#98 Chiddi Obiazor — Chiddi Obiazor (98) has changed to jersey No. 8 for the 2024 season, freeing up his No. 98 for freshman walk-on Kian Payne, who will be the latest to don the heralded defensive end number. | Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the 68th day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State defensive end Kian Payne.

#98 Kian Payne

True Freshman | 6-3 | 249 lbs. | Overland Park, Kansas

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

Kian Payne (Nov. 25, 2005) is a walk-on defensive end from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park. He is likely to redshirt in 2024 to add more weight and muscle.

He prepped under head coach Randy Dreiling at St. Thomas Aquinas, where he was named to the Top 11 team by the Kansas Football Coaches Association (KFCA) as a senior, while he also was named the Kansas Class 4A Defensive Player of the Year by Sports in Kansas (SiK).

Payne, who plans on majoring in marketing, was a first-team all-state honoree as a senior by KFCA, SiK, and The Wichita Eagle after carding 62 tackles and eight tackles for loss.

He also earned first-team all-state honors as a junior from Sports in Kansas and the Eagle.

Payne was named the league’s defensive player of the year as a senior, and the defensive lineman of the year as both a junior and senior. He also competed in rugby and lacrosse.

Payne picked K-State over offers from Ball State, Colorado State, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, New Mexico State, North Dakota State (to whom he previously was committed), Northern Iowa, SEMO, Toledo and Wisconsin, plus interest from Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Getting him to de-commit from NDSU and walk on in Manhattan was a coup!