Kansas State kicker unexpectedly leaves Wildcats football team after suffering injury
The kicker who made Kansas State’s first seven field goals of the season has decided to leave the football team.
Taiten Winkel, a 6-foot-1 junior from Halstead, voluntarily chose to step away from the Wildcats after he suffered a recent undisclosed injury, K-State football coach Chris Klieman said during his weekly news conference on Tuesday.
“Taiten decided to hang it up,” Klieman said. “He had an injury and didn’t know if he could come back from that. So he decided to step aside and focus on his academics. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Taiten and wish him nothing but the best. It wasn’t something where he got in trouble or we asked him not to come back. He just had an injury and didn’t think he was going to be healthy enough to finish it out. He wants to get his degree.”
Winkel served as K-State’s primary kicker during each of the team’s first seven games. During that time, he went seven of nine on field goal-attempts and 22 of 23 on extra points. His longest kick was good from 45 yards against Oklahoma State.
But he never took complete ownership of the position, as K-State always included the word “or” next to his name on the depth chart as he competed with freshman Chris Tennant.
Tennant passed him in time for K-State’s eighth game of the season against TCU and continued to handle kicking duties over the weekend against Kansas.
The 6-foot-4 Mill Valley product made a 42-yarder against the Horned Frogs and missed a 24-yarder against the Jayhawks. He has connected on all nine of his extra-point attempts.
His responsibilities will grow without Winkel. K-State now lists Tennant as the team’s starting kicker.
“Chris has continued to take half the reps all season long,” Klieman said, “because we always thought it was an ongoing battle.”
The Wildcats will once again call upon Tennant to handle field goals and extra points in their next game against West Virginia. But without Winkel on the roster, K-State will also keep senior punter Ty Zentner prepared to help if necessary.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Kansas State kicker unexpectedly leaves Wildcats football team after suffering injury."