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Goal No. 6: SELF-DISCIPLINE.Do it right; don’t accept less.

#6 Darien Whitaker Jr.

Redshirt Freshman* | 6-3 | 246 lbs. (+2) | Baltimore, Maryland

• Position: Linebacker/EDGE
• Projection: Starter
• Remaining Eligibility: 4 years
• Status: On Scholarship

Darien Whitaker Jr. (b. Feb. 6, 2007) is promising young linebacker from Boys Town (Neb.) High School who is majoring in psychology and also may play some defensive end on passing downs this season. The thought of him coming off the edge opposite Wendell Gregory should strike fear into the hearts of opposing offensive lines.

Head coach Collin Klein early this month projected Whitaker to be in the top-level playing rotation at linebacker:

The four that are kind of rotating through and really doing a nice job are Gabe Powers, Rex Van Wyhe, Mekhi Mason and Darien Whitaker Jr. Those four have kind of been working through there. I think we’re finding some rotations with them, but all of them are doing a heck of a job.

Those guys are going at it every day and flying around every day. That’s a little bit of a snapshot of what we’re trying to do at every position. It’s about getting every single one of those guys better and every one of those guys competing with each other. As they grow and mature as a player, they understand it’s all for the betterment of the team in its entirety, not just for my playing time or this outcome, but this makes us all better. That’s happening in a lot of positions, but the linebackers have stood out (in) that way.

Last year, Whitaker saw time in the final two games of the season, playing exclusively on kickoff coverage and recording tackles against both Utah and Colorado as he retained his redshirt.*

He prepped under head coach Chris Nizzi at Boys Town, where he was regarded as the 60th-best linebacker in the nation for the Class of 2025 by On3, while the organization viewed him as the seventh-best overall player in the state of Nebraska.

Whitaker was rated the sixth-best overall prospect in the state of Nebraska by 247Sports, picked up all-state and all-district honors as a senior, was a finalist for the district player of the year award, and was a finalist for Nebraska’s “Mr. Football” award by the Jet Award Foundation.

He had a great senior season in which he carded 82 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two interceptions. In all, he totaled 107 tackles in his three-year career and also tallied 1,589 career rushing yards with 25 touchdowns in addition to 361 kickoff return yards.

Whitaker, who also competed in basketball and the high jump as a prep, selected K-State over offers from Minnesota State-Mankato, Northern Iowa (from which he previously decommitted), South Florida, Southern Illinois and Jimmy Rogers’ Washington State team, as well as interest from Nebraska and South Dakota State.

His primary recruiter was his former position coach, Steve Stanard.

Whitaker’s cousin, Brian Simms III, is a linebacker at the University of Cincinnati and they will meet Sept. 26 at Nippert Stadium.

*K-State has recently announced a new classification scheme that designates players by their year of eligibility regardless of whether they have “redshirted,” a term that will go out of use with the new “5-for-5” rule. Thus, the KSU SID lists Whitaker as a true sophomore even though he barely played in 2025. For the sake of consistency with past posts, I will continue to designate redshirts based on their playing history, but also note their remaining eligibility to stay consistent with the new designations as well.

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