There were a few minutes this week in Manhattan, where it almost felt like fall.
The temperature dipped into the low 70's and students have begun to trickle back to campus. When the world still feels a million miles from normal, it's the little things that remind you of where we are at the beginning of August.
Just ask a few of the seniors on the K-State football team.
The Wildcats are back at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Friday for the team's first practice of fall camp, and for a guy like Harry Trotter, that's enough.
Tomorrow
The boys comin'#KStateFB ⚒ Fall Camp '20 pic.twitter.com/5tWfePsQ3M
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) August 7, 2020
"I think we're just excited. It's been a long few months with quarantine and the pandemic, so I think everybody is pretty excited to put the helmet on, put the pads on and just get back to work," he said. "Everybody's ready for that."
Trotter returns for his second season in the K-State backfield as one of the senior leaders in the running backs room.
He's part of a group of preparing to leave a legacy at K-State against the backdrop of a season that, quite frankly, is going to be remembered no matter what happens on the field this fall.
But for somebody like Trotter, just getting to this point has seen him play on three different teams, under five different coaching staffs since 2016. He began his career at the JUCO level with Fort Scott and played his sophomore season at Louisville before transferring to K-State.
"Being around the block a little bit as a senior in my fifth year, I just kind of knew how to handle myself, stay accountable and hold my teammates accountable," he said. "I tried to work as hard as I could over quarantine and do what I could with what I had available. Just having that maturity and that experience has helped me a lot."
On the other side of the football, the Wildcats will rely on players like Elijah Sullivan in 2020. Unlike Trotter, the Georgia native has spent all six years of his college career in Manhattan, but Sullivan hasn't taken the easy road towards a starting role at linebacker.
He was committed to Auburn for almost a year in high school, before joining the Wildcats late in the spring recruiting cycle.
Sullivan redshirted, played a season on special teams and earned his second career start in the 2017 Cactus Bowl before an injury three games into the 2018 season cost him the rest of his junior season before obtaining a medical redshirt.
"The first time I actually got hurt and had to rehab at K-State, it was difficult" Sullivan said. "When you first get injured, it's never something you expect. You never know how to push yourself through that until you're actually going through it."
After spending his season rehabbing, Sullivan returned with an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 season in 2019. He started every game for the Wildcats and set a new career high with 11 tackles in the Liberty Bowl.
The Wildcats in 2020 will look nothing like the team when Sullivan first arrived in Manhattan, as part of a group of Georgia-born players that have been all over the K-State roster.
Now, Duke Shelley is playing for the Chicago Bears. Former Wildcat Isaiah Zuber is on the New England Patriots.
It's down to Sullivan and his former high school teammate, K-State linebacker Justin Hughes.
"You just got to make sure you go out with a bang and show them where you're from," Sullivan said. "It doesn't matter if you came here from the Midwest, West Coast, Northeast, you can come here and ball. That's the biggest thing for me and Justin."
The 24-year-old Hughes has worked his way up the college football ladder at K-State, from grayshirt to redshirt, from special teams to a key member of the Wildcats linebacking core.
The last time he was on the field for the Wildcats in 2018, Hughes authored a 56-tackle season – good for third on the team – and started the last seven games of the year after a breakout performance against Texas.
"Once I got on the field in the Texas game and started playing, I think I had a TFL or something and I got up and Duke was the first person celebrating with me," Hughes said. "That took me back to high school and it was like, 'Man, I'm here now.' We're finally doing it."
I LOVE YOU ALL WHO ALL BELIEVED IN ME! Camp day 1 tomorrow 😈💜. pic.twitter.com/gEP9Z5DDjr
— J Beeeezzzzyy (@justin_2201) August 7, 2020
An injury in spring practice robbed Hughes of his senior season in 2019, but it gave him a chance to return to Manhattan with a group of players tasked with guiding the program through this season.
"The brotherhood inside the locker room hasn't changed," Hughes said. "You never have any guys arguing with each other. It's all love. We as a team bond with each other like no other."
Of all the storylines that will begin to play themselves out at the team's first practice on Friday, that might be the most important one to watch.
The Wildcats will be challenged on and off the field in 2020, a test of whether or the not locker room can stay together during a season that will be anything but normal.
With seniors like these, it would be tough to bet against them.
"That's something I've noticed," Hughes said. "The people change. But the bond we have with each other hasn't."
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