Alex Barnes couldn’t help but laugh the first time he saw Blake Lynch attempt a field goal at Kansas State football practice.
At 5 feet 5, Lynch is the shortest player on K-State’s roster (by 3 inches) and one of the shortest players in college football. Based purely on his stature, Barnes thought Lynch was out of his element. No way could he keep up the Wildcats’ other kickers or split the uprights from 40-plus yards.
“I thought, what is this kid doing?” said Barnes, a junior running back. “But he boomed it through.”
That was in 2016, when Lynch arrived at K-State as a walk-on freshman following a standout kicking career at Wichita’s Eisenhower High School.