 "Photo: Jonathan Knight")
Assisted by the losses of Big 12 North foes Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri in recent weeks, K-State sits atop the conference standings, and the hope is that they will remain in that high position.
Sophomore safety Tysyn Hartman, one of many converted players on Coach Bill Snyder’s squad this year, has confidence in the team’s ability to win the Big 12 North division.
“It’s in our hands to do it,” Hartman said. “We’re in a great position to do it, couldn’t be in a better position right now. We just have to go in and execute, and I can’t see any reason why we can’t.”
Hartman, a Wichita native, grew up playing football, beginning with flag football in first grade and graduating to tackle football in fourth grade.
Both Hartman’s dad, who played in college at Fort Hays State and Texas Southern and briefly in the National Football League, and his uncle, who is seven years older than him and played in high school at Connolly Springs, served as liaisons between Hartman and the world of football.
Hartman said, in addition to watching his uncle play, he always watched football on television growing up.
“Early on, because I didn’t know much, I always liked the Miami Hurricanes,” he said. “I always thought their uniforms were the best, and they were doing really well around that time too, so I was kind of a bandwagon guy growing up.”
While he dabbled in basketball in high school, Hartman never strayed from football.
“Football was kind of my main focus because I enjoyed it so much,” he said. “I was never really a baseball fan – too slow-paced of a sport for me, too many breaks in the action. Basketball, school and football were my main focuses.”
K-State approached Hartman about playing college football before any other school, he said, and that kind of stuck with him. The atmosphere of the university that he sensed when visiting the campus and attending games also led him to choose to be a Wildcat, he said.
“It felt right,” Hartman said. “It felt like it was the place for me.”
In high school, Hartman started three years at quarterback and defensive back. When he arrived at K-State, he was buried on the depth chart as far as playing quarterback, he said. Coaches told him once he switched he would be able to see the field and play, he said. Obviously, he ended up doing well and playing more and more.
“At first I wasn’t too happy to switch because playing quarterback you get to touch the ball every play,” Hartman said. “Now I’m glad I made the decision to go through with it and couldn’t see having it any other way.”
Wide receiver Collin Klein, who worked with Hartman every day last year at quarterback before Hartman moved to safety, said Hartman is a great guy and an extremely smart player who plays hard.
“I’m just so happy to see him doing so well,” Klein said. “He really is such a big part of our team. I’m just thrilled for him.”
Hartman said the most significant shock of moving to defense occurred because it was the first real game that he played in college.
“Just getting readjusted to the speed because it was so different than high school was something I wasn’t too good at [initially],” Hartman said.
Hartman said the high points of his career have been his first interception, his first game starting and his first time getting the feel for a real game. His low moments included the recent game against Texas Tech, in which Hartman had a concussion and had to sit out.
“I couldn’t help my team out,” Hartman said. “I was just sitting on the sidelines for three quarters of the game. We were suffering, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
He explained the sensation of a concussion and said time alone will take care of the injury.
“Really you’re just confused,” Hartman said. “You’ve got temporary memory loss. You’re not quite there in the head. Everything feels kind of fuzzy and foggy. Yours reaction time’s a little slower and things like that.”
He passed all his cognitive tests, and by Monday, two days later, he was feeling fine, he said. He said he just had to go through the process and make sure to not go back on the field and make it even worse.
On a lighter note, Hartman said there haven’t been many lows other than that.
“Just the feeling I get after our off-season workouts,” he laughed. “[I’m] feeling pretty low after those.”
Hartman described the team as being very close and said the camaraderie is probably the biggest improvement from last season to this one.
“We’re hanging out a lot outside of football, not just in the complex or on the football field,” he said. “Once we leave, we’re all hitching rides places, not everybody’s driving separately. [We’re] really getting to know the guys a lot better than we had the previous year.”
Hartman said the approach to the next game needs to be the same whether the team has lost or won. He said after the Texas Tech game they knew they needed to learn from their mistakes and put all those behind them, press forward and try and get better.
“Coming off a big win it’s the exact same way,” Hartman said. “You don’t want to dwell on a win because then you get complacent and don’t quite prepare as hard.”
Coach Bill Snyder said while Hartman is still young and has got a ways to go, he certainly likes [Hartman] and the way he plays.
“I like his focus on trying to do things the right way,” Snyder said. “He’s got a very positive career in front of him. How good he becomes remains to be seen.”
Tysyn is pretty damn good, I don't know which games you've been watching. He's not perfect, but he's excellent.