Former Wildcat senior safety VJ Payne was picked with the 12th pick of the seventh round (228th overall) by the New York Jets. It’s the fifth-straight year and the 37th draft overall that the Wildcats have had at least two players picked. A four-year starter for the Wildcats, Payne played in 52 career games, which is tied for 11th in school history. He started 42 career games including 41-consecutive games to end his career, which stood as the longest streak on the team at the time of his graduation. A two-time All-Big 12 honorable mention pick, Payne ended the 2025…
Author: Tim Everson
It took until Day 3, but Kansas State football is sending another player to the next level. Wildcat senior center Sam Hecht was picked with the fourth pick of the fifth round (144th overall) of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers Saturday afternoon. A former walk-on, the 6-foot-4, 303-pound offensive lineman was a first-time All-Big 12 selection by the leagues coaches and earned honorable mention for the league’s offensive lineman of the year award. He played in 42 games as a Wildcat, and started in the last 25 of them. During the 2025 season, Hecht played 759 offensive…
After a couple of quiet days in the transfer portal for Kansas State and head coach Casey Alexander, another new Wildcat is headed to Manhattan. Miami forward Timotej Malovec, originally from Slovakia, committed to the Wildcats after a season in South Beach, according to reports Tuesday afternoon. Malovec appeared in 33 games with the Hurricanes, averaging 4.2 points and 1.3 rebounds. The 6-foot-8, 214-pound sophomore shot 35% from the floor and 33.3% from 3, hitting 37-of-111 attempts, including six games with three or more 3s made. Read the rest and subscribe at The Mercury
The first morning of the 2026 women’s basketball transfer portal season brought bad news for Kansas State fans. Star freshman sharpshooter Jordan Speiser is hitting the portal, according to a report from On3 Monday morning. She will enter the portal with a “Do Not Contact” tag, a designation preventing college coaches from initiating communication with a player, allowing athletes to manage their recruitment by having schools reach out only after the player makes initial contact. It’s often used by players who already have a destination school in mind. A former five-star from Warrentown, Mo., Speiser came on strong late in…
Kansas State has suspended women’s soccer head coach Colleen Corbin for two weeks following the use of a racial slur — even though her use of the term was objecting to its use — The Mercury confirmed Tuesday. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Corbin had asked players not to play pregame music that included some swear words, including the N-word, before K-State’s exhibition versus Arkansas on March 7, in Kansas City. In a conversation about the music, she reportedly said the N-word, and players complained to the university. Corbin later used the word again when relaying the…
Collin Klein has had almost the full head-coaching experience over the last several months. He’s accepted a job at his alma mater to rapturous acclaim, built a staff, and filled a roster. But on Thursday, the former Wildcat Heisman finalist and Ring of Honor inductee will run his first practice as a head coach when K-State opens 2026 spring practice. “It’s exciting,” Klein said on Wednesday afternoon in his opening spring press conference. “I think I’m just excited to see the players get to reap the rewards of what they’ve done for these last three months.” To view the full…
A top-10 salary in the Big 12 and over $1 million in potential bonuses highlight new Kansas State men’s basketball head coach Casey Alexander’s contract, which The Mercury obtained Monday afternoon. K-State announced last week that Alexander signed a five-year deal worth $17 million before any bonuses. He will make $3.3 million in the first year, and that will increase by $50,000 every year through the 2030-31 season. That ranks eighth currently in the Big 12 of the 13 available salaries of coaches who are still employed. Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley and Cincinnati’s Wes Miller were fired earlier this month…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An improbable run through the Big 12 Tournament ended after four games in four days for the 12th-seeded Kansas State women Saturday afternoon at the T-Mobile Center. The Wildcats ran out of steam midway through the fourth quarter, falling to the veteran and size-laden top-seed TCU, 74-62. K-State had a slim lead at the break, thanks in part to first-half TCU turnovers and four 3-pointers in the second quarter, but the Horned Frogs caught fire in the third quarter and couldn’t be caught. The loss ends one of the best Big 12 Tournament runs for the…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After Friday’s thrilling win over No. 4 Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, the 12th-seeded Kansas State women are stepping into relatively unknown territory. K-State will play its fourth game in as many days on Saturday, when it takes on No. 1 TCU in the tournament semifinals. The Wildcats have only played four games in four days like this once, in the 1997 Big 12 Tournament. But of all of the concerns that head coach Jeff Mittie might have about facing the conference’s regular-season champions in a high-stakes tournament game, fatigue is…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A record-breaking offensive explosion led the Kansas State women to a blowout win over Cincinnati in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the T-Mobile Center. A school-record 17 Wildcat 3-pointers powered the 12th-seeded Wildcats over No. 13 Cincinnati 91-66. The 17 three pointers broke the Big 12 tournament record, topping Iowa State’s 14 in 2008, and tied the school record set earlier this season versus Columbia in Cancun. The win advances the Wildcats to a second-round matchup versus fifth-seed Texas Tech on Thursday. Jordan Speiser and Taryn Sides both had…