Big Ben went in the 2nd, Beebe in the 3rd, and Leveston in the 7th; plus baseball and basketball updates.
Football
The 2024 NFL Draft concluded this past weekend with three Wildcats being selected during the draft. All-Big 12 First Team honoree Ben Sinnott was the first Cat taken, selected with the 53rd overall pick by the Washington Commanders, who traded up in the 2nd round to select the talented tight end. The Dallas Cowboys then took All-American Cooper Beebe with the 73rd overall pick (3rd round), reuniting him with the Cowboys 5th-round pick last year, Deuce Vaughn. And last but not least, with the 254th pick (7th round) the LA Rams took KT Leveston, which was fitting as the o-lineman grew up in Waco, TX in the 254 area code.
Along with the four selections in the 2023 draft, the three selections in the 2024 draft mark the first time since the 2002 & 2003 drafts that Kansas State has had three or more selections in consecutive drafts.
Others finding spots after the draft:
- Phillip Brooks – Chiefs (UDFA)
- Christian Duffie – Panthers (UDFA)
- Khalid Duke – Titans (UDFA)
- Hayden Gillum – Bears (camp invite)
- Randen Plattner – Ravens (UDFA)
Also over the weekend, the future for the Wildcats became brighter, as running back Dylan Edwards has signed with K-State. Edwards had committed to K-State last summer as a 4-star recruit out of Derby, KS, but eventually chose to de-commit, then commit to Notre Dame, de-commit from there, before ultimately signing with Colorado and new Buffs head coach Deion Sanders. But after a 2023 campaign where Edwards led the Buffs in rushing with 341 yards on 76 carries (seriously) and a touchdown, he decided, like many out in Boulder, to enter the transfer portal this spring.
Edwards joins his childhood friend Avery Johnson, as well as fellow Sunflower State standout DJ Giddens in the K-State backfield, and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Basketball
It’s been an in-and-out spring for the TangCats. Just to get everyone caught up, in addition to the three graduates with expired eligibility (McNair, Perry, and Lindsey):
OUT (as of 4/29/2024)
- Cam Carter, G (transfer, LSU)
- Dorian Finister, G/F (transfer, unknown)
- Jerrell Colbert, F (transfer, unknown)
- Arthur Kaluma, F (NBA draft)
- R.J. Jones, G (transfer, unknown)
- Ques Glover, G (transfer, unknown)
- Dai Dai Ames, G (transfer, unknown)
IN (as of 4/29/2024
- David Castillo, G (HS)
- Dug McDaniel, G (transfer, Michigan)
- C.J. Jones, G (transfer, Illinois-Chicago (UIC))
- Brendan Hausen, G (transfer, Villanova)
- Baye Fall, F (transfer, Arkansas)
Tang and staff will still be hitting the portal hard, as they still have five spots to fill after Dai Dai Ames entered the portal late Sunday.
The MittieCats have also snagged a couple big gets out of the portal this spring, adding forward Kennedy Taylor from Missouri State to compliment the return of Ayoka Lee for one more season; as well as hot-shooting guard Temira Poindexter from Tulsa. Poindexter holds the Tulsa record for points in a season with the 734 she knocked in last season on her way to earning 2024 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Player of the Year honors. Both Kennedy and Poindexter have one season of eligibility left.
Baseball
It’s been a rough April for the BatCats, who will head into the month of May at 26-17 overall and 10-11 in Big 12 play after going 1-2 this past weekend against TCU in Fort Worth. In April, the Cats are just 4-8 in Big 12 play, picking up just the series win over Oklahoma State at Tointon a couple weeks ago. That was, however, a pretty massive series win as it was the first series win over the Pokes since 2010. It was also the only conference series at home during April, as K-State played three of it’s four conference sets on the road.
If the Cats want to make the NCAA field, they’ll need a strong push in the final month of the regular season. First up is a mid-week game in Lincoln against Nebraska on Wednesday, followed by the Sunflower Showdown in Manhattan this coming weekend (FYI, all three games are a sellout). Then it’s a trip out to Morgantown the following weekend to face the Mountaineers, and finally a three game set against BYU in Manhattan May 16th-18th (Thursday-Saturday, because BYU doesn’t play on Sunday’s). It’s three very-winnable series for K-State, and they’ll need to pick up all three to keep their postseason hopes alive — including a trip to Arlington for the Big 12 Championships. K-State is currently 8th in the Big 12 standings, and only 10 of the 13 schools make the conference tournament.