He sits inside the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage Coliseum for the first time and marvels at the spacious limestone-filled room, the wall-sized flat-screen TVs and large windows that reveal Bill Snyder Family Stadium on the other side. Kerron Johnson, a 35-year-old former point guard who played professionally in New Zealand, Germany, France, Poland, Italy and Isreal, has seen some places.
It's been proven in Kansas State football through the years that one of the biggest jumps a player typically makes in his career comes between his freshman and sophomore seasons. Linkon Cure, the highest-rated signee in K-State history and the nation's No. 1-rated tight end out of high school, figures to be a prime candidate to experience a jump in his sophomore campaign with the Wildcats.
Less than two weeks after Casey Alexander wore a purple sports jacket, posed with a purple "ALEXANDER" men's basketball uniform, and expressed his gratitude to serve as Kansas State men's basketball head coach for a program that "has such a rich tradition and a wildly passionate fan base," the 53-year-old native of Nashville, Tennessee, sits in his quiet corner office in the Ice Family Basketball Center in a purple quarter-zip and recalls his journey to Manhattan.
Here we are, Day No. 110 since Collin Klein was formally introduced as Kansas State head coach for a football program that has been so dear to him for nearly two decades. The 36-year-old former 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist, who returned "home" after two ultra-successful seasons as Texas A&M offensive coordinator, sweeps into the team theater room on the third floor of the Vanier Family Football Complex on Wednesday wearing a lavender hoodie, greets sports writers by name, and slides into the head coach's chair for his first 30-minute news conference on the eve of the Wildcats' first spring practice.
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