Byron Pringle on his K-State ‘family,’ running with anger and Pringles partnership
When he was attending Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida, one of Byron Pringle’s teachers had a Monday morning ritual.
If Pringle, who now plays for the Chiefs, and Robinson High won their football game over the weekend, Jill Vernes would have something special to eat in her room.
“My yearbook teacher after every game that we won, that following Monday she’d have Pringles in there,” Pringle said. “And then at the end of the year, I’d take a picture with the Pringles cans stacked in front of me, and she posted in a yearbook every year.”
At that time, Vernes told Pringle that one day he might even become such a successful football player that he’d get a deal with Pringles, the maker of potato crisps.
That vision has become reality as Pringles has been touting the “Byron Pringle Kansas City BBQ Stack” in interviews this week as part of his partnership with the company. That is barbecue, jalapeno and sour cream and onion crisps combined into one bite.
So, yes, Pringle has happy memories of his time in his high school, and the same is true of his two seasons at Kansas State.
“K State fans they all love me and I love them back,” Pringle said. “They followed me from K-State to Kansas City. We actually have a lot of Kansas State people that I went to college with here in Kansas City that also follow me and always reach out to me and are rooting for me to have a great game and come up with a victory each day.
“Everybody sticks together. It’s family. That’s the first thing at Kansas state is being a family, and it just translate outside of Kansas State when everybody leaves and goes after their career as a professional.”
Pringle was undrafted in 2018 after leaving the Wildcats, but he’s found a good home with the Chiefs. In his first two seasons, Pringle had a pair of receiving touchdowns and took a kickoff to the house.
This season, Pringle has three catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. That score came on a 40-yard reception in Sunday night’s 36-35 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore.
Pringle caught the ball at the 35-yard line and turned to see a path to the end zone.
“Once I caught the ball, I saw the end zone was open,” Pringle said. “I wanted to take the middle so bad but the defender was in my way, so I ended up bouncing outside and had an assist by Tyreek Hill on the block to get me to the end zone.”
Pringle, 27, said he has a one-track mind when he plays for the Chiefs.
“Every time I’m on the field I think I’m going to score, every time I touch it,” Pringle said. “I run with anger and aggression and I see the end zone, I don’t see defenders.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 12:53 PM.
