MANHATTAN — After four years with the Kansas State football team, Cody Stufflebean was ready to move on.
Yes, after redshirting as a true freshman in 2020, he had at least one season of eligibility left, but he also had his degree in industrial engineering, with a 4.0 grade point average no less.
But as the time came for a final decision, Stufflebean had a change of heart. He not only thought about his own career, most of it spent as a backup defensive end, but also on the veteran players that helped him along the way.
K-State has a wealth of young talent at defensive end, but not much experience. That is until Stufflebean and super-senior starter Brendan Mott both opted back in.
“Just all the people that poured into me from the past from the past between like Eli Huggins and Tim Horn and people like that,” Stufflebean said of his decision. “And I want to be able to do that for some of the younger guys, because I know that I had that.
“And then, just leaving, I felt like my time wasn’t quite done here.”
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That was music to defensive end coach Buddy Wyatt’s ears. As a junior last year, Stufflebean became a regular in a four-man defensive end rotation along with Mott, Khalid Duke and Nate Matlack.
“We were not expecting those two to come back,” Wyatt said of Stufflebean and Mott. “Cody talked to me right before the bowl game, and he had told me before we left to go to the bowl game that he thought he was going to go ahead and (leave). He had already graduated.
“I was glad, because I know what I’m getting our of Cody. I know what type of leadership he brings to our football team. I know what kind of person he is. For him to be here, his exact words to me were, ‘Coach, I want to be there and help these young guys move forward.’ Those were his exact words to me when he told me he wanted to come back.”
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Stufflebean came to K-State out of McPherson High School in 2020 after an all-state career as both a tight end and defensive end. He started out as a tight end with the Wildcats but made the switch to defense toward the end of the 2021 season.
In 2022, he saw action in all 14 games on special teams and as a reserve defensive end, recording seven with a career-high three against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Then last year he recorded 19 tackles, 2.5 for loss, with the first two sacks of his career.
Wyatt said that if the season began this week — the Wildcats open against Tennessee-Martin at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — Mott and Stufflebean would be the starters, based on their experience.
“But that’s still a work in progress,” Wyatt added.
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Wyatt has said he could see using as many as seven ends this season, but Chiddi Obiazor, Ryan Davis and Jordan Allen are redshirt freshmen with scant game experience. And sophomore Tobi Osunsanmi, who played in all 13 games last year, is a converted linebacker while sophomore transfer Travis Bates started nine games at Austin Peay.
“I definitely get to be able to help those guys mature and kind of teach them what I’ve been taught through the years,” Stufflebean said. “Being able to come back and help those guys all that I can, whether it’s just something little or something huge, that was really my goal and why I wanted to come back one more year.”
So, who does Stufflebean think will lead the defensive ends in sacks this year?
“Hopefully me,” he said with a smile.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football’s Cody Stufflebean a veteran presence on defense
