Sending the Seniors Out on Top
Nov 19, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State sixth-year senior right guard Taylor Poitier stood surrounded by reporters on Monday and grew misty-eyed at the realization that he was on the cusp of playing at Bill Snyder Family Stadium for the last time.
Poitier is one of eight players on roster who used an extra year of eligibility in 2024 as the NCAA froze eligibility clocks during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also endured season-ending injuries in 2021 and 2022, yet both times the Kansas City, Kansas, native chose to return to head coach Chris Klieman and the Wildcats.
He wouldn't change a thing.
"I've been here since the coaches came here (in 2019) and I've seen a lot of people come and go, and I've seen a lot of things that have developed me into a better person and player," Poitier said. "I've experienced a lot. I've been through injuries and ups and downs. I'm just grateful for being here at this place."
Poitier joins 22 other seniors on roster. The list includes five team captains — offensive lineman Hadley Panzer, linebacker Austin Moore, defensive ends Brendan Mott and Cody Stufflebean and safety Marques Sigle — and four other full-time starters in offensive linemen Easton Kilty and Carver Willis and cornerback Keenan Garber.
Many of the senior class were members of the 2022 Big 12 Championship team and will be a part of a fourth straight bowl game. They also have the chance to win at least eight games for a fourth consecutive year, the program's longest stretch in a decade.
It all starts when K-State, 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12 Conference, meets Cincinnati, 5-5 and 3-4, in Saturday's 7 p.m. kickoff at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, where the Wildcats will look to finish their home season with only one loss for a second straight year — something that hasn't happened at K-State since 2011 and 2012.
"Our job this week is to right the ship, because we have another opportunity at home here, and these seniors – especially these sixth-year guys who came in with me when I started and these fifth-year guys that have been around with us for a long time – I want to make sure those guys have an opportunity to go out successful," Klieman said at his weekly news conference. "We have to attack this week and have a really good week of practice."
K-State is making it a priority to win for the seniors after the Wildcats were unsuccessful in their last two contests — a 24-19 loss at Houston followed by a 24-14 home loss to Arizona State over the weekend. The loss to the Sun Devils bounced the Wildcats out of serious contention for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game as they dropped from the AP Top 25 poll for the first time after a 12-week stay this season, their longest such streak since 2014.
"It's probably one of the biggest things for us right now, is fighting for those guys and getting one more win in The Bill for them, having a good Senior Night, and ultimately finish the season 2-0 for them so those guys go out with a bang," quarterback Avery Johnson said.
Added defensive end Travis Bates: "I can't even explain it. Those guys have poured so much into K-State, more than I can even know. Just sending them out on a good note, it'd be huge."
Klieman appreciates the commitment and dedication of the senior class.
"They've meant everything to our program and how we've been able to change the culture that we have here — not talking about previous cultures — but the culture we had," Klieman said. "Everybody who are fifth and sixth-year guys who've stayed in the program went through COVID. And if you stayed in that program, man, I don't know how guys came out of COVID saying, 'Boy, we're just flowing and everything is matriculating great because we have this great routine.' Nobody had a routine at all.
"In the spring of 2021, we came up with the core value of Discipline, Commitment, Toughness and Be Selfless, and those guys along with the guys that graduated in 2021, 2022 and 2023, championed that through the last handful of years to where those things become synonymous in everything we do in life."
For Klieman, it goes beyond the football field.
"I tell guys and parents all the time that if the only thing your kid does is play football and get a degree, I've failed you miserably," Klieman said. "I want to make sure your son can be a great NFL player if that's the case, a great entrepreneur, a great businessman, firefighter, but I'm going to make sure when he leaves, he's ready to be a great community member, great father and great husband. That's a win for me.
"Those players have bought into that, the ones who've been here so long, that they've had some great wins, and some really tough losses, but I look at that senior class and I'm like, 'Those guys are prepared for life and to take on anything they're going to.' They're going to have adversity in life, but they're going to be equipped for it."
Poitier, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound right guard who has started every game this season, played in all 13 games as a regular member of the playing rotation last season. It was a remarkable turnaround after suffering season-ending injuries each of the two previous seasons.
But Poitier remembers being a senior at Bishop Miege High School wondering where he would attend college.
That's when K-State offensive line coach Conor Riley entered his life.
"I talked to Coach Riley when he was at North Dakota State a little bit," Poitier said. "Then he was really interested. He called me one night and said, 'I don't know if I'm going to get this job at K-State. I'll let you know. If I do, we'll talk.' He gave me an opportunity and I took it.
"He took a chance on me my senior year in 2019, forever ago, he took a chance on me, and I could never repay him for that. He didn't have to pick me up and bring me here. I would've gone to Wyoming. I'm grateful for him and Coach Klieman and for Coach Riley trusting me throughout this whole process of being here, keeping me on this team, just being a part, it meant a lot to me, honestly."
Fast-forward and Poitier has learned much along the way.
"You find a lot of fighters here," he said. "That turns you into a fighter. You want to become that. What kept me here was all the people and coaches. When they say family, this truly is a family. You just want to keep coming back."
Saturday, Poitier and the senior class have a chance to go out on top.
Kansas State sixth-year senior right guard Taylor Poitier stood surrounded by reporters on Monday and grew misty-eyed at the realization that he was on the cusp of playing at Bill Snyder Family Stadium for the last time.
Poitier is one of eight players on roster who used an extra year of eligibility in 2024 as the NCAA froze eligibility clocks during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also endured season-ending injuries in 2021 and 2022, yet both times the Kansas City, Kansas, native chose to return to head coach Chris Klieman and the Wildcats.
He wouldn't change a thing.
"I've been here since the coaches came here (in 2019) and I've seen a lot of people come and go, and I've seen a lot of things that have developed me into a better person and player," Poitier said. "I've experienced a lot. I've been through injuries and ups and downs. I'm just grateful for being here at this place."
Poitier joins 22 other seniors on roster. The list includes five team captains — offensive lineman Hadley Panzer, linebacker Austin Moore, defensive ends Brendan Mott and Cody Stufflebean and safety Marques Sigle — and four other full-time starters in offensive linemen Easton Kilty and Carver Willis and cornerback Keenan Garber.
Many of the senior class were members of the 2022 Big 12 Championship team and will be a part of a fourth straight bowl game. They also have the chance to win at least eight games for a fourth consecutive year, the program's longest stretch in a decade.
It all starts when K-State, 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12 Conference, meets Cincinnati, 5-5 and 3-4, in Saturday's 7 p.m. kickoff at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, where the Wildcats will look to finish their home season with only one loss for a second straight year — something that hasn't happened at K-State since 2011 and 2012.
"Our job this week is to right the ship, because we have another opportunity at home here, and these seniors – especially these sixth-year guys who came in with me when I started and these fifth-year guys that have been around with us for a long time – I want to make sure those guys have an opportunity to go out successful," Klieman said at his weekly news conference. "We have to attack this week and have a really good week of practice."
K-State is making it a priority to win for the seniors after the Wildcats were unsuccessful in their last two contests — a 24-19 loss at Houston followed by a 24-14 home loss to Arizona State over the weekend. The loss to the Sun Devils bounced the Wildcats out of serious contention for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game as they dropped from the AP Top 25 poll for the first time after a 12-week stay this season, their longest such streak since 2014.
"It's probably one of the biggest things for us right now, is fighting for those guys and getting one more win in The Bill for them, having a good Senior Night, and ultimately finish the season 2-0 for them so those guys go out with a bang," quarterback Avery Johnson said.
Added defensive end Travis Bates: "I can't even explain it. Those guys have poured so much into K-State, more than I can even know. Just sending them out on a good note, it'd be huge."
Klieman appreciates the commitment and dedication of the senior class.
"They've meant everything to our program and how we've been able to change the culture that we have here — not talking about previous cultures — but the culture we had," Klieman said. "Everybody who are fifth and sixth-year guys who've stayed in the program went through COVID. And if you stayed in that program, man, I don't know how guys came out of COVID saying, 'Boy, we're just flowing and everything is matriculating great because we have this great routine.' Nobody had a routine at all.
"In the spring of 2021, we came up with the core value of Discipline, Commitment, Toughness and Be Selfless, and those guys along with the guys that graduated in 2021, 2022 and 2023, championed that through the last handful of years to where those things become synonymous in everything we do in life."
For Klieman, it goes beyond the football field.
"I tell guys and parents all the time that if the only thing your kid does is play football and get a degree, I've failed you miserably," Klieman said. "I want to make sure your son can be a great NFL player if that's the case, a great entrepreneur, a great businessman, firefighter, but I'm going to make sure when he leaves, he's ready to be a great community member, great father and great husband. That's a win for me.
"Those players have bought into that, the ones who've been here so long, that they've had some great wins, and some really tough losses, but I look at that senior class and I'm like, 'Those guys are prepared for life and to take on anything they're going to.' They're going to have adversity in life, but they're going to be equipped for it."
Poitier, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound right guard who has started every game this season, played in all 13 games as a regular member of the playing rotation last season. It was a remarkable turnaround after suffering season-ending injuries each of the two previous seasons.
But Poitier remembers being a senior at Bishop Miege High School wondering where he would attend college.
That's when K-State offensive line coach Conor Riley entered his life.
"I talked to Coach Riley when he was at North Dakota State a little bit," Poitier said. "Then he was really interested. He called me one night and said, 'I don't know if I'm going to get this job at K-State. I'll let you know. If I do, we'll talk.' He gave me an opportunity and I took it.
"He took a chance on me my senior year in 2019, forever ago, he took a chance on me, and I could never repay him for that. He didn't have to pick me up and bring me here. I would've gone to Wyoming. I'm grateful for him and Coach Klieman and for Coach Riley trusting me throughout this whole process of being here, keeping me on this team, just being a part, it meant a lot to me, honestly."
Fast-forward and Poitier has learned much along the way.
"You find a lot of fighters here," he said. "That turns you into a fighter. You want to become that. What kept me here was all the people and coaches. When they say family, this truly is a family. You just want to keep coming back."
Saturday, Poitier and the senior class have a chance to go out on top.
Players Mentioned
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