Meet the 8 Kansas City-area football players who performed at the NFL Combine

From Steve Atwater to Brandon Lloyd, the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas have produced troves of NFL talent.

This year’s no different, as 13 players from in and around Missouri's two largest cities were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

Eight of them hail from the Kansas City area. Here's what they said and/or did at the combine in Indianapolis:

Linebacker Keyshaun Elliott

Growing up in Richmond, playing college football seemed like a far-fetched reality for Keyshaun Elliott.

Located about 45 minutes east of Kansas City, Richmond's population sits around 6,000. Elliott's cousin, Lenvil, played nine seasons in the NFL as a running back and won Super Bowl XVI with the San Francisco 49ers. His jersey is retired at Richmond High School. Current Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was also raised in Richmond.

Outside of those two, however, football success stories aren't common there.

"You tell people this is your dream," Keyshaun said, "and some of them look at you crazy."

Elliott became an outlier. A two-way star on the gridiron at Richmond High School, he was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2022. But Elliott didn't receive much Power 5 interest, either from his dream school, Mizzou, or elsewhere. He grew up rooting for the Tigers and named former MU linebacker Nick Bolton as one of his favorite players.

Elliott's only Power 5 offer was from archrival Kansas.

"It was upsetting when I didn't get an offer from Mizzou," he said, "but once I went to New Mexico State, it was all New Mexico State. I got the opportunity to play in my freshman year, so that meant a lot."

Elliott converted his opportunity in the Mountain West into greener pastures. In 2023, he led New Mexico State in total tackles with 111. He transferred to Arizona State the following season and recorded 65 tackles as part of ASU's underdog run to the College Football Playoff. In 2025, he was second on the team in total tackles (98) while leading the Sun Devils in tackles for loss (14) and sacks (7).

"You kind of come out of there (Richmond) with a chip on your shoulder, especially playing at this level," he said. "Not a lot of people believed in you coming from a small high school. Maybe they think you didn't play the best talent."

With NFL employment on the horizon, Elliott is set to play with the best talent in the world.

Edge rusher Cashius Howell

Howell, who played at Rockhurst High School, about 30 minutes south of Kansas City, described the city's people as having a "Midwest, blue-collar type of style."

Despite recording over 150 tackles and 21 sacks in high school (including a school record of six in one game), Howell didn't receive a single Power 5 offer and signed with Bowling Green in Dec. 2020 - the Falcons had just finished a COVID-shortened 0-5 season less than two weeks prior and were 12-41 since 2016.

Howell felt he was overlooked and under-recruited out of high school. He eventually made the doubters pay.

After not playing much in his first two seasons at Bowling Green, he led the Mid-American Conference in sacks in 2023 with 9.5. He then transferred to Texas A&M, where he moved from linebacker to edge rusher. The move proved to be a good one, as Howell tallied 22.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks over the ensuing two seasons. Against Mizzou in November, Howell forced a crucial fumble late in the first half, strip-sacking MU quarterback Matt Zollers.

A lightning-quick pass-rusher, Howell has potential to be selected in the first round of this year's NFL Draft.

Tight end John Michael Gyllenborg

Gyllenborg and Howell played on the same team at Rockhurst in the fall of 2020. That was about the only commonality Gyllenborg had with not only Howell, but also everyone else on the team.

His path to Indianapolis was unorthodox. A standout on the basketball court and baseball diamond, Gyllenborg didn't play football until his senior year of high school. Rockhurst's new head coach, Kelly Donohoe, encouraged Gyllenborg to join the team, especially because it didn't interfere with basketball season.

"His pitch to me was basically just to come out and have fun with the boys," Gyllenborg said.

But Gyllenborg's season was cut short after three games due to injury. He was upset that the injury might affect his ability to play basketball.

But one FBS team saw potential in Gyllenborg's football abilities. Despite the injury and small amounts of tape, Wyoming extended Gyllenborg an offer. Similar to Buffalo Bills star quarterback, the Cowboys were Gyllenborg's only FBS offer.

In four seasons at Wyoming, Gyllenborg caught 80 passes for 1,023 yards and seven touchdowns.

Defensive tackle Domonique Orange

Nicknamed "Big Citrus," Orange was a dominant defensive tackle at North Kansas City High School, earning All-State honors twice, while being one of four finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award.

The award named after the Chiefs legend is presented annually to the best large-class lineman or linebacker in the KC metro.

"Not many people have the ability to be in the position I'm in," Orange said. "My high school doesn't really produce NFL talent."

The only former North Kansas City football player to make the NFL is current Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adeboware.

Orange is about to change that. In four seasons at Iowa State, he had 66 total tackles and seven sacks.

Wide receiver Malik Benson

Like many prospects at the combine, Benson took a road less traveled to Indianapolis.

After starring on both the gridiron and the track at Lansing High School, Benson went to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, where he totaled over 2,000 receiving yards across two seasons. He then transferred to Alabama, where he didn't play much, so he transferred to Florida State after the 2023 season. He caught 25 passes for 311 yards, nearly doubling up his totals from the year prior.

Benson was out of eligibility … until the NCAA ruled in Dec. 2024 that former junior college players who transferred to NCAA institutions retained eligibility. He then entered the portal and eventually landed at Oregon, which was led by a fellow Western Missouri legend in Lanning.

"Having a head coach that kind of knows that background and understands that Midwest love, it helped me just be able to feel at home and do what I could do this year," Benson said.

The speedster broke out this past season, catching 43 passes for 719 yards and a touchdown. In Oregon's dominant win over James Madison in the opening round of the College Football Playoff, Benson had five catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

With an underdog story set to add an NFL chapter, Benson wants to serve as an inspiration for future generations of football players from Lansing.

"I did it," Benson said. "Everybody else could do it, too."

Guard Beau Stephens

Beau Stephens, who graduated from Blue Springs High School, seemed destined to be a high-level football player from a young age.

"When I was five years old, my dad said, ‘Hey, you can go hit people and not get in trouble.' And I was sold at that moment," he said.

At Blue Springs, he was a star playing on both the offensive and defensive lines. At Iowa, he found players who seemed to align with his mentality.

"Guys don't want to go get money," Stephens said of Iowa's team culture. "They don't want to be divas and get flashy. At Iowa, the culture is (that) we don't want flashy. We think that's kind of clown work there. We don't want to be clowns. We want to be simple-minded, stick to the fundamentals and just work hard."

That hard work was rewarded … literally. Iowa won the Joe Moore Award for college football's best offensive line this past season, and Stephens earned Big Ten First Team honors.

Center Sam Hecht

Excellence has defined Sam Hecht for years.

He was a two-time All-State guard at Mill Valley High School in Shawnee. The program has won seven Kansas Class 5A football state titles, including five straight from 2019-23.

"That program is above most teams in that area," Hecht said. "It's led by coach (Joel) Applebee. He does a great job preparing these guys. It really instills a college mindset in the high school level."

A two-year starter at center for Kansas State, Hecht earned All Big-12 honors in both seasons. In 2025, he didn't commit a single accepted penalty in 759 snaps.

Wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant

Sturdivant spent most of his high school days at prep school in the Lone Star State, attending Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, where he set a school record for career receptions with 188.

He grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and briefly attended Blue Valley Northwest High School. He showed love to his hometown at the Combine.

"It was a lot of fun playing there," Sturdivant said. "I met a lot of great guys."

Across five seasons at California, UCLA and Florida, Sturdivant had just over 2,000 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.

Copyright 2026 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Meet the 8 Kansas City-area football players who performed at the NFL Combine."