Kansas State offensive lineman Scott Frantz came out as a gay man in a SportsCenter feature on ESPN Thursday morning.
The sophomore from Lawrence told the story of how he informed his teammates after an emotional team-building exercise last year. The team kept Frantz’s sexuality a secret until he decided to tell the rest of the world.
“I came out to my teammates, and I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that,” Frantz told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “And ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since. So it’s been an amazing experience.”
Frantz is one of just two openly gay college football players, per ESPN, and the only one who played last season. One reason he kept his secret so long was out of fear he would be treated differently by schools who were recruiting him.
Bill Snyder told ESPN he was confident that his players would accept Frantz.
“I was quite comfortable that they would be very receptive and that they would treat him as they always said,” Snyder told Rowe, “as, you know, his teammate and someone that they cared about. And they did.”
Frantz enjoyed a successful freshman season in 2016, highlighted by his performance against top NFL Draft pick Myles Garrett in a Texas Bowl victory over Texas A&M. K-State opens the 2017 campaign Sept. 2 against Central Arkansas.
