Kansas State football: 15 best wide receivers in Wildcats history

Greatest wide receivers in Kansas State football history: 5. Kevin Lockett

Kevin Lockett coming in here at No. 5 almost feels wrong. In the early years of the Bill Snyder era at Kansas State, there was not a more electrifying playmaker in the receiving corps than Lockett. He is a K-State legend for that reason and here is why.

Lockett first came to the Little Apple at the perfect time. K-State would go 9-2-1 during his freshman season in 1993, winning the school’s first-ever bowl game by defeating the Wyoming Cowboys in the Copper Bowl, as well as garnering the Wildcats’ first AP Top 25 finish in school history. Lockett had 50 catches for 770 yards and four receiving touchdowns in his first year with the team.

K-State would win nine games again in 1994. Interestingly enough, the Wildcats would never win fewer than nine games in a season when Lockett was on the team. He continued to be a strong part of the Wildcats’ receiving corps as a sophomore. However, his numbers would take a slight dip to 39 catches for 583 yards and three receiving touchdowns.

Then in 1995, Lockett would have arguably his best season in college playing for K-State. The Wildcats went 10-2, defeated the Colorado State Rams in the Holiday Bowl and finished ranked No. 7 in the nation in the final AP Poll. Lockett had 56 receptions for 797 yards and a ridiculous 13 touchdown receptions, all of which were career-highs for him up to that point.

Lockett did not disappoint in his senior season of 1996. He was named First-Team All-Big 12, as he had a career-high 72 catches for a career-high 882 yards and six touchdowns. Though K-State never won the Big 12 during his four years in Manhattan, the Wildcats finished those seasons ranked in the AP Top 25 every single time. That is utterly remarkable given the program Snyder inherited in 1989 coming over from Iowa.

Overall, Lockett finished his K-State career with 217 catches for 3,032 yards and 26 touchdowns. He ranks second to only his son Tyler Lockett, who we will get to in a bit, as well as his younger brother Aaron Lockett, who we will also touch on here shortly. Kevin Lockett would go on to be a second-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1997 NFL Draft. He played seven seasons in the NFL, primarily with the Chiefs in the late 1990s.