Noernberg Keeps Pushing Without Fear
Sep 10, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
He is now known as Number 21. And Number 21 is special. So much had to fall into place for redshirt freshman Bryce Noernberg to reach this moment. It's crazy. He takes center stage in his black Kansas State sweatsuit on the third-floor team meeting room in the Vanier Family Football Complex on Monday. Less than 48 hours have passed since he joined a proud lineage, a club that's unlike any other at Special Teams U. Beginning with Eldon Zeller's 89-yard kickoff-return touchdown on October 13, 1951, Noernberg is the 21st player in K-State history to return a kickoff for a touchdown.
Noernberg returned a kickoff 99 yards in the third quarter against Army last Saturday night. He didn't hear the crowd. And the blocking during the return is a blur. But he's seen replays of his feat numerous times. His brothers, Brady and Jake, make sure of that. But here he is, Noernberg, standing surrounded by reporters, trying hard to conceal a smile, yet he fails, because the memories flood back, the tale that made this all possible — the one that today is seemingly far from finished.
"I've been dreaming of this my whole life," he says. "Just for it to happen, it feels good."
Noernberg is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound slot receiver who played quarterback at Olathe South High School. He threw for 1,491 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 885 yards and 14 more scores as a junior. Then he threw for 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 1,520 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior. He was selected to the Top 11 team by the Kansas Football Coaches Association his senior year. That was in 2023.
Wanna know what else happened in 2023? Noernberg received no college football scholarship offers. None. He did receive one piece of correspondence. It was a blessing. All he wanted was a chance to play for K-State. Turns out K-State director of recruiting Taylor Braet, who has an excellent eye for talent, was that blessing.
"Week six of my high school senior year, Taylor Braet texted me and said, 'Man, you're super good. We have to get you to a game for a visit,'" Noernberg says. "That was super exciting. No other coaches (from other schools) talked to me. So, I came here for a gameday visit. They gave me the preferred walk-on offer."
Through the years, K-State has owned one of the proudest walk-on traditions in college football. It's a proud history of student-athletes who begin their athletic careers without an athletic scholarship and prove their worth by becoming impact players, often earning all-conference honors and even playing in the NFL. Guys like Jordy Nelson, Phillip Brooks, Ian Campbell and B.J. Finney and tons more began their careers as walk-ons. At one point, nine K-State walk-ons were playing in the NFL in a 10-year span.
Turns out Braet gave Noernberg a golden ticket of sorts, because when NCAA legislation called for FBS teams to reduce their player rosters starting in 2025, causing coaches across the country to make many difficult and at times tearful decisions, Noernberg was at least at the table, and ultimately, he was one of a handful of walk-ons picked to remain with the Wildcats, who were forced to make cuts to comply with the new roster limit rule of 105 players.
Yes sir, Number 21 is special. He could be one of the last great K-State walk-on stories for a while.
"He walked-on when you could have walk-ons and has earned an opportunity with us," says K-State head coach Chirs Klieman, adding that "yes, he is on some scholarship."
"He has earned the opportunity because of the great speed, attention to detail, and he's a guy who does all the little things and continues to get stronger," Klieman says. "He's already extremely fast. I'm just happy for the guy."
And Noernberg is seeing his dreams come true.
K-State trailed Army 14-13 with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the third quarter when Noernberg received the kickoff at the one-yard line on the right hash on the field. Some young return specialists might field the football and studder step, which spells disaster. Noernberg didn't studder. He skated. He raced to the 20-yard line and cut inside, and a defender miss and fell to the turf. Inside was the hole. Four defenders were to the outside, but they couldn't penetrate the wall of K-State bodies.
Noernberg crossed the Big 12 logo painted on the field at the 25-yard line, and then he reached the 50, and all that remained was the kicker, who had no angle and failed to touch a cleat as Noernberg darted past and veered toward the K-State sideline. Yes sir, he ran the final 40 yards alone, teammates jumping up and down on the sideline, just a few feet away from him as has passed by in a blur. Only one Army player came five yards from him before he reached the end zone.
Noernberg swept around to the middle of the end zone, nonchalantly dropping the football to the turf, while he gazed at all the happy faces of K-State fans celebrating in the north seating, and he jetted his arms out to the sides like wings, and enacted a cool glide before teammates reached him to celebrate.
The lesson?
"Just keep pushing," he says. "I have that mentality. I knew I'd make a play eventually. I'm just glad it happened."
In the history of K-State kickoff-return touchdowns, only five players have ever recorded a longer kickoff return than Noernberg:
Tyler Lockett
Mack Herron
William Powell
Morgan Burns
Josh Youngblood
"It takes a certain type of talent," Noernberg says. "Luckily, God gave me that."
Here's what we didn't know prior to Noernberg's remarkable kickoff return, another twist to his remarkable story.
"That kid was banged up all week," Klieman says, "and he found a way to play."
And he'll likely get another chance to make a play at Arizona on Friday.
And he'll be ready.
Number 21, he's special. He's got the traits of the greats.
"I don't have any fear," he says. "I don't know."
He pauses.
"I just don't have any fear."
He is now known as Number 21. And Number 21 is special. So much had to fall into place for redshirt freshman Bryce Noernberg to reach this moment. It's crazy. He takes center stage in his black Kansas State sweatsuit on the third-floor team meeting room in the Vanier Family Football Complex on Monday. Less than 48 hours have passed since he joined a proud lineage, a club that's unlike any other at Special Teams U. Beginning with Eldon Zeller's 89-yard kickoff-return touchdown on October 13, 1951, Noernberg is the 21st player in K-State history to return a kickoff for a touchdown.
Noernberg returned a kickoff 99 yards in the third quarter against Army last Saturday night. He didn't hear the crowd. And the blocking during the return is a blur. But he's seen replays of his feat numerous times. His brothers, Brady and Jake, make sure of that. But here he is, Noernberg, standing surrounded by reporters, trying hard to conceal a smile, yet he fails, because the memories flood back, the tale that made this all possible — the one that today is seemingly far from finished.
"I've been dreaming of this my whole life," he says. "Just for it to happen, it feels good."
Noernberg is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound slot receiver who played quarterback at Olathe South High School. He threw for 1,491 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 885 yards and 14 more scores as a junior. Then he threw for 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 1,520 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior. He was selected to the Top 11 team by the Kansas Football Coaches Association his senior year. That was in 2023.
Wanna know what else happened in 2023? Noernberg received no college football scholarship offers. None. He did receive one piece of correspondence. It was a blessing. All he wanted was a chance to play for K-State. Turns out K-State director of recruiting Taylor Braet, who has an excellent eye for talent, was that blessing.
"Week six of my high school senior year, Taylor Braet texted me and said, 'Man, you're super good. We have to get you to a game for a visit,'" Noernberg says. "That was super exciting. No other coaches (from other schools) talked to me. So, I came here for a gameday visit. They gave me the preferred walk-on offer."
Through the years, K-State has owned one of the proudest walk-on traditions in college football. It's a proud history of student-athletes who begin their athletic careers without an athletic scholarship and prove their worth by becoming impact players, often earning all-conference honors and even playing in the NFL. Guys like Jordy Nelson, Phillip Brooks, Ian Campbell and B.J. Finney and tons more began their careers as walk-ons. At one point, nine K-State walk-ons were playing in the NFL in a 10-year span.
Turns out Braet gave Noernberg a golden ticket of sorts, because when NCAA legislation called for FBS teams to reduce their player rosters starting in 2025, causing coaches across the country to make many difficult and at times tearful decisions, Noernberg was at least at the table, and ultimately, he was one of a handful of walk-ons picked to remain with the Wildcats, who were forced to make cuts to comply with the new roster limit rule of 105 players.
Yes sir, Number 21 is special. He could be one of the last great K-State walk-on stories for a while.
"He walked-on when you could have walk-ons and has earned an opportunity with us," says K-State head coach Chirs Klieman, adding that "yes, he is on some scholarship."
"He has earned the opportunity because of the great speed, attention to detail, and he's a guy who does all the little things and continues to get stronger," Klieman says. "He's already extremely fast. I'm just happy for the guy."
And Noernberg is seeing his dreams come true.
K-State trailed Army 14-13 with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the third quarter when Noernberg received the kickoff at the one-yard line on the right hash on the field. Some young return specialists might field the football and studder step, which spells disaster. Noernberg didn't studder. He skated. He raced to the 20-yard line and cut inside, and a defender miss and fell to the turf. Inside was the hole. Four defenders were to the outside, but they couldn't penetrate the wall of K-State bodies.
Noernberg crossed the Big 12 logo painted on the field at the 25-yard line, and then he reached the 50, and all that remained was the kicker, who had no angle and failed to touch a cleat as Noernberg darted past and veered toward the K-State sideline. Yes sir, he ran the final 40 yards alone, teammates jumping up and down on the sideline, just a few feet away from him as has passed by in a blur. Only one Army player came five yards from him before he reached the end zone.
Noernberg swept around to the middle of the end zone, nonchalantly dropping the football to the turf, while he gazed at all the happy faces of K-State fans celebrating in the north seating, and he jetted his arms out to the sides like wings, and enacted a cool glide before teammates reached him to celebrate.
The lesson?
"Just keep pushing," he says. "I have that mentality. I knew I'd make a play eventually. I'm just glad it happened."
In the history of K-State kickoff-return touchdowns, only five players have ever recorded a longer kickoff return than Noernberg:
Tyler Lockett
Mack Herron
William Powell
Morgan Burns
Josh Youngblood
"It takes a certain type of talent," Noernberg says. "Luckily, God gave me that."
Here's what we didn't know prior to Noernberg's remarkable kickoff return, another twist to his remarkable story.
"That kid was banged up all week," Klieman says, "and he found a way to play."
And he'll likely get another chance to make a play at Arizona on Friday.
And he'll be ready.
Number 21, he's special. He's got the traits of the greats.
"I don't have any fear," he says. "I don't know."
He pauses.
"I just don't have any fear."
Players Mentioned
WR
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