Bio
Career: 2021 – 2023 (Played Senior Season at Pitt)
Position: Defensive End
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 250
Hometown: Olathe, Kansas
High School: Olathe East
K-State Career Stats
Games Played: 39
Games Started: 7
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Tackles: 39
Tackles For Loss: 16
Sacks: 9.5
Notes
High School
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Viewed as a consensus top 10 player in Kansas as a senior
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First team all-state as a senior
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Selected to the Shrine Bowl as a senior
Kansas State
2021: Played in every game, including three starts as a redshirt freshman
2022: Played in 12 games, including four starts
2023:
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Blocked an extra point that was returned for 2 points vs Kansas
K-State Career Awards
2021: Honorable Mention Big 11 Defensive Freshman of the Year (Coaches)
2021-’23: First Team Academic Big 12
Highlights
Bring on the Cats Staff Memories
Drew:
Matlak is an interesting player. He was a member of the weird 2020 Covid recruiting class and after spending 2o21 redshirting, hit the ground running in 2021. I thought he was going to end up as one of the better defensive linemen in the Big 12 by the time he finished his career at Kansas State, but he never progressed. Don’t get me wrong, he was good, but he never seemed to get over the hump from good to great.
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I thought he had a chance to take that next step as a senior, but he was one of the first real casualties of the transfer portal. In a way, Matlack is memorable because he showed K-State fans that nothing is guaranteed in the new era of college football. In any other era, Nate would finish his solid career with the Wildcats and then move on with his life after football. Instead, he hit the transfer portal and played his senior season with the Pitt Panthers.
A player who grew up in Kansas and spent four seasons in Manhattan decided to play his final season in Heinz Field instead of Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Such defections are no longer uncommon, but losing Matlack seemed like a big deal at the time.
Jon:
I don’t have much to add, but never forget that Matlack helped turn what would have been a seven-point Jayhawk lead into only a four-point lead in the 2023 game that K-State only won by four points; Kansas couldn’t play for a field goal to win in the fourth quarter as a result.
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That’s good stuff.
As Drew notes, Matlack was good, solid, not great — but it was still a dagger when he entered the portal. Three years later, we just shrug when it happens, but that’s because we’re all just used to it now.
