K-State names captains for 2006 season
Apr 22, 2006 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State head football coach Ron Prince announced the names of four players voted by their teammates to serve as captains for the 2006 season. The announcement was made by Prince following the first quarter of Saturday's Purple and White Spring Game.
Wide receiver Jordy Nelson and offensive lineman Greg Wafford were selected to represent the offense, while linebacker Brandon Archer and defensive lineman Blake Seiler were voted to represent the defense.
Nelson, Wafford and Seiler will be serving their first terms as team captains. Archer will be serving his second term as a team captain after being voted as one of K-State's tri-captains last season.
Nelson, who will be a junior in the fall, is coming off of one of the best sophomore receiving seasons in school history. A second team All-Big 12 pick by the Kansas City Star and an honorable mention selection by both the league's coaches and The Associated Press in 2005, Nelson led the Wildcats in receptions (45), receiving yards (669) receiving touchdowns (8) and points scored (54). He also ranked third in the Big 12 in receiving touchdowns and seventh in the conference in receiving yards per game (60.8), despite playing in an offense that attempted a league-low 318 passes.
The versatile Wafford, who has seen time at both guard and tackle during his career, is expected to anchor the Wildcats' offensive line this season and continues to make huge strides in his development. He closed out the 2005 season as K-State's co-Offensive Lineman of the Year.
The lynchpin of the Wildcats' defense for the last two seasons, Archer is regarded as one of the Big 12's top linebackers. He has paced K-State in total tackles in each of the last two years and has twice earned second team All-Big 12 honors from the Kansas City Star as well as honorable mention accolades from both the league's coaches and The Associated Press.
Seiler has also displayed his versatility this spring, drilling at both defensive tackle and defensive end. An 11-game starter and a first team Academic All-Big 12 pick in 2005, he originally attended Oklahoma State on a wrestling scholarship out of high school before transferring to K-State as a walk-on to pursue his dream of playing Division I-A college football.
Kansas State will kick off its 2006 season on Saturday, Sept. 2, when the Wildcats host Illinois State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game is the first of a four-game, season-opening homestand that also includes Florida Atlantic (Sept. 9), Marshall (Sept. 16) and Louisville (Sept. 23).
