By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
It’s the Big 12 championship football game in Arlington, Texas. The offensive starters take the field. The big offensive linemen get in position for the first snap. A look at the roster reveals that this is homegrown talent: Three of K-State’s five starting offensive linemen come from the state of Kansas.
Cooper Beebe, Hadley Panzer, and Hayden Gillum are the Sunflower State starting linemen who help anchor Kansas State’s offensive line. Beebe is from Kansas City, Kansas and attended Piper High School. Panzer is from the rural community of Lakin, population 2,205, and Gillum is from the rural community of Plainville, population 1,746 people. Now, that’s rural.
Cooper Beebe became a starter at K-State in 2020 – the same year he first earned All-Big 12 Academic honors. In 2021, he earned First Team All-Big 12 honors from both the league’s coaches and Associated Press -- the youngest offensive lineman to be named to the first team by either organization.
Beebe also was the first Wildcat freshman or sophomore offensive lineman to be named a First Team All-Big 12 performer since Dalton Risner in 2016. Beebe entered the 2022 season with lots of accolades: Pre-season All Big 12, pre-season All-American, and named to the Outland Trophy watch list.
At 6-foot-4 and 322 pounds, Beebe’s 2022 season has been outstanding. He was named a First Team All-Big 12 performer by the Associated Press for a second-consecutive season and First Team All-American by The Sporting News.
Named the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year by the league's coaches, Beebe did not allow a sack among his 395 passing blocking snaps this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Beebe has not surrendered a sack in his last 28 games dating back to 2020.
Lakin’s Hadley Panzer is only a sophomore, but stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 300 pounds.
Hayden Gillum was a four-year letter winner at Plainville before coming to K-State as a walk-on. He earned Second Team Academic All-Big 12 honors. Now 6-foot-3 and 286 pounds, he has become a standout center for the Wildcats.
Speaking of walk-ons, Austin Moore is from Louisburg and walked-on at K-State in 2019. As a reserve linebacker, he earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors and was one of 13 players in the league to be nominated with a 4.0 GPA. He achieved First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors again in 2021.
Nicknamed ‘The Machine’ by his teammates, Moore started every game at linebacker in 2022. He finished the regular season with 82 tackles and led the Wildcats in tackling in three games.
Jaylen Pickle from Cimarron was another significant contributor for the Wildcats. The 6-foot-5, 310-pounder started at defensive end.
D.J. Giddens came to K-State from Junction City. He not only emerged as back-up running back to All-American Deuce Vaughn, he became a weapon for the Wildcats in his own right. Against West Virginia, the freshman had a 49-yard run for a touchdown.
Then there is punter/placekicker Ty Zentner from Topeka. He achieved Academic All-Big 12 honors in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, he was named to the Associated Press All-Big 12 team.
As a punter, Zentner enters bowl season ranked 17th in the nation and second in the Big 12 with a 44.7-yard average, a mark that currently ranks second in school history. He has 19 punts this season that have traveled at least 50 yards, while a career-high 26 of his punts have been downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
As a placekicker, Zentner went 29-for-29 on extra-point attempts and 9-for-9 on field goals, including the one in overtime that gave K-State the Big 12 championship.
The state of Kansas has been good to the K-State football program. Since 1990, Wildcat players earning all conference honors have come from 33 cities in Kansas.
The Big 12 championship game is over, and confetti rains down as a Big 12 championship is celebrated by the Wildcats – including those big offensive linemen. We commend all Kansas kids for making a difference in playing so well for their in-state teams because we appreciate homegrown heroes.