Slate: Wildcats lose three more to transfer portal

Football

Tuesday was not a great day for the Kansas State football program, as three players who had already decided to opt-out of the 2020 season — running back Thomas Grayson, defensive back Jonathan Alexander, and defensive tackle Matthew Pola-Mao — have now also entered their names into the NCAA’s transfer portal. Grayson and Pola-Mao had both completely redshirtted in 2019 before deciding to opt-out of 2020, but Alexander was a mainstay of the 2019 defense and had been expected to continue to be a significant contributor in 2020 before contracting COVID this summer and then deciding to opt-out. There have now been eight transfers from the program this season, and only one pre-season opt-out, running back Joe Ervin, is still with the team.

Yesterday was also press conference day at the Vanier Football Complex, and since players were off yesterday to allow them time to complete their civic duty of voting, Klieman had three of his assistants join him on the call. Hindsight being crystal clear 20/20, Klieman regrets a couple of the more conservative early decisions from the West Virginia game, namely settling for the early field goal from Blake Lynch and not rolling the dice when the Wildcats were given a second chance after the running into the kicker penalty.

Several Wildcats had good weeks in the NFL last week, with D.J. Reed securing an interception for the Seahawks, and Byron Pringle making his first start of the season for the Chiefs including catching a pass on a fake punt to earn a first down.

Also, be sure and be on the lookout a little later today for this week’s regular episode of Bring on the PodCats, where we discuss the upcoming game with Oklahoma State with Micah Allen of SB Nation site Cowboys Ride For Free.

Soccer

There are awards all around after the SoccerCats defeated Iowa State this past week. Senior midfielder Brookelynn Entz has been named to two National Teams of the Week, by TopDrawerSoccer.com and CollegeSoccerNews.com, for her play at Iowa State last Friday, but was somehow left off the Big 12 honor roll. But two of her teammates were on the Big 12 lists, as defender Shae Turner was named the Big 12 Defender of the Week while goalkeeper Alaina Werremeyer earned her second Big 12 Freshman of the Week honor. This marks the first time in program history that two Wildcats collected Big 12 weekly honors in the same week.

The Cats have one more match this season, and will host Texas Tech on Friday, Nov. 13th.

Volleyball

Not to be outdone, the VolleyCats also picked up a Big 12 award, as freshman Aliyah Carter picked up her second-straight Big 12 Rookie of the Week award (should have been third....) after notching over 20 kills in both matches against the Jayhawks last weekend.