#40 Spencer Trussell — Defensive end Spencer Trussell’s (40) decision to medically retire after the 2021 year made his No. 40 jersey available for linebacker Gavin Meyers. | Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the 40th day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State linebacker Gavin Meyers.

#40 Gavin Meyers

Redshirt Sophomore | 6-3 | 227 lbs. | Hays, Kansas

Position: Linebacker
Previous College: None
Projection: Scout Team
Status: Preferred Walk-On

Gavin Meyers (b. Nov. 23, 2003) is a walk-on linebacker from Hays High School who is majoring in business administration. He redshirted and did not play during 2022 or 2023.

Meyers prepped under head coach Tony Crough at Hays, where he was rated the 23rd-best inside linebacker nationally and fifth-best overall prospect in the state of Kansas for the Class of 2022 by Rivals.

Getting him to walk on was a bit of a coup, as both Rivals and 247 had him rated as a 3-star.

A first-team all-state selection who was named to the Kansas Football Coaches Association Top 11 and as the 5A Defensive Player of the Year by Sports in Kansas, Meyers earned all-conference honors during each of his final three prep seasons playing for the Indians.

He totaled 124 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery during his final campaign, and tallied 384 total tackles in his career, breaking the Hays school record.

Meyers also was an accomplished wrestler, going 37-0 and winning the state championship as a senior, while he earned all-conference honors on the mat each of his four years, and he also competed in track and field for good measure.

He chose to walk on at K-State over scholarship offers (some of which were later rescinded) from Air Force, Akron, Buffalo, Colorado, Louisville, Nebraska, North Alabama and Washington State, plus interest from Kansas, Memphis, Minnesota and Mississippi State.

Like I said, it was a bit of a coup. All of the recruiting services were sure he was going to end up in Lincoln, but clearly Meyers prefers wearing purple and playing in bowl games. (More on that difficult decision here, here and here. Hope this kid earns an NIL scholarship soon!)