think their team is ready to pull the pin on Willis, or who a major national writer has indicated might select him:

• Tennessee Titans (no second round pick): Luke Worsham of Fansided’s Titan Sized is stunned Willis is still on the board, and names him as one of three guys the Titans might conceivably trade back into the second round to grab.
• 1 (33) - Green Bay Packers: Our colleague Owen Riese at Acme Packing Company lists Willis as a possibility for tonight’s first selection. Packers Wire also lists Willis heading north in one of three scenarios, Ben Natan of SB Nation’s Eagles blog Bleeding Green Nation has Willis going to the Packers in his full round two mock, and Mike Spofford of the official Packers site is also zeroing in on Willis as a prime target.
• 4 (36) - Chicago Bears: Emily Kaplan at Sports Illustrated has a new second- and third-round mock draft in the wake of last night’s results, and she’s got Willis joining Cody Whitehair up on the Midway. Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times also mentions Willis as a possibility.
• 8 (40) - Carolina Panthers: In our contractually-obligated “official” mock, the Mothership’s Dan Kadar has Willis moving on to the Tar Heel State.
• 14 (46) - Indianapolis Colts: The actual mock is buried under the Insider paywall, but Andrew Walker of the Colts’ official site notes that in one of his latest mocks, ESPN’s Todd McShay sends Willis to Indy.
• 15 (47) - Baltimore Ravens: Nate Davis at USA Today has Willis headed to Charm City, although after the Arthur Brown fiasco we may not want that. Our pal at Baltimore Beatdown, Logan Levy, also pinpoints Willis as the guy he wants in round two.
• 21 (53) - Detroit Lions: Dane Brugler at CBS also has a new second round mock, and he has Willis joining Cornelius Lucas in the Hawai’ian Blue. Tim Twentyman at the official Lions site and Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press also note an interest in Willis.
• 23 (55) - New York Giants: Chris Pflum at our sister site Big Blue View has a whole bunch of ideas for the Giants in the second and third rounds, but there’s no way Willis is still around in the third.
• 28 (60) - Dallas Cowboys: Our bros at Blogging the Boys had Willis pegged for the Pokes’ FIRST-round pick, but they decided to draft a Mexican food staple instead. They still consider Willis a player of interest, but the odds of Dallas going DE in both the first and second rounds is admittedly almost nil.

Of course, just because a team isn’t mentioned above doesn’t mean they’re not interested per se; it just means that their obvious needs are at a position other than edge rusher. Only one blog, whose identity I will suppress in order to avoid you hooligans assaulting them for their perfidy, has actually mentioned a particular edge rusher they want for their team without mentioning Willis.

As for the other Wildcats looking for an opportunity, Desmond Nugent of KOTV, channel 6 in Tulsa, filed a report on former Booker T. Washington star safety Dante Barnett (autoplay, but since the whole point IS the video, we’ll allow it). Later this morning, our own JT VanGilder will drop a pre-draft preview of Barnett as well.

Women’s Basketball

Speaking of drafts, remember the last one? Here’s a very important official video clip from the Dallas Wings:

Baseball

The BatCats (21-20, 4-11) were scheduled to play a three-game weekend non-conference series with another set of Wildcats from Abilene Christian (12-26, 2-19). They still are, but Saturday’s game has been moved due to the weather forecast. That means it’s Doubleheader Day at Tointon, a perfect opportunity to go catch some baseball in Manhattan. It’s also a perfect opportunity for the BatCats to string together some wins. First pitch is at 2:30 this afternoon, with the second game starting at 6:30; Sunday’s conclusion is set for 1pm.

Golf

The women’s golf team sneaks up the pecking order in today’s Slate for one very important reason: they’re headed to the NCAA Tournament, technically. The Wildcats were chosen as the 13th seed in the Athens, Ga. regional May 8-10 at the University of Georgia Golf Course. The six best teams, as well as the three best individuals who aren’t on those six teams, will advance to the national finals at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. May 19-24. For Wildcat Madison Talley, this will be the third shot at reaching the national championships; she was selected as an individual at-large for regionals in both 2015 and 2016, just missing the cut for nationals last year.

Track and Field

The world-famous Drake Relays got underway yesterday in Des Moinesthat city which does not exist, and K-State’s distance runners had a so-so outing. Paige Stratioti took sixth place in the women’s 800m, while both the men’s and women’s 4x1600m relay teams finished in ninth place. In addition to continued competition at Drake today, another small contingent of Wildcats are visiting a Division III campus as they attend the Kip Janvrin Open at Buxton Stadium, on the campus of Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

Rowing

K-State will conclude its regular season at Burcham Park in Lawrence, taking on that school down the river in the Sunflower Showdown. Races begin at 5:45 this evening.