#49 Darren Howard — Darren Howard (49) was possibly one of the greatest defensive ends ever to play at K-State. Junior walk-on Andrew Schmelze may wear the same number and play the same position, but I am fairly confident he won’t record 29.5 sacks.

In which BracketCat counts down the 49th day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State defensive end Drew Schmelzle.

#49 Drew Schmelzle

Redshirt Junior | 6-4 | 227 lbs. | Sabetha, Kansas

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

Andrew Schmelzle (b. Dec. 12, 2002) is a preferred walk-on defensive end from Sabetha High School who redshirted in 2021 and is majoring in business administration.

Schmelzle did not see any game action in 2022 and carded one tackle as a reserve defensive end against SEMO in 2023.

He projects mainly as a likely continuing member of the scout team in 2024, but could see some playing time at either defensive end or linebacker depending on how injuries shake out, as linebackers coach Steve Stanard pointed out during spring practices this year:

(Injury) gives a chance to guys like Kam Sallis, who’s playing at Sam right now, and Drew Schmelzle, who’s a defensive end playing linebacker, and Zach Wittenberg, who is playing Will also.

A three-year letter-winner for the Bluejays under head coach Garrett Michael, Schmelzle carded 184 career tackles — including 79 stops his senior season — and a pair of sacks.

He also rushed for 806 yards and five touchdowns in his career to go along with 618 receiving yards and seven more scores.

Schmelzle earned all-state honors during each of his final two years from The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Wichita Eagle, including first-team honors from the former as a senior, after he helped Sabetha to earn a state championship as a sophomore.

He also competed in baseball and basketball as a prep player.

Schmelzle originally was committed to North Dakota, but decommitted in December 2020 to accept a preferred walk-on offer at K-State. He also had offers from Akron and Tulane.