MANHATTAN, Kan. – Three Kansas State football players – Cooper Beebe, KT Leveston and Kobe Savage – landed on watch lists for awards presented by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), the organization announced Monday.
Beebe and Leveston are up for the Outland Trophy – which is presented to the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman – and Savage is on the initial watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy – which honors the nation’s most outstanding defensive player.
Kansas State is the only Big 12 school with multiple players represented on the Outland Trophy watch list, and it marks the second-straight season that Beebe has been named a preseason candidate for the award. Savage’s inclusion on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list marks the 12th time in the last 13 seasons the Wildcats have had at least one candidate for the award.
A Preseason All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation, Beebe has started 35 career games, including all 14 last season at left guard as he was named a First Team All-American by multiple outlets in addition to earning the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year award from the league’s coaches. Leveston started all 14 games last season at left tackle en route to All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades. The duo helped K-State lead an offensive unit that ranked 15th nationally with 208.3 rushing yards per game, the Wildcats’ best national ranking since 2003 (No. 9) and best mark since 2016 (231.8).
Savage shined during his first year after transferring in from Tyler JC as he earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors and picked up votes for the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year award despite missing the final four games of the year due to injury. Savage tied for fourth on the team with 58 tackles to go along with three interceptions, 3.0 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
Kansas State’s first practice for 2023 preseason camp is slated for Wednesday morning. It will be the first of 16 practices during preseason camp prior to the first day of the fall semester on Monday, August 21. The Wildcats kick off the 2023 season by hosting SEMO inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, September 2 in a 6 p.m., contest that will be shown on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Tickets to the seven-game home slate can be purchased online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets or by phone at 1-800-221-CATS.
