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Kansas Profile

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K-State Football

It’s the Big 12 championship football game in Arlington, Texas. The offensive starters take the field. The big offensive linemen get in position for the first snap. A look at the roster reveals that this is homegrown talent: Three of K-State’s five starting offensive linemen come from the state of Kansas.

K-State football coach on awards stand holding the Big 12 championship trophy
Big 12 football championship trophy presentation

Cooper Beebe, Hadley Panzer, and Hayden Gillum are the Sunflower State starting linemen who help anchor Kansas State’s offensive line. Beebe is from Kansas City, Kansas and attended Piper High School. Panzer is from the rural community of Lakin, population 2,205, and Gillum is from the rural community of Plainville, population 1,746 people. Now, that’s rural.

Cooper Beebe became a starter at K-State in 2020 – the same year he first earned All-Big 12 Academic honors. In 2021, he earned First Team All-Big 12 honors from both the league’s coaches and Associated Press — the youngest offensive lineman to be named to the first team by either organization.

Beebe also was the first Wildcat freshman or sophomore offensive lineman to be named a First Team All-Big 12 performer since Dalton Risner in 2016. Beebe entered the 2022 season with lots of accolades: Pre-season All Big 12, pre-season All-American, and named to the Outland Trophy watch list.

At 6-foot-4 and 322 pounds, Beebe’s 2022 season has been outstanding. He was named a First Team All-Big 12 performer by the Associated Press for a second-consecutive season and First Team All-American by The Sporting News.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Joe Hubener and Kody Cook

From Cheney to Louisburg. The distance between those two small Kansas towns is approximately halfway across the state. During the college football season of 2015, there was a key play involving players from those two small towns that made for one of the most exciting finishes in early season games. Can small town athletes succeed at the college level? That’s the subject of today’s Kansas Profile.

Kody Cook caught a pass from Joe Hubener and scored the game-winning touchdown in the K-State-Louisiana Tech game Sept. 19.
Kody Cook caught a pass from Joe Hubener and scored the game-winning touchdown in the K-State-Louisiana Tech game Sept. 19.

Joe Hubener and Kody Cook are key players on the K-State football team. Both were outstanding high school athletes, but like many players from small town Kansas, they did not get lots of recruiting offers from high major colleges.

Joe Hubener comes from Cheney, west of Wichita. His parents both attended K-State. Joe lettered in football, basketball, and track. He even made the top five as a javelin thrower during the state track meet. In football, he played various positions such as wide receiver, defensive back, and backup quarterback, but he never started a game as quarterback during his high school career.

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