Drue Tranquill of the Los Angeles Chargers reaches to tackle Clyde Edwards-Helaire of the Kansas … [+] City Chiefs during the third quarter at Arrowhead Stadium on Sept. 15, 2022. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
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The Kansas City Chiefs have spent their final week of organized team activities (OTAs) focusing on their AFC West opponents, including the Los Angeles Chargers.
That team is down one valuable starter after the Chiefs signed Drue Tranquill, who spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Chargers, in March.
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After playing 93% of the team’s defensive snaps for Los Angeles last year, Tranquill earned plaudits during OTAs from his new teammates.
“(I) really like Drue Tranquill a lot,” safety Justin Reid said. “He’s been adjusting really nicely.”
Reid, who signed as a free agent with the Chiefs last year, knows how difficult the transition to Steve Spagnuolo’s complex defense can be. The Chiefs defensive coaches install about five times more defensive plays per game (around 30) than each of his previous staffs did with the Houston Texans, and the scheme includes specific pressures catered to each week’s opponent.
Despite the depth of the playbook, Tranquill is thriving so far.
“Drue’s made a lot of plays,” Spagnuolo said.
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Tranquill was a major playmaker last year, but his acquisition flew beneath the radar a bit. Perhaps it’s because he didn’t fill much of a need.
Though the Chiefs had holes at wide receiver, defensive line and offensive line entering the offseason, they were pretty set at linebacker.
The Chiefs often only play two linebackers on the field at once and already have two good, young ones in Nick Bolton and Willie Gay plus promising second-year player Leo Chenal.
But Tranquill’s value was just too good to pass up when they found he could be had for just a one-year, $3 million deal.
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“I don’t know if we went into free agency saying linebacker was a super high priority,” General Manager Brett Veach said. “But then as free agency goes, there’s always some guys that for some reason they’re just out there and they’re really good players.”
As free agency went, the Chiefs had a lot of discussions involving JuJu Smith-Schuster. They wanted to retain their leading wide receiver from last year, but he ultimately signed a three-year, $25 million contract with the New England Patriots.
But when one door closed, another opened.
Smith-Schuster and Tranquill are both represented by the same agency, which is called Wasserman.
“Once we congratulated JuJu’s crew and his team of agents,” Veach said, “we were made aware that Drue Tranquill was still out there.”
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The Chiefs loved Tranquill’s versatility. A safety during his first three years at Notre Dame, he can defend against the pass, but the 6-2, 228-pounder can tackle or rush the passer as well.
Those myriad skills are proven by his impressive stat line from last season of 146 tackles, five sacks and four passes defended.
“A great blitzer, great in pass coverage,” Veach said, “he can play MIKE; he can wear the green dot and back up Bolton. He can play some WILL and he can play some on the line of scrimmage.”
As the Chiefs prepared for the AFC West this week, Tranquill went from foe to teammate.
Even after missing almost all of the 2020 season with a broken ankle, he’s played against the Chiefs six times. And when the Chargers last beat the Chiefs — in Week Three of 2021 — Tranquill had eight tackles, including a half sack.
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“Playing against him,” Veach said, “(we) knew how good he was.”
Kansas State football has been around since about 1893 with most sources saying they first started playing around Thanksgiving. They didn’t play their true first season till the following year. The bottom line is that Kansas State football has been playing football for a long time.
In that time, they have played a lot of different teams. We know who they have not played, however, who has Kansas State played, but struggled to ever beat?
There have been a total of 20 teams that Kansas State has never beaten. For some of them, the Wildcats only played once or twice, but a few teams seem to have K-State’s number. So let’s take a look at each team Kansas State has faced, but yet to beat.
Army (0-2): Army and Kansas State have faced off twice, once back in 1966 and again in 1987. Now in the 60s, Kansas State was better than in the 80s. The second matchup was at the time when the Wildcats had gone 27 straight games without a win.
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Fresno State (0-2): Fresno State faced Kansas State for the first time in 2004 and the 2004 and 2005 seasons under Snyder were not his best. Those actually led up to his first retirement. then in 2007 when the teams faced off again, it was not against Snyder, another time when Kansas State was struggling to find wins.
Navy (0-1): The first and only time Kansas State and NAvy battled was back in 2019 in the Liberty Bowl. This was the end of Chris Klieman’s first season with the Wildcats and unfortunately, it ended on a 20-17 loss to Navy.
Tulane (0-2): Interestingly, Kansas State and Tulane faced off twice, both on September 17th, once in 1988 and the second time in 2022. The 2022 loss was probably the hardest because it was a key loss that season for the Wildcats in a year that was one of their best, a season they won the Big 12 Championship.
Boston College (0-4): Boston College is one of those teams that seems to just have Kansas State’s number. These two teams have faced off four times ranging from the first matchup in 1937 to the latest matchup in 1994.
Florida State (0-3): Florida State is another team that just seems to have the Wildcats number, but they also have not played each other since the 1970s. A rematch and a change for revenge might be due.
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Louisville (0-2): Kansas State played Louisville twice in 2006 and 2008 after Snyder retired for the first time. That is not to say that is the reason they lost, but they weren’t winning a lot of games in that time.
Illinois (0-1): The only time Illinois and Kansas State faced off was back in 1948, which is a bit of a surprise with how close these teams are. One would think a rematch would be an easy one to set up, but there must not be much interest there.
Michigan State: (0-5-1): Michigan State is the one team on this list that has beaten Kansas State the most. The Wildcats have faced the Spartans six times and were unable to bring home the win, but that was also back starting in 1933 and the most recent matchup was in 1958.
Northwestern (0-2): This purple Wildcat showdown has unfortunately favored Northwestern the entire time. These teams have faced off since 1938 and 1941 so another matchup is overdue.
Ohio State (0-1): This is another one-time matchup where Ohio State and Kansas State faced off back in 2004, one of Synder’s down years.
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Oregon (0-1): This one was a tough matchup as it was the 2012 team playing in the New Year’s Six Bowl game against the Ducks. The Wildcats had felt they should have been in the National Championship, but an unfortunate loss to unranked Baylor ruined those chances. This was also the matchup of quarterback greats Collin Klein and Marcus Mariota.
Penn State (0-2): Kansas State and Penn State faced off back in the late 60s. This is another rematch that is long over due.
Purdue (0-3): This series’ history spans all the way back to 1929 and their most recent matchup was in 1998. Purdue unfortunately took down the high-flying Michael Bishop and the 1998 team in their bowl game.
Rutgers (0-1): Kansas State and Rutgers have never faced off in the regular season, only in a bowl game back in 2006, the first season without Bill Snyder.
Wisconsin (0-2): The Wildcats and the Badgers have only faced off twice, once in 1964 and once in 1982. The distance between the two schools isn’t too bad, so this would be an interesting rematch to see in the future.
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Alabama (0-1): Kansas State unfortunately could not take down the mighty Nick Saban and Alabama back in 2022 when the Wildcats had just come off a big Big 12 Championship win over the undefeated TCU Horned Frogs.
Auburn (0-4): Auburn is another team that just seems to have Kansas State’s number with the Wildcats having four chances to get one in the win column and just being unable to do so.
Florida (0-2): This is another matchup that happened a long time ago, once in 1949 and the other time back in 1973.
Vanderbilt (0-2): Kansas State and Vanderbilt have faced off twice, both early in the season as non-conference games and Vandy found a way to walk away with the win on both occasions.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Flash flooding that made its way through the Kansas City area Monday morning isn’t an unfamiliar site for those living in south Kansas City, Missouri.
KSHB 41’s Megan Abundis caught up with neighbors and some who are experiencing homelessness who live near Indian Creek Greenway and W. 103rd Street and State Line Road.
“The trail goes right through here — you see where it goes up, it goes underneath the bridge at State Line,” said Brad Buss, who lives near the area.
KSHB 41 News staff
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Brad Buss
Many people came to see the swelling Indian Creek rushing waters.
KSHB 41
“I see some ducks swimming; they are enjoying this. This is just a lot of rapidly moving water,” Buss said. “You can see a lot of debris coming down the river. There are not enough easy ways for things to drain. It’s going to be a while before these trails can be used again.”
Mary Nestel, another longtime south KCMO resident and insurance agent, said the flooding kept her busy.
KSHB 41 News staff
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Mary Nestel
“My morning as an insurance agent has been a little crazy,” Nestel said. “I’ve had several calls of flooded basements; I ran home to check mine. Thank God I’m OK, but living this close to the area is always a concern.”
Nestel grew up in the area and has seen the flooding many times before.
“They did a project where they lowered the land under the bridge under Wornall that was supposed to help defer some of this, but some of this we are seeing; we’ve never seen it like this,” Nestel said. “My main concern is some of the homeless that are living around here might be gone, and they could have been asleep under the bridge.”
Jonathan Baker said he lives near the area that flooded and woke up to chest-high water in his tent.
“Yeah, it was high,” Baker said.
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KSHB 41 News staff
Jonathan Baker
Baker said he hasn’t been able to locate his partner or her dog since the flooding happened.
“A buddy of mine said he was trying to wake her up,” Baker said.
Kansas City Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins confirmed the department received Baker’s report Monday afternoon.
Hopkins said KCFD spent two hours looking through Indian Creek using a drone but have not recovered anyone.
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Nestel’s concerns also extend to knowing what debris could be coming down Indian Creek Greenway.
In January, KSHB 41 was on this part of the trail, sharing the story of a man who takes it upon himself to clean up the trail every day, picking up trash he sees people who live here leave behind.
Last year he picked up and returned 81 abandoned shopping carts.
“We’ve seen grocery carts, trash, and bedding,” Nestel said. “Anything someone doesn’t want, they throw it into the homeless area. The groups that I work with think it’s the trash — the debris not getting picked up and being dumped into the sewer system that we’ve been complaining about and no one doing anything about it.”
Five-star tight end Linkon Cure committed to Kansas State on Monday, giving the program its highest-rated prospect in history. Cure’s other finalists included Oregon, Texas A&M and Kansas, each of which Cure visited between Memorial Day and now; Kansas State was the final official visit on June 21.
Chris Klieman’s Wildcats have won battles for in-state kids lately with Avery Johnson being one of the more notable, but even he was not ranked as highly as Cure, who will go down as the highest-rated player to ever commit or sign with Kansas State, edging Class of 2000 lineman Chris Boggas. Recognizable names on that top-10 list includes quarterbacks Josh Freeman (No. 6) and the aforementioned Johnson (No. 7), who projects to make a leap into superstardom this fall in the Little Apple.
Cure projects to be an immediate impact player come 2025. He is a star across multiple sports for Goodland High School. To wit …
Track and field: Two-time Kansas 3A champion in the 300-meter hurdles. Also has captured gold in the 110-meter hurdles as a junior and has qualified for states in a variety of different events over the years. Top T&F markers include: 11.05 in the 100-meter dash, 14.49 (3.5) in the 110h, 21.90 (2.7) in the 200, 38.90 in the 300h and 6-2 in the high jump.
Basketball: Averaged 11.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 2.1 rpg as a junior for a Goodland squad that played for a Kansas 3A title. Cure scored 14 points in the final.
Football (of course): Cure was a Kansas 3A All-State selection who finished his junior season with 42 catches for 946 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The scouting report on Cure from 247Sports’ Greg Biggins touts Cure as an elite route runner who creates easy separation off the snap, wins 50-50 balls, thrives after the catch and has the frame and skillset to add strength and improve as a blocker at the next level.
