Scott is Excited for the Challenge
Dec 12, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
He's lounging in a white, metal chair, dressed in purple, arms propped up on a circle table one morning in Manhattan. At times, 37-year-old Trey Scott, the newly-hired general manager for the Kansas State football program, believes this is all surreal, the journey from being a backup K-State quarterback from Shawnee, Kansas, to traveling the country, scouting for NFL teams, then handling contracts – so many contracts – and meeting some of the most influential individuals in the NFL, to where he is now, seated and waiting to take his photograph that'll appear in his hiring announcement later that day.
Trey Scott, General Manager, Kansas State Football.
Scott worked 11 years in player personnel with NFL organizations. He traveled throughout Division I football as a scout for the Redskins and Raiders. He has worked the last three years as a coaches and executives agent.
He shared the same quarterback room for three years with newly-hired K-State head coach Collin Klein, the 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist whose straight-laced nature aligned with Scott's values. Scott saw NFL agents at K-State practices. He wanted to be one of those guys. Behind the scenes. Doing serious work.
After graduating from K-State in 2010, Scott received his start as pro personnel assistant with the Washington Redskins in 2011. Then he began as a Midwest scout for the Oakland Raiders in 2012 and moved to Las Vegas with the franchise in 2020. He left the Raiders in 2022 as the assistant director of player personnel where he oversaw all aspects of the personnel department.
From there, Scott flipped the script, as he led the coaching and executives division of Rep 1 Sports before the company was acquired by Excel Sports Management in 2023. He represented some of the top college football and NFL coaches in addition to front office members and focused on handling their contract negotiations. He also worked as a consultant for athletic departments across the country, helping schools navigate revenue sharing, NIL and spending of revenue sharing dollars.
And then he received a late-night text from Klein. And things changed.
And now he's here. It's about family business.
And Scott is home.
And in a way, the journey has just begun.
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: When did this journey back to K-State begin for you?
TREY SCOTT: I heard from Collin at about 1:00 a.m. Monday. I knew and my wife knew he was the one guy we'd go back to K-State with. I woke my wife up in the morning and said, "I think this is going to happen." That was our internal family discussion, and we wrapped our heads around that. But it was easy, because it was home, and I knew Collin, and while he was going to have other options, home — that pull is strong.
FRITCHEN: Describe the thrill of being here right now?
SCOTT: It's pretty surreal just because it's come full circle. Community is really important to me. I've moved quite a few times because of football and have brought my family on those moves, and some have gone well, and some haven't gone so well, and at the end of the day, I think it's about people. That's really what it was — the community, the people, and knowing my family would have a built-in support system already. I wouldn't have done it without that.
FRITCHEN: When did you say, "I'm in, let's do it."
SCOTT: Collin and I had been in contact a lot in my prior life. My job was coaching interviews and coaching contracts. That was my world. He leaned on me, and we leaned on each other throughout that whole process for him because I was in it every day. It was relatively new to him, like interviewing for coaching jobs. I knew we were aligned in terms of how we'd build a program. I didn't know how those dots would connect and if it'd make sense for my family. I think I knew without knowing that this was going to happen.
FRITCHEN: When was the first time you met Collin?
SCOTT: Whenever he got to campus. I was a year ahead of him. We were in the same quarterback room for three years, so that would've been 2008 or 2009. I just knew he was dialed in, he was straight-laced, very straight-laced, and he still is to a degree, but he always did things right. He was never out partying. I think that's why we bonded, because I wasn't doing that, either.
FRITCHEN: What excites you most as you embark upon this journey at K-State?
SCOTT: The challenge. It's different than it was two years ago. It's different than it was a year ago. My skillset aligns with how the world of college football has evolved. Like Collin said in his press conference, we talk about it all the time, we like to do hard things. We're kind of gluttons for that. I tell my wife the same thing, she knows. I want to do hard things and do it with good people.
FRITCHEN: What is your exact job description?
SCOTT: Truly, whatever it takes to help us win. It's however I can be an asset for Collin. In terms of a job description, like roster management contracts, all the player finances, keeping that straight, and negotiating contracts. That'd be the more transactional side. But I don't think there's anything off the plate for what I'll do to help this team.
FRITCHEN: You're handled coaching contacts and so much else, but now you're going to handle a roster of 105 football players. Is that daunting in any way?
SCOTT: I don't think so. Ball is ball and people are people. There are some nuances that I'm going to have to lean on people who've maybe been in the building longer in terms of scholarship breakdowns, or whatever it may be, but at the end of the day, you pay the good ones. I try to oversimplify it in my head. I've been around ball my whole life. I don't want to make it more complicated than it is.
FRITCHEN: Describe your path to where you are today. What prompted you to enter this sector after you graduated from K-State?
SCOTT: I wasn't a great player. I was good enough to get on the team, and I found a role of helping the players learn the playbook and putting together the no-huddle stuff, so I always created value, but not on the field, and I loved that. We had Jordy Nelson and Josh Freeman, so we had a bunch of NFL scouts coming to practice, and I knew I didn't want to coach because I'm more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy rather than a rah-rah guy. I'd see scouts come to practice my freshman year, and I immediately was like, 'That's what I want to do.' I put all my eggs in one basket.
I graduated from K-State during the NFL lockout in 2010. At that time, I blasted every team every month with FedEx resume. As soon as the lockout ended, I received a couple calls. I interviewed in Green Bay and Washington. I took the Redskins job for a year with Mike Shanahan as head coach. In January, Reggie McKenzie got the Raiders job. Reggie was in my interview in Green Bay. He called me immediately and said, "You're coming with me."
At age 23, I had my own area scouting in the Midwest, and moved to Chicago and went with the Raiders, and ended up scouting half the country, then all of the country. Then I moved to Nashville and moved to Vegas with the team and was seeing how the sausage was made, and I oversaw the scouting department. I had more of a managerial role.
Ultimately, family played into it, and the dynamics in the building, and we were all let go in Vegas after Jon Gruden got let go.
FRITCHEN: When did you become an agent?
SCOTT: After the Raiders, I was able to move a quick pivot into the agent side. I was on the team side, I wanted to get my family straight, and I wanted to stay relevant in ball. I ended up pivoting quickly, keeping the same relationships, just on the other side of the curtain. I was able to help grow that. Then we were acquired and were with Excel, which was great. We were cooking with more gasoline. I had my fingers in a lot of cookie jars and was able to see how a ton of programs are doing this. I was able use my skillset from before to help them. So, I've been in those weeds in those buildings.
Then this came up. It's about ball and it's about people. I never chased a job like this. It just happened. It's been a ride.
FRITCHEN: What have you enjoyed the most about your career to this point?
SCOTT: Man, football and the people. I didn't want to lose the people. I didn't miss 14 hours a day in a dark room watching film. I missed the relationships and decision making and the people.
FRITCHEN: How long will you be in Manhattan before returning to your home in Annapolis?
SCOTT: I have a one-way flight, and I'm hoping to be home by Christmas so I can stay married. That's all I know.
FRITCHEN: What excites you most about this job at K-State?
SCOTT: There's so much change in college football. There's an opportunity to be aggressive and to be a pioneer. It's not just copy-and-paste what we did when we won the 2012 Big 12 Championship. It's all new, it's all different. Every idea of on the table. Nothing is off the table. Let's do what it takes to win. That's exciting, because there's no real — the guard rails are looser. They're different, at least.
FRITCHEN: What does "aggressive" mean to you in the realm of college football right now?
SCOTT: Go acquire the best players.
He's lounging in a white, metal chair, dressed in purple, arms propped up on a circle table one morning in Manhattan. At times, 37-year-old Trey Scott, the newly-hired general manager for the Kansas State football program, believes this is all surreal, the journey from being a backup K-State quarterback from Shawnee, Kansas, to traveling the country, scouting for NFL teams, then handling contracts – so many contracts – and meeting some of the most influential individuals in the NFL, to where he is now, seated and waiting to take his photograph that'll appear in his hiring announcement later that day.
Trey Scott, General Manager, Kansas State Football.
Scott worked 11 years in player personnel with NFL organizations. He traveled throughout Division I football as a scout for the Redskins and Raiders. He has worked the last three years as a coaches and executives agent.
He shared the same quarterback room for three years with newly-hired K-State head coach Collin Klein, the 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist whose straight-laced nature aligned with Scott's values. Scott saw NFL agents at K-State practices. He wanted to be one of those guys. Behind the scenes. Doing serious work.
After graduating from K-State in 2010, Scott received his start as pro personnel assistant with the Washington Redskins in 2011. Then he began as a Midwest scout for the Oakland Raiders in 2012 and moved to Las Vegas with the franchise in 2020. He left the Raiders in 2022 as the assistant director of player personnel where he oversaw all aspects of the personnel department.
From there, Scott flipped the script, as he led the coaching and executives division of Rep 1 Sports before the company was acquired by Excel Sports Management in 2023. He represented some of the top college football and NFL coaches in addition to front office members and focused on handling their contract negotiations. He also worked as a consultant for athletic departments across the country, helping schools navigate revenue sharing, NIL and spending of revenue sharing dollars.
And then he received a late-night text from Klein. And things changed.
And now he's here. It's about family business.
And Scott is home.
And in a way, the journey has just begun.
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: When did this journey back to K-State begin for you?
TREY SCOTT: I heard from Collin at about 1:00 a.m. Monday. I knew and my wife knew he was the one guy we'd go back to K-State with. I woke my wife up in the morning and said, "I think this is going to happen." That was our internal family discussion, and we wrapped our heads around that. But it was easy, because it was home, and I knew Collin, and while he was going to have other options, home — that pull is strong.
FRITCHEN: Describe the thrill of being here right now?
SCOTT: It's pretty surreal just because it's come full circle. Community is really important to me. I've moved quite a few times because of football and have brought my family on those moves, and some have gone well, and some haven't gone so well, and at the end of the day, I think it's about people. That's really what it was — the community, the people, and knowing my family would have a built-in support system already. I wouldn't have done it without that.
FRITCHEN: When did you say, "I'm in, let's do it."
SCOTT: Collin and I had been in contact a lot in my prior life. My job was coaching interviews and coaching contracts. That was my world. He leaned on me, and we leaned on each other throughout that whole process for him because I was in it every day. It was relatively new to him, like interviewing for coaching jobs. I knew we were aligned in terms of how we'd build a program. I didn't know how those dots would connect and if it'd make sense for my family. I think I knew without knowing that this was going to happen.
FRITCHEN: When was the first time you met Collin?
SCOTT: Whenever he got to campus. I was a year ahead of him. We were in the same quarterback room for three years, so that would've been 2008 or 2009. I just knew he was dialed in, he was straight-laced, very straight-laced, and he still is to a degree, but he always did things right. He was never out partying. I think that's why we bonded, because I wasn't doing that, either.
FRITCHEN: What excites you most as you embark upon this journey at K-State?
SCOTT: The challenge. It's different than it was two years ago. It's different than it was a year ago. My skillset aligns with how the world of college football has evolved. Like Collin said in his press conference, we talk about it all the time, we like to do hard things. We're kind of gluttons for that. I tell my wife the same thing, she knows. I want to do hard things and do it with good people.
FRITCHEN: What is your exact job description?
SCOTT: Truly, whatever it takes to help us win. It's however I can be an asset for Collin. In terms of a job description, like roster management contracts, all the player finances, keeping that straight, and negotiating contracts. That'd be the more transactional side. But I don't think there's anything off the plate for what I'll do to help this team.
FRITCHEN: You're handled coaching contacts and so much else, but now you're going to handle a roster of 105 football players. Is that daunting in any way?
SCOTT: I don't think so. Ball is ball and people are people. There are some nuances that I'm going to have to lean on people who've maybe been in the building longer in terms of scholarship breakdowns, or whatever it may be, but at the end of the day, you pay the good ones. I try to oversimplify it in my head. I've been around ball my whole life. I don't want to make it more complicated than it is.
FRITCHEN: Describe your path to where you are today. What prompted you to enter this sector after you graduated from K-State?
SCOTT: I wasn't a great player. I was good enough to get on the team, and I found a role of helping the players learn the playbook and putting together the no-huddle stuff, so I always created value, but not on the field, and I loved that. We had Jordy Nelson and Josh Freeman, so we had a bunch of NFL scouts coming to practice, and I knew I didn't want to coach because I'm more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy rather than a rah-rah guy. I'd see scouts come to practice my freshman year, and I immediately was like, 'That's what I want to do.' I put all my eggs in one basket.
I graduated from K-State during the NFL lockout in 2010. At that time, I blasted every team every month with FedEx resume. As soon as the lockout ended, I received a couple calls. I interviewed in Green Bay and Washington. I took the Redskins job for a year with Mike Shanahan as head coach. In January, Reggie McKenzie got the Raiders job. Reggie was in my interview in Green Bay. He called me immediately and said, "You're coming with me."
At age 23, I had my own area scouting in the Midwest, and moved to Chicago and went with the Raiders, and ended up scouting half the country, then all of the country. Then I moved to Nashville and moved to Vegas with the team and was seeing how the sausage was made, and I oversaw the scouting department. I had more of a managerial role.
Ultimately, family played into it, and the dynamics in the building, and we were all let go in Vegas after Jon Gruden got let go.
FRITCHEN: When did you become an agent?
SCOTT: After the Raiders, I was able to move a quick pivot into the agent side. I was on the team side, I wanted to get my family straight, and I wanted to stay relevant in ball. I ended up pivoting quickly, keeping the same relationships, just on the other side of the curtain. I was able to help grow that. Then we were acquired and were with Excel, which was great. We were cooking with more gasoline. I had my fingers in a lot of cookie jars and was able to see how a ton of programs are doing this. I was able use my skillset from before to help them. So, I've been in those weeds in those buildings.
Then this came up. It's about ball and it's about people. I never chased a job like this. It just happened. It's been a ride.
FRITCHEN: What have you enjoyed the most about your career to this point?
SCOTT: Man, football and the people. I didn't want to lose the people. I didn't miss 14 hours a day in a dark room watching film. I missed the relationships and decision making and the people.
FRITCHEN: How long will you be in Manhattan before returning to your home in Annapolis?
SCOTT: I have a one-way flight, and I'm hoping to be home by Christmas so I can stay married. That's all I know.
FRITCHEN: What excites you most about this job at K-State?
SCOTT: There's so much change in college football. There's an opportunity to be aggressive and to be a pioneer. It's not just copy-and-paste what we did when we won the 2012 Big 12 Championship. It's all new, it's all different. Every idea of on the table. Nothing is off the table. Let's do what it takes to win. That's exciting, because there's no real — the guard rails are looser. They're different, at least.
FRITCHEN: What does "aggressive" mean to you in the realm of college football right now?
SCOTT: Go acquire the best players.
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