Celebrity recruitment and poll disrespect

Football

Real Live Football is less than a fortnight away, and BracketCat’s roster countdown is down to one of the more familiar names on the roster: #12 Landry Weber, son of former Wildcat quarterback Stan, and brother of former special teams standout Stanton.

The surest sign that Kansas State football is just around the corner is that the sports news is now full of substantive gridiron chatter and commentary, as in fewer human interest stories and more speculation and prognostication about the actual season.

On that note, JT VanGilder kicks off BotC’s own position previews with a closer look at the defensive line, which may be a bit of a weak spot for the Wildcats in 2018, especially at defensive tackle now that Will Geary is no longer Kansas State’s favorite meme. Defensive end Reggie Walker may well turn out to be the star of the unit, especially now that he’s healthy again.

Questions on defense may be at least one of the reasons Kansas State didn’t earn a spot in the first AP Top 25 poll of the season, despite returning several starters from a team that finished the 2017 season strong and capped it with an emphatic bowl win over UCLA. But before you scream DISRESPECT!, it’s worth noting Kansas State earned 10 votes.

Surprising exactly nobody, Alabama tops the poll, and there are no real surprises in the Top 5 which includes Clemson, Georgia and...Wisconsin? One of these things is definitely not like the others and almost certainly doesn’t belong in the August company of three teams that have actually played for a college football national championship.

Among our Big 12 brethren, Oklahoma is ranked the highest at #7. Other conference teams making the cut include TCU (#16), West Virginia (#17), and Texas (#23). The only real surprise here is the appearance of the Longhorns, who seem to be getting just a bit more slack than is really warranted.

Our CLANGA cousins over at For Whom the Cowbell Tolls preview the upcoming season, and note that Kansas State should provide Mississippi State with a tough fight, but ultimately the Bulldogs’ superior talent will out.

Oh, and finally, some recruiting news to round out your football news cycle: Kansas State’s newest target is a 46-year old California resident by the name of Eric Stonestreet. The intrepid recruit has made a series of videos touting his football skills, but it’s not clear if anyone in Vanier is interested. Yet.

In recruiting news slightly less tongue-in-cheek, Harry Trotter (who has the best football name of possibly ever), a running back currently at Louisville, is transferring to Kansas State. Trotter is a preferred walk-on and previously also played at Fort Scott Community College.

Volleyball

The VolleyCats will be on the air for every single home match in the 2018 season. Four matches will be broadcast through KStateHD.tv, while three matches will air on ESPN3. The team will also be on ESPNU for national coverage of the matches against Kansas (October 17) and Texas (September 10).

Tennis

The Kansas State’s women’s team received NCAA Public Recognition this week for the team’s Academic Progress Rate (APR), one of six Big 12 tennis teams to earn the honor.

The Wildcats earned recognition by being in the top 10 percent of all tennis teams for the season. For the last five seasons, Kansas State has been named an ITA All-Academic Team, and in 2017-18, four players, Iva Bago, Livia Cirnu, Palma Juhasz, and Maria Panaite, had perfect 4.0 GPAs.