A Place to Call Home
Jan 26, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Wendell Gregory, the 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, is a 6-foot-3, 255-pound edge rusher eager to display his talents next fall at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. It's a cold afternoon in Manhattan in late January, a snowstorm will blanket the Flint Hills later in the night, but Gregory is focused on the tasks at hand — his 6:30 a.m. workout, breakfast, class and tutoring. For Gregory, everything has its place. He moved into his house less than two weeks ago, enjoys the community, and finds the locals and students friendly.
"It's exciting to finally have a place to call home," he says.
On the football field, the Oklahoma State transfer is excited to demonstrate his versatility at the expense of opposing quarterbacks when he reaches home base — which is when he knocks the signal-caller onto his back.
He did plenty of that last season with 27 tackles, including 12 for a loss and four sacks with the Cowboys.
Less than two weeks at K-State, Gregory is hungry for more.
"I don't think I've arrived," he says.
Gregory was the 11th-best edge rusher in the transfer portal by 247Sports, and he was ranked No. 24 among all players in the transfer portal by On3. Gregory calls new K-State head coach Collin Klein "a great guy," and he heard from new K-State defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson shortly after he entered the transfer portal on December 16. Gregory received a strong endorsement from new K-State running backs coach Cory Patterson, who served as Oklahoma State running backs coach last season.
"Coach Patterson told K-State about me and said, 'We need this guy,'" Gregory says. "Coach Peterson had nothing but good things to me. All I care about is defensive scheme, development, and how well I'm going to get coached. My position coach, Coach Buddy Wyatt, is a great coach, and he's put a lot of people in the NFL. I 100% want to be the next one to go to the NFL.
"Obviously, I had some individual success, but I'm coming for a lot more. I'm trying to be eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. That's my goal."
Gregory, who transferred to Oklahoma State after one season at South Carolina, displayed his skills early in Stillwater. He reached home base early and often as a redshirt freshman last season. In his first game at Oklahoma State, he had three sacks in the season opener against UT Martin on August 28. It marked the most sacks by an Oklahoma State freshman in school history and tied the Big 12 freshman record set by Missouri's Aldon Smith in 2009.
"I broke the sack record with three sacks against Tennessee-Martin and played with a chip on my shoulder," Gregory says. "At South Carolina, things didn't go as planned, and I didn't want to prove the haters wrong, but I just wanted to prove myself right."
What might Gregory show K-State fans next fall?
"I bring versatility," he says. "Sometimes I'll line up as middle linebacker doing stunts with my defensive tackles, and obviously, when I'm off the edge I can go back in space and put the tight end on his butt if I want to if he's trying to run a route. I'm definitely going to get to the quarterback, so I'm getting off the ball every single play. My versatility is big."
Gregory said that Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia and others pursued him in the transfer portal.
"I took four visits and K-State was my last visit," Gregory says. "I went to Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Texas and K-State. What set K-State apart from the other schools was the scheme. The other coaches had good schemes as well. I just wanted to come here and build something. The other teams are set in stone in the industry. I like building teams up. I like being an underdog.
"Coach Klein was a great player at K-State, and you just know he wants this as badly as we do because he was in our shoes. He wants to build something very special here. He wants to build something very special."
Years ago, Gregory, a native of Marietta, Georgia, had to do some building of his own. Although basketball was his first love, Gregory decided to play football in middle school because his friends were playing it. Gregory began his high school career as a 6-foot, 198-pound wide receiver who had good hands, but his high school coach told him, "I think you should make a transition." So, Gregory switched to linebacker his sophomore season.
"It made a lot of plays and caused a lot of problems," Gregory says.
As a sophomore, he received his first scholarship offer from South Carolina, where he later visited several times, and which was located close to Gregory's grandparents. That made it somewhat easy to turn down interest from Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, K-State, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, USC and West Virginia.
Gregory had 56 tackles, including 18.0 tackles for loss with 7.0 sacks and 14 quarterback hurries his senior season at Walton High School.
He played seven snaps in two games his entire true freshman season at South Carolina.
Last season at Oklahoma State, he had 32 pressures, 21 quarterback hurries, hit the quarterback seven times and posted four sacks en route to earning 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.
"It felt really good to receive that honor," Gregory says. "I've told a lot of people who've congratulated me on that, I don't feel like I've arrived. A lot of things happened during my season at Oklahoma State with coaches getting fired and defenses changing. Things didn't go the way I wanted to."
Things should be more favorable in Manhattan.
"It was electric walking into the facility for the first time," Gregory says. "They were so welcoming. I love what CK is about, what Coach Peterson is about and what Coach Wyatt is about. When I committed, it was relieving. The recruiting process takes a lot of time. It's very stressful, with long days and phone calls, and talking to agents and people."
Now Gregory is taking steps each day — workouts, training, classwork — to prepare for big things at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
"We are going to have a very versatile defensive scheme," Gregory says. "Every single play, we'll be coming off the ball, keying on the ball, and no matter the down or situation, we'll be getting to the ball.
"That excites me."
Wendell Gregory, the 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, is a 6-foot-3, 255-pound edge rusher eager to display his talents next fall at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. It's a cold afternoon in Manhattan in late January, a snowstorm will blanket the Flint Hills later in the night, but Gregory is focused on the tasks at hand — his 6:30 a.m. workout, breakfast, class and tutoring. For Gregory, everything has its place. He moved into his house less than two weeks ago, enjoys the community, and finds the locals and students friendly.
"It's exciting to finally have a place to call home," he says.
On the football field, the Oklahoma State transfer is excited to demonstrate his versatility at the expense of opposing quarterbacks when he reaches home base — which is when he knocks the signal-caller onto his back.
He did plenty of that last season with 27 tackles, including 12 for a loss and four sacks with the Cowboys.
Less than two weeks at K-State, Gregory is hungry for more.
"I don't think I've arrived," he says.
Gregory was the 11th-best edge rusher in the transfer portal by 247Sports, and he was ranked No. 24 among all players in the transfer portal by On3. Gregory calls new K-State head coach Collin Klein "a great guy," and he heard from new K-State defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson shortly after he entered the transfer portal on December 16. Gregory received a strong endorsement from new K-State running backs coach Cory Patterson, who served as Oklahoma State running backs coach last season.
"Coach Patterson told K-State about me and said, 'We need this guy,'" Gregory says. "Coach Peterson had nothing but good things to me. All I care about is defensive scheme, development, and how well I'm going to get coached. My position coach, Coach Buddy Wyatt, is a great coach, and he's put a lot of people in the NFL. I 100% want to be the next one to go to the NFL.
"Obviously, I had some individual success, but I'm coming for a lot more. I'm trying to be eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. That's my goal."
Gregory, who transferred to Oklahoma State after one season at South Carolina, displayed his skills early in Stillwater. He reached home base early and often as a redshirt freshman last season. In his first game at Oklahoma State, he had three sacks in the season opener against UT Martin on August 28. It marked the most sacks by an Oklahoma State freshman in school history and tied the Big 12 freshman record set by Missouri's Aldon Smith in 2009.
"I broke the sack record with three sacks against Tennessee-Martin and played with a chip on my shoulder," Gregory says. "At South Carolina, things didn't go as planned, and I didn't want to prove the haters wrong, but I just wanted to prove myself right."
What might Gregory show K-State fans next fall?
"I bring versatility," he says. "Sometimes I'll line up as middle linebacker doing stunts with my defensive tackles, and obviously, when I'm off the edge I can go back in space and put the tight end on his butt if I want to if he's trying to run a route. I'm definitely going to get to the quarterback, so I'm getting off the ball every single play. My versatility is big."
Gregory said that Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia and others pursued him in the transfer portal.
"I took four visits and K-State was my last visit," Gregory says. "I went to Texas Tech, Wisconsin, Texas and K-State. What set K-State apart from the other schools was the scheme. The other coaches had good schemes as well. I just wanted to come here and build something. The other teams are set in stone in the industry. I like building teams up. I like being an underdog.
"Coach Klein was a great player at K-State, and you just know he wants this as badly as we do because he was in our shoes. He wants to build something very special here. He wants to build something very special."
Years ago, Gregory, a native of Marietta, Georgia, had to do some building of his own. Although basketball was his first love, Gregory decided to play football in middle school because his friends were playing it. Gregory began his high school career as a 6-foot, 198-pound wide receiver who had good hands, but his high school coach told him, "I think you should make a transition." So, Gregory switched to linebacker his sophomore season.
"It made a lot of plays and caused a lot of problems," Gregory says.
As a sophomore, he received his first scholarship offer from South Carolina, where he later visited several times, and which was located close to Gregory's grandparents. That made it somewhat easy to turn down interest from Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, K-State, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, USC and West Virginia.
Gregory had 56 tackles, including 18.0 tackles for loss with 7.0 sacks and 14 quarterback hurries his senior season at Walton High School.
He played seven snaps in two games his entire true freshman season at South Carolina.
Last season at Oklahoma State, he had 32 pressures, 21 quarterback hurries, hit the quarterback seven times and posted four sacks en route to earning 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.
"It felt really good to receive that honor," Gregory says. "I've told a lot of people who've congratulated me on that, I don't feel like I've arrived. A lot of things happened during my season at Oklahoma State with coaches getting fired and defenses changing. Things didn't go the way I wanted to."
Things should be more favorable in Manhattan.
"It was electric walking into the facility for the first time," Gregory says. "They were so welcoming. I love what CK is about, what Coach Peterson is about and what Coach Wyatt is about. When I committed, it was relieving. The recruiting process takes a lot of time. It's very stressful, with long days and phone calls, and talking to agents and people."
Now Gregory is taking steps each day — workouts, training, classwork — to prepare for big things at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
"We are going to have a very versatile defensive scheme," Gregory says. "Every single play, we'll be coming off the ball, keying on the ball, and no matter the down or situation, we'll be getting to the ball.
"That excites me."
K-State Men's Basketball | PJ Haggerty, Taj Manning Postgame Press Conference (KU)
Sunday, January 25
K-State Men's Basketball | Coach Tang Postgame Press Conference (KU)
Sunday, January 25
K-State Men's Basketball | Game Highlights vs KU
Sunday, January 25
K-State Men's Basketball | 2026 Dillons Sunflower Showdown Hype
Saturday, January 24
