The Development of a Special Talent
May 06, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Austin Romaine had just completed the best game of his young career. The Kansas State sophomore middle linebacker had a team-high eight tackles and two sacks — tied for the second most by any Big 12 Conference player in 2024 — and his forced fumble led to a game-winning score in a 34-27 win at Tulane.
What did Romaine attribute to his strong effort?
"It wasn't anything new," he said. "I knew what I needed to do to prepare myself for the week and get into the routine and schedule and the game just felt easier."
The game just felt easier. Isn't that the truth.
"Last year, I thought, 'This kid is pretty special,'" K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said this spring. "He's really special."
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Romaine returns for his junior season in 2025 after starting 17 games over the last two seasons, including 12 starts during the Wildcats' 9-4 campaign last season. Romaine finished with 96 tackles to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles and two pass breakups over his 621 defensive snaps en route to All-Big 12 Second Team honors.
Romaine also boasted a 91.0 grade by Pro Football Focus College, making him the highest-graded linebacker among Power Four schools.
"Without a doubt, he's one of the top linebackers in the country right now," K-State linebackers coach Steve Stanard said in April. "His stats show it. It seems like he's been here a long time. He understands he has a lot of work to do to get to where he wants to be."
In his first year as a full-time starter in 2024, Romaine posted the most tackles in a season by a K-State player since Jayd Kirby had 99 stops in 2017. Romaine had a career-high 12 tackles at West Virginia, Houston and Iowa State. His 12 tackles at West Virginia were the most by a K-State player since Daniel Green had 13 at Baylor in 2020.
Two of his forced fumbles led to game-winning scores. One was returned 60 yards for a touchdown at Tulane in the seven-point win and another forced fumble led to a 51-yard field goal against Kansas in a two-point victory.
"He has really good vision and instincts and good awareness in the passing game and really feels the routes around him," Standard said. "Austin got much better with his block destruction using his hands and became a better blitzer. That's been his development, is how much better can he get getting off blocks both in the pass rush and in the run game. He's just a really physical guy."
Romaine is currently the fourth-best linebacker returning to the FBS in 2025 in the eyes of Pro Football Focus College. Texas junior Anthony Hill, who ranks first, was a five-star recruit and started as a freshman. Texas A&M junior Taurean York, who ranks second, was a three-star recruit. LSU junior Whit Weeks, who ranks third, was a four-star recruit.
Romaine arrived at K-State as a three-star recruit and the 49th-best inside linebacker in the Class of 2023 by ESPN after earning first team all-state honors at Hillsboro High School in Missouri.
Exactly when did Klanderman believe that Romaine could be special last season?
"Very early," Klanderman said. "I knew that right away."
The build up to last season's sophomore success began when Romaine was thrust into action as a true freshman due to an array of injuries that plagued the K-State linebacker position in 2023. He played in 12 games with five starts while earning votes from the league's coaches for the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year award. His five starts were the most by a K-State freshman linebacker since at least 1988. He finished the season with 22 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack over his 320 defensive snaps while also seeing time on 67 special teams plays.
"We talk about his freshman year where he got thrust into a role because of the injuries to Daniel Green and Beau Palmer," Klanderman said. "He got put into a place maybe prematurely. He started off hot and kind of petered off just because of the demands of a Big 12 schedule. You could tell through his preparation in the offseason last year that he wasn't going to allow that to happen again. When he came out hot last year, I knew it was going to perpetuate for him."
And now?
Stanard says: "We've been really blessed in that room, and it began with Daniel Green and Austin Moore and Nick Allen and Cody Fletcher, and attention to detail, they've poured it into Austin Romaine. That's what he's learned at a young age, is how much attention to detail and the little things make a difference. He's still developing. By no means is he a finished product, but he certainly has tremendous, tremendous potential. He's a very humble young man. He's going to want to get better and to do the extra stuff on the field because he knows the things that he has to get better at — footwork, planting off the outside foot instead of the inside foot, and he pays attention to those details and works on them."
Romaine was limited in spring practice while recovering from the nicks that accompanied a long, hard season in 2024, but he remained a big piece during the daily grind.
"Austin, we've been able to use him in walk throughs and some of those things," Stanard said. "It's fun to have him out there because he's played a lot of football, and he's a sharp guy. He understands the adjustments and motions and all those things. Sometimes it's nice when you have him out there. You don't have to coach as much because there aren't as many mistakes. Austin is doing a phenomenal job right now."
In the fall, Romaine should be full-go.
And the game could feel even easier.
And that could spell even more trouble for opponents.
"He's a gifted leader," Klanderman said. "He's got the ear of everybody on defense. He was dealing with a few things this spring from an injury standpoint, so he was somewhat limited, but nothing that's going to hamper him in the fall. So, I probably didn't have a great gauge of what he was doing on the field any differently than what he did last fall. But I know he's locked in mentally to what we're doing. He's more comfortable with the system and his role in it, and he's more comfortable in being vocal and probably has a better understanding of what's happening around him. That's going to help him.
"He's going to be fun to watch."
Austin Romaine had just completed the best game of his young career. The Kansas State sophomore middle linebacker had a team-high eight tackles and two sacks — tied for the second most by any Big 12 Conference player in 2024 — and his forced fumble led to a game-winning score in a 34-27 win at Tulane.
What did Romaine attribute to his strong effort?
"It wasn't anything new," he said. "I knew what I needed to do to prepare myself for the week and get into the routine and schedule and the game just felt easier."
The game just felt easier. Isn't that the truth.
"Last year, I thought, 'This kid is pretty special,'" K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said this spring. "He's really special."
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Romaine returns for his junior season in 2025 after starting 17 games over the last two seasons, including 12 starts during the Wildcats' 9-4 campaign last season. Romaine finished with 96 tackles to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles and two pass breakups over his 621 defensive snaps en route to All-Big 12 Second Team honors.
Romaine also boasted a 91.0 grade by Pro Football Focus College, making him the highest-graded linebacker among Power Four schools.
"Without a doubt, he's one of the top linebackers in the country right now," K-State linebackers coach Steve Stanard said in April. "His stats show it. It seems like he's been here a long time. He understands he has a lot of work to do to get to where he wants to be."
In his first year as a full-time starter in 2024, Romaine posted the most tackles in a season by a K-State player since Jayd Kirby had 99 stops in 2017. Romaine had a career-high 12 tackles at West Virginia, Houston and Iowa State. His 12 tackles at West Virginia were the most by a K-State player since Daniel Green had 13 at Baylor in 2020.
Two of his forced fumbles led to game-winning scores. One was returned 60 yards for a touchdown at Tulane in the seven-point win and another forced fumble led to a 51-yard field goal against Kansas in a two-point victory.
"He has really good vision and instincts and good awareness in the passing game and really feels the routes around him," Standard said. "Austin got much better with his block destruction using his hands and became a better blitzer. That's been his development, is how much better can he get getting off blocks both in the pass rush and in the run game. He's just a really physical guy."
Romaine is currently the fourth-best linebacker returning to the FBS in 2025 in the eyes of Pro Football Focus College. Texas junior Anthony Hill, who ranks first, was a five-star recruit and started as a freshman. Texas A&M junior Taurean York, who ranks second, was a three-star recruit. LSU junior Whit Weeks, who ranks third, was a four-star recruit.
Romaine arrived at K-State as a three-star recruit and the 49th-best inside linebacker in the Class of 2023 by ESPN after earning first team all-state honors at Hillsboro High School in Missouri.
Exactly when did Klanderman believe that Romaine could be special last season?
"Very early," Klanderman said. "I knew that right away."
The build up to last season's sophomore success began when Romaine was thrust into action as a true freshman due to an array of injuries that plagued the K-State linebacker position in 2023. He played in 12 games with five starts while earning votes from the league's coaches for the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year award. His five starts were the most by a K-State freshman linebacker since at least 1988. He finished the season with 22 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack over his 320 defensive snaps while also seeing time on 67 special teams plays.
"We talk about his freshman year where he got thrust into a role because of the injuries to Daniel Green and Beau Palmer," Klanderman said. "He got put into a place maybe prematurely. He started off hot and kind of petered off just because of the demands of a Big 12 schedule. You could tell through his preparation in the offseason last year that he wasn't going to allow that to happen again. When he came out hot last year, I knew it was going to perpetuate for him."
And now?
Stanard says: "We've been really blessed in that room, and it began with Daniel Green and Austin Moore and Nick Allen and Cody Fletcher, and attention to detail, they've poured it into Austin Romaine. That's what he's learned at a young age, is how much attention to detail and the little things make a difference. He's still developing. By no means is he a finished product, but he certainly has tremendous, tremendous potential. He's a very humble young man. He's going to want to get better and to do the extra stuff on the field because he knows the things that he has to get better at — footwork, planting off the outside foot instead of the inside foot, and he pays attention to those details and works on them."
Romaine was limited in spring practice while recovering from the nicks that accompanied a long, hard season in 2024, but he remained a big piece during the daily grind.
"Austin, we've been able to use him in walk throughs and some of those things," Stanard said. "It's fun to have him out there because he's played a lot of football, and he's a sharp guy. He understands the adjustments and motions and all those things. Sometimes it's nice when you have him out there. You don't have to coach as much because there aren't as many mistakes. Austin is doing a phenomenal job right now."
In the fall, Romaine should be full-go.
And the game could feel even easier.
And that could spell even more trouble for opponents.
"He's a gifted leader," Klanderman said. "He's got the ear of everybody on defense. He was dealing with a few things this spring from an injury standpoint, so he was somewhat limited, but nothing that's going to hamper him in the fall. So, I probably didn't have a great gauge of what he was doing on the field any differently than what he did last fall. But I know he's locked in mentally to what we're doing. He's more comfortable with the system and his role in it, and he's more comfortable in being vocal and probably has a better understanding of what's happening around him. That's going to help him.
"He's going to be fun to watch."
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