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Football
Yesterday was the last day for NFL teams to cut their preseason rosters down to the 53-man regular season limit. And while several former Kansas State Wildcats did not end up making the opening day rosters (like Dalton Schoen for the Chiefs and Elijah Sullivan for the 49ers), there are a still a good handful that will be playing around the league. But perhaps the biggest surprise of the offseason came out of Detroit, where AJ Parker has become the starter at nickle back for the Lions, riding a great offseason and strong play during the preseason to lock up the starting spot as an undrafted free agent signing. Parker joins a growing group of K-State defensive backs who are making their name in the NFL at the interior corner slot, with DJ Reed (Seahawks, and has actually moved outside to start this season) and Duke Shelley (Bears) already earning their playing time by being hard-nosed defensive backs with enough speed and skill to cover receivers, but willing to get engaged in run support.
Back in Manhattan, on Tuesday Chris Klieman hosted the first weekly press conference of the regular season ahead of this Saturday’s match up in Arlington, TX against Stanford. He talked about the start of the season, the depth chart and playing time, and loads more. For his part, Skylar Thompson is ready for his last season playing football at K-State, and is excited about the improvements that both he and his teammates have made during the offseason.
We’re also getting through the final position groups with our preseason preview, and Jon dropped in this morning with a look at the defensive backs.
Basketball
Jeff Mittie wasn’t quite done tinkering with his 2021-22 roster, and announced the addition of Oklahoma transfer Heavenly Greer for the upcoming season. Greer, originally from Phoenix, AZ, joins the Wildcats after spending her freshman season in Norman. Greer joins an already loaded 2021 singee group, and becomes the 6th new face on the Wildcats roster that now totals 14 players (not sure how they’re working around the scholarship limit here).
Curtis Kelly is back in Manhattan as a GA for the Wildcats, and yesterday’s Sports Extra explored the path that the former star forward took on his way back to the Flint Hills.