In which BracketCat counts down the 75th day until the 2025 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State offensive lineman Sam Hecht.

#75 Sam Hecht

Redshirt Senior | 6-4 | 287 lbs. | Shawnee, Kansas

Position: Offensive Line
Previous College: None
Projection: Starter
Status: On Scholarship

Sam Hecht (b. April 3, 2003) is a former walk-on offensive lineman from Shawnee who is majoring in construction science and management. He redshirted during the 2021 season.

Hecht played as a reserve offensive lineman in four games in 2022, seeing time against South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Baylor.

He also was a first-team Academic All-Big 12 performer in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the latter of which he was nominated for with a 4.0 grade-point average.

Hecht saw playing time on field goal protection in all 13 games in 2023, while he also earned playing time as a reserve offensive lineman against SEMO, Troy, Houston and Baylor.

Head coach Chris Klieman indicated before last season that Hecht, who was put on scholarship at semester, is the front-runner to take over the center position and “we hope that he takes the reins of it,” while suggesting there was adequate depth at the spot as well.

Well, he was right. Hecht started all 13 games at center — the first starts of his career — as he earned All-Big 12 second-team honors from the league’s coaches in 2024. He saw time on a team-high 840 offensive snaps and was penalized just twice during the season.

Hecht led an offensive line unit that helped the Wildcats to set school records in rushing yards per carry (6.08) and offensive yards per play (6.57) as they finished second and 13th nationally in those two categories, respectively.

The K-State offensive line also surrendered only 13 sacks on the season, its fewest since 2000, while the Wildcats’ one sack allowed per game ranked 10th nationally.

The Wildcats also ranked 12th in tackles for loss allowed per game (3.92) and 11th in rushing yards per game (204.5). Hecht earned Academic All-District accolades from College Sports Communicators in addition to being an Academic All-Big 12 performer following the season.

He prepped under head coach Joel Applebee at Mill Valley High School, where he earned a pair of all-state honors as a junior and senior from both The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Wichita Eagle, including first-team accolades during his final year as a prep.

Along with current K-State safety Mikey Bergeron, defensive end Truman Griffith and offensive lineman Gus Hawkins, Hecht helped the Jaguars to earn consecutive state championships during his final two years and was a four-year academic letter-winner.

He chose to walk on at K-State over a preferred walk-on offer from Missouri, as well as offers from Abilene Christian, Brown, Eastern Illinois, Kent State, Penn, Princeton, South Dakota State and Yale. Here’s what Coach Klieman had to say in 2022 about Hecht’s potential:

Sam Hecht is doing a really good job that nobody talks about who’s a young player from Kansas who’s learning from these older guys, but Sam’s held his own in there against Eli Huggins and Robert Hentz II and some of the better players, so I’m excited about his progress, too.