#7 TJ Smith — Freshman Kam Sallis bears a little less resemblance to former safety TJ Smith (7) now that he has switched from safety to linebacker. | Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the seventh day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State linebacker Kam Sallis.

Goal No. 7: GREAT EFFORT.

#7 Kam Sallis

Redshirt Freshman | 6-1 | 222 lbs. | Arlington, Texas

Position: Linebacker
Previous College: None
Projection: Co-Third-String
Status: On Scholarship

Kameron Sallis (b. Nov. 19, 2004) is a physical young safety-turned-linebacker from Kennedale High School in Texas who enrolled in spring 2023 and is majoring in kinesiology.

Sallis has great awareness, and seems to excel in both man coverage and tackling skills.

He saw playing time in 2023 as a reserve defender against Baylor as he retained his redshirt, then switched from safety to linebacker during the offseason as he put on more weight.

Sallis prepped under head coach Richard Barrett at Kennedale, where he was rated No. 129 among all safeties in the Class of 2023 by On3. He totaled 128 solo tackles, 10 interceptions and only allowed two touchdowns during his three-year prep career for the Wildcats.

Sallis surrendered just three total receptions during his junior year, a season in which he also carded 47 tackles and four interceptions.

An all-district pick as a sophomore in football, he also competed in track and field.

Sallis chose K-State over Arizona State, Georgetown, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and Tulane offers, as well as interest from Memphis, Mississippi State and Nebraska.

His primary recruiter was his new position coach, assistant head coach Van Malone.

Sallis earned some notice from coaches like Joe Klanderman last spring as having the potential to contribute that fall, although his name didn’t come up as much in fall camp:

Kam Sallis and Wesley Fair as true freshmen early enrollees are probably going to help us (in 2023).

I would not expect Sallis’ name to appear on the depth chart next week, but I definitely think he could play more of a role as the season wears on and injuries start to set in (which will mean more opportunities for signing autographs with K-State’s most famous player).

He is another in a long line of K-State players who were attracted to our family atmosphere:

(Kobe Savage and others) were telling me that out of all the schools they were about to go to, K-State popped out because the coaching staff was like family. It was a player-led team. The coach is one thing, but when a player tells you that, you know it’s real.