‘This Place Means So Much to Me’
Oct 07, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
In his left hand, he's nursing a dark-brown protein drink in a clear plastic cup with two white straws jammed through the lid. His right hand digs into the pocket of dark sweatsuit pants. A black backpack hugs tight against his fuzzy purple Kansas State Wildcats hoodie, the one with the white Powercat in the middle. And then there's the surprised look slapped upon the face of fifth-year senior tight end Garrett Oakley as he's met inside the lobby of the Vanier Family Football Complex after Monday morning's practice on the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
At the moment, he's asked to do something.
He's asked to share his story.
"This morning, I got goosebumps," he begins. "We were stretching, and I looked up at the sky, and I thanked God for this opportunity today, and for keeping me here at K-State."
He pauses again. Emotion suddenly slaps him in the face. He appears surprised. Just finished practice, now spilling his guts. Deep questions. A different world. Tons of memories. He didn't see this coming. Not some morning in early October.
"This place," he says, "means so much to me."
Oakley is a 6-foot-5, 249-pound team captain for the 2026 season. He is on the Mackey Award watch list, the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 watch list, and he is a Second Team Preseason All-Big 12 selection. Oakley has 13 career touchdown catches — no tight end currently playing college football has more — and it's the most receiving touchdowns by a tight end in K-State history, and the 10th most receiving touchdowns by any player in K-State history regardless of position. There's Tyler Lockett (29 touchdown catches), Kevin Lockett (26), Quincy Morgan and Jordy Nelson (20), James Terry (18), Michael Smith and Aaron Lockett (14), and then there's Byron Pringle and Oakley (13).
Oakley's impact goes beyond numbers.
"Garrett Oakley? He has been so consistent," K-State head coach Collin Klein says. "He has a really, really quiet swagger to him, and really commands the respect of his teammates at a really high level. He's just a solid worker. He really works hard through every phase of the yearly cycle and loves competing and his teammates would share that sentiment."
There's a story to tell, all right, about this humble 22-year-old native of Columbus, Nebraska, who in the midst of his recruiting process during the COVID pandemic, envisioned Husker red, but only received a few FCS scholarship offers before attending football camps at Nebraska, Iowa State, KU, and then K-State. The dream was Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, before reality presented itself with former K-State offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Conor Riley, an Omaha native, telling the 198-pound dynamo from Scotus Central Catholic that the Wildcats would welcome him if he could improve his weight to 210 pounds by the time he turned his graduation tassel in the town of 25,000, the town he'd known all his life, the town with two main roads, front porches with lemonade, the smell of freshly-cut grass, and wonderful sunsets. Yes sir, come to K-State, Riley told Oakley, but you must reach this starting point — 210 pounds — to begin your personal journey in the Flint Hills, which features one of the top college towns in America, and which features one of the most consistent football programs in college football — a program defined by values and life lessons as much as Big 12 Championships and annual bowl appearances.
Just make the weight, Garrett.
"So, I ate as much as I could," Oakley says, chuckling at the memory. "K-State was my only FBS offer. I had a really good camp at K-State prior to my senior season, and I told my dad, 'K-State is where I want to go.' I woke up in the middle of the night to eat extra food. Right before I walked into Vanier for weigh in, I stuffed myself in the parking lot. I weighed in at 214 pounds."
Oakley has played in 36 games with 21 starts over the last three-plus seasons. His 84 career receptions are tied for fifth nationally among active tight ends and third in school history at the position. His 926 receiving yards rank fifth in school history among tight ends and ninth nationally among active players at the position. His six receiving touchdowns last season tied the school's single season record by a tight end. The year before that, he had five touchdowns.
He is the latest in a star-studded tight end lineage that includes Ben Sinnott, who in 2023 became the only tight end in school history to earn Associated Press All-America honors, and who was selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft — No. 53 overall — by the Washington Commanders, becoming the highest-drafted tight end in school history. Last season, Will Swanson and Oakley were the first pair of All-Big 12 tight ends since 1997 to earn league accolades in the same season. Oakley's second-team designation marked the first time in the three-decade Big 12 era that K-State boasted a first- or second-team all-conference tight end in three straight seasons.
K-State has possessed impressive tight ends in past decades, too. Henry Childs (1971-73) went to the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL Draft. Paul Coffman (1975-77) arrived as a walk-on at K-State, signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1978, and was a three-time Pro Bowler over a 10-year career that landed him in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Russ Campbell (1989-91) went to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 1992 NFL Draft. Jeron Mastrud (2006-09) signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010. Travis Tannahill — one of Klein's favorite targets while playing quarterback at K-State — was a 2012 First Team All-Big 12 selection and signed with the Cleveland Browns following the 2013 NFL Draft.
"There have been a lot of great tight ends here," Oakley says. "I think I've learned from the best tight end to ever play here — Ben Sinnott. He's taught me a lot. I talked to the team in fall camp that if you put your head down and work, a lot of good things happen. That's what I've done in my K-State career. I came in as a low-rated recruit and 210 pounds and had a really good offseason going into my redshirt freshman year, and I was able to play a little bit. I put my head down and worked and it shows on the field, my mentality, and where I've come from, that I've always kind of been an underdog, but I'm not afraid of anything — and I never will be."
Pro Football Enterprises says that "Oakley is viewed by scouts as a strong all-around pro-style prospect. Evaluators praise his crisp blocking, reliable hands, and fluid movement," and experts project Oakley as a second- or third-round pick for the 2027 NFL Draft.
"They're cool to look at," Oakley says of his NFL projections. "The NFL has definitely been a dream of mine and it's on my lock screen on my cellphone. I look at it every day. Right now, I'm just focused on each individual day, and it'll work out itself. I have to put a great season together, focus on my team now, and be the best human and player I can be. The rest will take care of itself."
This all started in the fourth grade. Flag football. Baseball. Basketball. Garrett played them all. Every kid seemed to in Columbus, Nebraska. His favorite sport? Whatever was in season. Then a couple weeks into his jay-vee football season as a freshman at Scotus Central Catholic, he was promoted and became a starter on the varsity team.
"Then my sophomore year, I broke out," Oakley says. "The game slowed down for me. I kind of knew I had a chance, but being in small-town Nebraska, I didn't know where that could take me. All I did was work. And now I'm here."
And Klein knows what he has in Oakley, who is currently third on the team after five games with 13 catches for 147 yards and who averages 11.3 yards per reception — second best among players with at least 10 catches.
"His balance skillset is unique, to have the type of length that he does, and to be as physical at the point of attack that he is, while also being able to run and create space and sink his hips and change direction — all of those things create a very, very balanced skillset," Klein says. "Over the course of his career, he's really gone up and has attacked the football well. He's a tremendous player and means a lot to our football team, even beyond last game and some of those numbers."
The last game? A 31-26 loss at Cincinnati in the Big 12 opener. Oakley tied his career high with seven catches and had a career-high 80 receiving yards to start off his final league season, but ask Oakley about the toughest stretch of his career — and how he overcame it — and Oakley points to a single game.
The Cincinnati game. Two weeks ago.
"My toughest stretch? Cincinnati," he says. "I thought I played a really good game with 76 plays, but I had two drops that were critical in the fourth quarter. I'm my biggest critic, and I know a lot of fans were upset, but I promise you I was the most furious in that situation. I let a lot of people down. I turned to my closest friends and family, and they helped me out in dealing with that situation.
"The only way I can fix that is to put my head down and work. That's what I'm doing. I know I can play better. I know I can make those plays, and I know I will make those plays. I'm just putting that work in again to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Oakley carries a humility about him off the field that reminds you of his head coach during the prime of his own standout career.
"Humility is just something my parents instilled into me, and I'm super grateful for that," Oakley says. "My parents gave me a hard time growing up that I never got too excited before a game or too low. I was always level-headed. College carries a different sense of passion and pride. I have to dominate a little bit more. It's just something that they've always instilled into me. You always recognize the cocky people in a bad way, and I don't want to associate in that way."
On the field, Oakley is pure adrenaline.
"You might see me out there slapping my head and yelling," he says. "I like to bark at the offensive linemen and hit heads with them before every drive. I just get into that mindset of attack mode in knowing I can win every rep, every block and every contested catch — whatever it is. I have that mentality to make sure the guys around me have that, too, that we can dominate."
Before any of that, while Oakley mentally prepares for battle in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. kickoff against No. 22 Houston at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the Oakley family will set up shop outside the front steps of Vanier. Chad and Michelle Oakley, Garrett's parents, will set up their tent, Chad will man the grill, and they along with daughters Christina and Claire, will be easy to spot: Within the dozens of players' parents and family members and friends, they'll be the ones wearing the No. 86 Oakley jerseys.
"I heard they get a pretty good crowd," Oakley says. "I've heard quite a few stories from their tailgate there. They have a good time, is what I've been told."
While the Oakley family and their friends get geared up to cheer on their favorite son, Garrett prepares his teammates for battle on the gridiron.
"The locker room is a lot of dudes that are hungry and that want to work," Oakley says. "We brought in a lot of new guys this spring. I was kind of worried about how we'd all click, but they're all my brothers now. We always get along really well. The competitive mindset that we share together and that we go with each day is really great. It's helped me to become a better player, and I hope I've helped them as well."
Oakley has been helped along the way. He doesn't lose sight of what helped him to reach this point in all aspects of life.
"It's just the way I've grown as a person with Coach Chris Klieman and Coach Brian Lepak bringing me up and giving me an opportunity at this place," Oakley says. "The Core Values that they instilled into me really has changed my life, and I'll forever be grateful for that. Now Coach Klein comes in and it's pretty much the same thing with a little bit more to it. Coach Klein really emphasizes family. He teaches us life lessons we can use now and in the future with families. I'm just grateful for that."
Oakley is grateful for his path as well.
"It's cool to have the most touchdowns by a K-State tight end, which was a goal of mine for a long time, and which is an awesome accomplishment, but just the way that I carry myself and the way that I work on the field and the amount of passion I play with in this game and for K-State fans is important," he says. "I know how it is being a fan and seeing guys, and I want fans to see me as a guy who works hard all the time and who really cares for the sport and the school."
When Oakley journeys home to Columbus, Nebraska, the memories flood back, as the old veteran college football player, once a high school hero, sports his purple K-State hoodie, and gains immediate attention from familiar faces all over town.
"I went back there this past weekend," Oakley says. "It was nice to see the town again. It hasn't changed a whole lot. Going back is pretty surreal. It's a pretty flat town, about 25,000 people, and they have one or two main roads, nothing too crazy. The town is on the upswing, so if you need a good place to move to, Columbus is the place."
Whether Oakley is in Manhattan or Columbus, or whatever city he'll be in after the 2027 NFL Draft, the low-rated college football recruit, and now a record setter and one of the best tight ends in college football, has learned much during his journey, which began with hard work in improving his weight from 198 pounds to 214 pounds in order to join the Wildcats, and which he today centers around production on and off the gridiron.
"I've learned that faith is super important and the people that you surround yourself with are super important," he says. "The way you carry yourself and the way you treat others is the biggest thing. Stay humble, bring positive energy every day, make people smile every day, and make people feel important. At the end of the day, they're not going to really care about the player you were, but rather the person you were to them."
On Saturday, Oakley looks to show the college football nation exactly who he is — and who K-State is — once again during the nationally-televised Big 12 battle on FOX.
"I've given this place everything I have," he says. "Every day is a constant reminder of what K-State is, and K-State is what it is because of the people."
He pauses.
"I'm just happy," he says, "to be one of those people."
In his left hand, he's nursing a dark-brown protein drink in a clear plastic cup with two white straws jammed through the lid. His right hand digs into the pocket of dark sweatsuit pants. A black backpack hugs tight against his fuzzy purple Kansas State Wildcats hoodie, the one with the white Powercat in the middle. And then there's the surprised look slapped upon the face of fifth-year senior tight end Garrett Oakley as he's met inside the lobby of the Vanier Family Football Complex after Monday morning's practice on the field at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
At the moment, he's asked to do something.
He's asked to share his story.
"This morning, I got goosebumps," he begins. "We were stretching, and I looked up at the sky, and I thanked God for this opportunity today, and for keeping me here at K-State."
He pauses again. Emotion suddenly slaps him in the face. He appears surprised. Just finished practice, now spilling his guts. Deep questions. A different world. Tons of memories. He didn't see this coming. Not some morning in early October.
"This place," he says, "means so much to me."
Oakley is a 6-foot-5, 249-pound team captain for the 2026 season. He is on the Mackey Award watch list, the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 watch list, and he is a Second Team Preseason All-Big 12 selection. Oakley has 13 career touchdown catches — no tight end currently playing college football has more — and it's the most receiving touchdowns by a tight end in K-State history, and the 10th most receiving touchdowns by any player in K-State history regardless of position. There's Tyler Lockett (29 touchdown catches), Kevin Lockett (26), Quincy Morgan and Jordy Nelson (20), James Terry (18), Michael Smith and Aaron Lockett (14), and then there's Byron Pringle and Oakley (13).
Oakley's impact goes beyond numbers.
"Garrett Oakley? He has been so consistent," K-State head coach Collin Klein says. "He has a really, really quiet swagger to him, and really commands the respect of his teammates at a really high level. He's just a solid worker. He really works hard through every phase of the yearly cycle and loves competing and his teammates would share that sentiment."
There's a story to tell, all right, about this humble 22-year-old native of Columbus, Nebraska, who in the midst of his recruiting process during the COVID pandemic, envisioned Husker red, but only received a few FCS scholarship offers before attending football camps at Nebraska, Iowa State, KU, and then K-State. The dream was Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, before reality presented itself with former K-State offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Conor Riley, an Omaha native, telling the 198-pound dynamo from Scotus Central Catholic that the Wildcats would welcome him if he could improve his weight to 210 pounds by the time he turned his graduation tassel in the town of 25,000, the town he'd known all his life, the town with two main roads, front porches with lemonade, the smell of freshly-cut grass, and wonderful sunsets. Yes sir, come to K-State, Riley told Oakley, but you must reach this starting point — 210 pounds — to begin your personal journey in the Flint Hills, which features one of the top college towns in America, and which features one of the most consistent football programs in college football — a program defined by values and life lessons as much as Big 12 Championships and annual bowl appearances.
Just make the weight, Garrett.
"So, I ate as much as I could," Oakley says, chuckling at the memory. "K-State was my only FBS offer. I had a really good camp at K-State prior to my senior season, and I told my dad, 'K-State is where I want to go.' I woke up in the middle of the night to eat extra food. Right before I walked into Vanier for weigh in, I stuffed myself in the parking lot. I weighed in at 214 pounds."
Oakley has played in 36 games with 21 starts over the last three-plus seasons. His 84 career receptions are tied for fifth nationally among active tight ends and third in school history at the position. His 926 receiving yards rank fifth in school history among tight ends and ninth nationally among active players at the position. His six receiving touchdowns last season tied the school's single season record by a tight end. The year before that, he had five touchdowns.
He is the latest in a star-studded tight end lineage that includes Ben Sinnott, who in 2023 became the only tight end in school history to earn Associated Press All-America honors, and who was selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft — No. 53 overall — by the Washington Commanders, becoming the highest-drafted tight end in school history. Last season, Will Swanson and Oakley were the first pair of All-Big 12 tight ends since 1997 to earn league accolades in the same season. Oakley's second-team designation marked the first time in the three-decade Big 12 era that K-State boasted a first- or second-team all-conference tight end in three straight seasons.
K-State has possessed impressive tight ends in past decades, too. Henry Childs (1971-73) went to the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of the 1974 NFL Draft. Paul Coffman (1975-77) arrived as a walk-on at K-State, signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1978, and was a three-time Pro Bowler over a 10-year career that landed him in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Russ Campbell (1989-91) went to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 1992 NFL Draft. Jeron Mastrud (2006-09) signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010. Travis Tannahill — one of Klein's favorite targets while playing quarterback at K-State — was a 2012 First Team All-Big 12 selection and signed with the Cleveland Browns following the 2013 NFL Draft.
"There have been a lot of great tight ends here," Oakley says. "I think I've learned from the best tight end to ever play here — Ben Sinnott. He's taught me a lot. I talked to the team in fall camp that if you put your head down and work, a lot of good things happen. That's what I've done in my K-State career. I came in as a low-rated recruit and 210 pounds and had a really good offseason going into my redshirt freshman year, and I was able to play a little bit. I put my head down and worked and it shows on the field, my mentality, and where I've come from, that I've always kind of been an underdog, but I'm not afraid of anything — and I never will be."
Pro Football Enterprises says that "Oakley is viewed by scouts as a strong all-around pro-style prospect. Evaluators praise his crisp blocking, reliable hands, and fluid movement," and experts project Oakley as a second- or third-round pick for the 2027 NFL Draft.
"They're cool to look at," Oakley says of his NFL projections. "The NFL has definitely been a dream of mine and it's on my lock screen on my cellphone. I look at it every day. Right now, I'm just focused on each individual day, and it'll work out itself. I have to put a great season together, focus on my team now, and be the best human and player I can be. The rest will take care of itself."
This all started in the fourth grade. Flag football. Baseball. Basketball. Garrett played them all. Every kid seemed to in Columbus, Nebraska. His favorite sport? Whatever was in season. Then a couple weeks into his jay-vee football season as a freshman at Scotus Central Catholic, he was promoted and became a starter on the varsity team.
"Then my sophomore year, I broke out," Oakley says. "The game slowed down for me. I kind of knew I had a chance, but being in small-town Nebraska, I didn't know where that could take me. All I did was work. And now I'm here."
And Klein knows what he has in Oakley, who is currently third on the team after five games with 13 catches for 147 yards and who averages 11.3 yards per reception — second best among players with at least 10 catches.
"His balance skillset is unique, to have the type of length that he does, and to be as physical at the point of attack that he is, while also being able to run and create space and sink his hips and change direction — all of those things create a very, very balanced skillset," Klein says. "Over the course of his career, he's really gone up and has attacked the football well. He's a tremendous player and means a lot to our football team, even beyond last game and some of those numbers."
The last game? A 31-26 loss at Cincinnati in the Big 12 opener. Oakley tied his career high with seven catches and had a career-high 80 receiving yards to start off his final league season, but ask Oakley about the toughest stretch of his career — and how he overcame it — and Oakley points to a single game.
The Cincinnati game. Two weeks ago.
"My toughest stretch? Cincinnati," he says. "I thought I played a really good game with 76 plays, but I had two drops that were critical in the fourth quarter. I'm my biggest critic, and I know a lot of fans were upset, but I promise you I was the most furious in that situation. I let a lot of people down. I turned to my closest friends and family, and they helped me out in dealing with that situation.
"The only way I can fix that is to put my head down and work. That's what I'm doing. I know I can play better. I know I can make those plays, and I know I will make those plays. I'm just putting that work in again to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Oakley carries a humility about him off the field that reminds you of his head coach during the prime of his own standout career.
"Humility is just something my parents instilled into me, and I'm super grateful for that," Oakley says. "My parents gave me a hard time growing up that I never got too excited before a game or too low. I was always level-headed. College carries a different sense of passion and pride. I have to dominate a little bit more. It's just something that they've always instilled into me. You always recognize the cocky people in a bad way, and I don't want to associate in that way."
On the field, Oakley is pure adrenaline.
"You might see me out there slapping my head and yelling," he says. "I like to bark at the offensive linemen and hit heads with them before every drive. I just get into that mindset of attack mode in knowing I can win every rep, every block and every contested catch — whatever it is. I have that mentality to make sure the guys around me have that, too, that we can dominate."
Before any of that, while Oakley mentally prepares for battle in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. kickoff against No. 22 Houston at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the Oakley family will set up shop outside the front steps of Vanier. Chad and Michelle Oakley, Garrett's parents, will set up their tent, Chad will man the grill, and they along with daughters Christina and Claire, will be easy to spot: Within the dozens of players' parents and family members and friends, they'll be the ones wearing the No. 86 Oakley jerseys.
"I heard they get a pretty good crowd," Oakley says. "I've heard quite a few stories from their tailgate there. They have a good time, is what I've been told."
While the Oakley family and their friends get geared up to cheer on their favorite son, Garrett prepares his teammates for battle on the gridiron.
"The locker room is a lot of dudes that are hungry and that want to work," Oakley says. "We brought in a lot of new guys this spring. I was kind of worried about how we'd all click, but they're all my brothers now. We always get along really well. The competitive mindset that we share together and that we go with each day is really great. It's helped me to become a better player, and I hope I've helped them as well."
Oakley has been helped along the way. He doesn't lose sight of what helped him to reach this point in all aspects of life.
"It's just the way I've grown as a person with Coach Chris Klieman and Coach Brian Lepak bringing me up and giving me an opportunity at this place," Oakley says. "The Core Values that they instilled into me really has changed my life, and I'll forever be grateful for that. Now Coach Klein comes in and it's pretty much the same thing with a little bit more to it. Coach Klein really emphasizes family. He teaches us life lessons we can use now and in the future with families. I'm just grateful for that."
Oakley is grateful for his path as well.
"It's cool to have the most touchdowns by a K-State tight end, which was a goal of mine for a long time, and which is an awesome accomplishment, but just the way that I carry myself and the way that I work on the field and the amount of passion I play with in this game and for K-State fans is important," he says. "I know how it is being a fan and seeing guys, and I want fans to see me as a guy who works hard all the time and who really cares for the sport and the school."
When Oakley journeys home to Columbus, Nebraska, the memories flood back, as the old veteran college football player, once a high school hero, sports his purple K-State hoodie, and gains immediate attention from familiar faces all over town.
"I went back there this past weekend," Oakley says. "It was nice to see the town again. It hasn't changed a whole lot. Going back is pretty surreal. It's a pretty flat town, about 25,000 people, and they have one or two main roads, nothing too crazy. The town is on the upswing, so if you need a good place to move to, Columbus is the place."
Whether Oakley is in Manhattan or Columbus, or whatever city he'll be in after the 2027 NFL Draft, the low-rated college football recruit, and now a record setter and one of the best tight ends in college football, has learned much during his journey, which began with hard work in improving his weight from 198 pounds to 214 pounds in order to join the Wildcats, and which he today centers around production on and off the gridiron.
"I've learned that faith is super important and the people that you surround yourself with are super important," he says. "The way you carry yourself and the way you treat others is the biggest thing. Stay humble, bring positive energy every day, make people smile every day, and make people feel important. At the end of the day, they're not going to really care about the player you were, but rather the person you were to them."
On Saturday, Oakley looks to show the college football nation exactly who he is — and who K-State is — once again during the nationally-televised Big 12 battle on FOX.
"I've given this place everything I have," he says. "Every day is a constant reminder of what K-State is, and K-State is what it is because of the people."
He pauses.
"I'm just happy," he says, "to be one of those people."
Players Mentioned
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