Nick Leckey K-State Sports Hall of Fame Press Conference | 08.30.24

as soon as I saw Deo Sweeney get a $80 million contract I knew it was it was not long after that that labor us as players we're going to have to start making money and once you see the TV contracts so it's become what it is I think TV gets into something and then there's big money there and it it changes the dynamic it changes the game and it takes it from like a sport to entertainment and that's what it is and so it's it's changed but it needed to change and you got to deal with it now you think you would have transferred if it were hell no man I I I bleed purple I um I I to me it's it's if you're going to transfer to something else why like it doesn't make sense um I I do see where it's going where where there's going to people fear the eventual one thing is like a minor league for the SEC or something like that you know so it's like that that Dynamic Could Happen um I think the money plays a big part um a lot of these kids will make more money in college than they'll ever make play in the NFL a lot of these kids are getting paid and they're not going to make it to the NFL you know so it's it's this weird dynamic the one good thing is that it does encourage kids to stay in school longer like you know stay in college you know have a good time and do it that way and it's it's the name of the game now and it's um I mean you got to have a roster you got to have a cap cap space you know salary cap and stuff like that so it's yeah it's changed a lot but you know to me it's one of those things where it was G to happen and you got to roll with it now and I think cl's done a good job of of building a program where where where you still have the walk-on program so you still give kids an opportunity because I still think you got to build Collegiate rosters locally like in state and you got to grab from out of state too because you got to have the Homegrown talent to encourage kids to be like hey you know I grow this this kid's from Garden City you know this kid's from Topeka right and it's like okay I can play there too right so you have to have that balance of of locally local talent and then outside Talent you think the the n and then also the transfer portal kind of hitting at the same time accelerated yeah the process at one point I'm happy that the nc2a just said stayed out of it and said you know what figure it out is it broken right now heck yes 100% it's not it's not broken you're getting more into the time frame of like the 70s and 80s when you could give out maximum like as many scholarships as you want and then you could hide players and I think that's what's happening now you can hide a player you can say okay we don't want we're if we're K we don't want KU to get this player so we're going to grab him we might not behind our our dep J but we don't want our other team to have them so you start playing that game like that strategy game of buying players to come right a bench and so there's I mean and so that that'll get changed eventually there's got to be like you don't want this to be like baseball with where you had the Dodgers with the high crazy salary cap right you want this to be like NFL where there's a salary cap you got to adhere to it and it brings parody you know that's what makes the Chiefs doing what they're doing so good because it's tough to maintain a team for three straight Super Bowls I mean people want to get their money people want to bounce but the Chiefs have established a good reputation about not paying number one Tyreek Hill um unless you're Chris Jones who was the Lynch pin of the SPM defense so yeah but but I think change would be cool like I don't want this to be baseball where the Yankees the Dodgers are always in the in the World Series right I want this to be NFL where you got a different world world champion every year you got a different Parry every year what kind of honor is it for you to be going to the Kansas City it's it's antithesis to be an offensive lineman you know because as an old lineman there's five of us right we're we're a group you know one die we all die and to get this recognition just means that that I played with some really really great people um senior leadership when I was a freshman helped me out um played next to you know guys like you know Ryan lro Milford Stevenson um Andy John Robertson all these guys you know don't get all the credit but they helped me out a lot growing up and and I was a big fan and um I I honestly I just was trying to be a ski bump after high school and college got in the way and uh it's just cool it's and I think school too once you follow the bill Snider uh footsteps right he was like man we drive to the bars we drive home from the bars late night his damn silver Cadillac will be out there so you know watching film at the facility and so that that set the tone for us to do like I mean you come here work hard uh and then you know good things will happen and and I I I bought into it and it works man you know take care of the little things work your butt off it's yeah good things happen I got lucky so it was cool but this big honor I bleed purple very very very big honor I definitely bleed purple so this is really cool I I never thought in a million years that I I did this so it's just it's awesome you feel like you're kind of representing offensive lineman yeah that's what I do yeah no problem yeah I I do I do feel like I'm represent offensive lineman um I think it's it's a tremendous honor and for us to get our shine you know because usually when we're getting any sort of recognition we messed up right you got a holding call that brought back to touchdown and um so yeah I'm definitely feel like I'm representing the the the big nasties what are the emotions to come back to Manhattan is it nostalgic you happy like sad that you miss it what do you what do you feel come back here olic when I come here this I mean this place has changed this is not the Manhattan that I was at like Manhattan as I was at like we'd be sitting in like a stale break room you know so like it was I'm so happy that that's why I came here was to be a part of that to be a part of that like when I came here in '99 my senior year at High School uh we beat uh Texas 427 in Austin and I'm like and the year before they lost to Ana 98 and I'm like I want to go in a place that's ground Flor Google I don't want to go into a place that where you just a cog in the machine where they've been like like in Texas or an LSU like I had a chance here to be a part of something big and you know I what I did when I came here I wanted to set the bar boom here's what we can do and now everyone behind me let's let's let's reach higher and like that's all I really wanted I wanted to be able to hey come here man look look I I'll I'll I'll boost you up I'll show you what what we can do here and you guys take it from there and that's all I can do and and that's why I'm so happy to be part of that like I'm happy when I walk in here this place is gorgeous this place is beautiful like I never would have expected anything like this um and and they promised me that D Training Table in 99 too so yeah that's cool