Scott Fritchen

Eric Wolford is the longest-tenured active offensive line coach in the Southeastern Conference. The son of a steel mill plant supervisor in Youngstown, Ohio, Wolford grew up strong, tough and gritty. He played offensive guard at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. Along his professional journey, Wolford served as head coach at Youngstown State, and he coached offensive lines at South Florida, Houston, North Texas, Arizona, Illinois, South Carolina, San Francisco 49ers, Kentucky, Alabama and now LSU. He played or coached under head coaches such as Bill Snyder, Steve Spurrier, Mark Stoops, Nick Saban and now Lane Kiffin.

It's 7:18 a.m. and a large steel overhang blocks the sunlight from a 78-degree Wednesday morning, as a black, 10-passenger van steers toward the elaborate front glass doors to the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star. Less than one football field away, inside the multi-purpose, 12,000-seat Ford Center, which is connected to the World Corporate Headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys, the school colors and banners of Big 12 Conference schools sway to either the side of "the big stage," elevated on a large platform, where today eight Big 12 head coaches, one by one, will take turns sitting behind a table, flanked by his team's football helmets, surrounded by large screens displaying the school logo, and he'll discuss anything and everything regarding the state of his team, the state of the Big 12, and at times, the state of college football.

The attention is everywhere as Avery Johnson in his bright suit and lavender tie journeys underneath the lights from radio station to podcast to radio station to podcast, station to station, slapping on headphones and moments peeling them off his head, at Big 12 Football Media Days at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.

He's the seventh-fastest player in Kansas State history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards and his 5.37 yards per attempt ranks seventh as well. At a time when junior running back Joe Jackson is eager to flourish even more for the Wildcats, new head coach Collin Klein and his dangerous offensive attack that features a strong running game seems to have arrived just in time.

It's a bitterly cold evening in Manhattan on January 26 and a snowstorm will blanket the Flint Hills later in the night, as Wendell Gregory, who moved into his new home less than two weeks prior, begins to talk. For the next 20 minutes, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State, opens the door to his world, his life and his goals, as one of the most highly sought-after transfers for the 2026 football season, and as top candidate to become the next great pass rusher at Kansas State.

Brandon White entered the Vanier Family Football Complex on Tuesday. The 5-foot-7, 168-pound fifth-year senior transfer from Hawaii, who previously spent three seasons at Kentucky, and who set track records while at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, probably didn't know it. Or maybe he did. On a Kansas State roster full of new faces and exciting talents and featuring players from the east coast to Hawaii, White is one of the guys.

Does the story start with Conor Riley sauntering over to speak with Oliver Miller, a young up-and-coming sophomore offensive lineman after practice at Cherry Creek High School? Does the story start with Miller hosting Kansas State offensive line coach-turned-tight ends coach Brian Lepak in his parents' living room last May 19? Or does it begin with Miller discussing his journey ahead as an incoming freshman with the Wildcats one late December night — and less than two days after Miller's final game in a celebrated high school career?

"Nothing but excitement, man. As soon as I stepped inside, I felt honored," beams a smiling Mekhi Mason, a 6-foot-2, 233-pounder dressed in a purple hoodie with the Nike Swoosh that reads in all white caps: "K-STATE WILDCATS." It's Monday at 10:47 a.m., and it's five days until Mason takes the field for his first game as a Wildcat. The K-State defense, under the direction of new coordinator

The New Old School. Are you familiar? Collin Klein coined the appealing term as the 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist and one of the finest quarterbacks in the history of the Big 12 Conference stood upon a stage at his introductory news conference as Kansas State head coach on December 5, 2025, at Morgan Family Arena. Just hours prior, Klein, the second-year offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, boarded a private jet with his family, and peered out of a window as the Bill Snyder Family Stadium that he once dominated floated into view, and now he stood inside a packed arena in a dark suit about 20 yards from Bill Snyder, his mentor and the 86-year-old Hall of Famer wore a smile the size of Manhattan upon a face that suddenly seemed younger, as Klein, who helped deliver 10- and 11-win seasons and a Big 12 Championship during his college career, was back at the place he knew full well, the place he loved more than any other, with purple pouring through his veins, eager to lead the program that he's known for nearly two decades.

One late-June afternoon, new Kansas State running backs coach Cory Patterson, hired by K-State head coach Collin Klein on December 30, 2025, lounged in a black swivel chair in a spacious office with a balcony that hung off the edge of the Vanier Family Football Complex, and the 45-year-old who traveled from Oklahoma State to be a part of the Wildcats, peered across the football field that would shake during the season opener on September 5.