After two tough weeks of football for the Wildcats, we caught up with freshman center Dalton Risner off the field for our first Q&A of the semester.
Q: Who would you say some of your heroes are?
Risner: This sounds so cliche man, but my heroes are my mom and my dad and all four of my brothers. I got a tattoo on me about my family and how much they mean to me. If I could be half the man my dad is, I would be successful and if I could have half of the characteristics that my mom has, I’d call myself successful. My family are my heroes man, for sure.
Q: What is the last movie you saw?
Risner: I went and saw… what was that called… Maze Runner 2 (The Scorch Trials). I love Maze Runner 1, that one was a good movie, but Maze Runner 2 was very good. I recommend it.
Q: What would you say brought you to K-State?
Risner: You know, high school, small town kid, big dreams. Wasn’t really on the big scene, I didn’t know how recruiting worked. K-State was one of those teams that let me know they wanted me and they needed me. That’s what they kind of took it upon themselves to do and the fans welcomed me. That was the first school where I was like, “Man, they want me there and they need me there. I need to be at K-State. I feel wanted.” And that was the big thing, the want factor. Obviously, the family thing. It sound cliche, everyone says that. It’s a family here.
Q: What would you say is one thing that most people don’t know about you?
Risner: I don’t know if I really come across like this, but I’m just a country boy, man. I can’t stand, really, the city. I’m not the guy who likes to go out to clubs or anything like that. I’d rather be on dirt road with my windows down in a truck. You know, outside working, all that kind of stuff. I enjoy the country life.
Q: What’s your favorite type of music and what’s your favorite song?
Risner: Complete country, man. I’m big into ’80s and 90s country, a little bit of 2000s country. So like Clint Black, Collin Raye, Hal Ketchum, all of those guys.
My favorite song is “Time Marches On” by Tracy Lawrence. Such a good song, man. That’s a good one.
Q: So you get stranded somewhere, wilderness, middle of the forest, where ever, and you get three things to help you survive, what three things do you choose?
Risner: I’m probably going to have to have some sort of a tool to get food. I’ll go with just a rifle. Go with a little .22, I’ve got a .22 at home and I shoot little animals with that. I’m going to get a nice bucket or pan so I can boil me some water, get that bacteria out of there. And the next thing that I’d get is some kind of portable tent or shelter for the bad weather. Utilities, bro.
Q: Is there a professional lineman or center that you’ve kind of looked at that you’ve kind of modeled your game like in a way?
Risner: You know, I’m not really that big into looking up to NFL players much but there’s always been Jeff Saturday, Peyton Manning center at Indianapolis. And I’ve always looked up to him because he’s one of the best centers to ever play. He’s a ESPN broadcaster now so I’ve gotten familiar with him. He’s just a great center and I’ve not really modeled myself after him – I haven’t watched enough on him to do that – but I’ve always looked up to him and said, “If I can do what he’s done that’d be pretty cool.”
