Kansas State football adds Big 12 transfer to its defensive line

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MANHATTAN — Kansas State football continued a productive Jan. 7 in the transfer portal by adding to its defensive line.

Cincinnati transfer Kamari Burns will sign with Kansas State, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. The 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle is coming off his sophomore season with the Bearcats, recording 11 tackles and half a sack.

Not much was made public regarding Burns’ recruitment after entering the transfer portal. 247Sports reported that he also visited Virginia Tech. The Columbus, Ohio, native was a three-star prospect out of high school and was pursued by several Big Ten and SEC programs.

Burns played mostly nose tackle for the Bearcats. He played 174 defensive snaps in 2025 while recording a pair of pressures on 85 pass attempts. He’ll mostly be depended on to plug up gaps in the middle of the opposing offensive line.

During the 2024 season, Burns played in six games and made one start. He recorded five tackles and a quarterback hurry. He redshirted in 2023.

Kansas State has landed three commitments from defensive tackles over the last two days. Burns joins Kentucky transfer Austin Ramsey and Gardner-Webb transfer De’Arieun Hicks. The Wildcats also have promising incoming freshmen in Adrian Bekibele, Kingston Hall and Carnell Jackson Jr., after losing standout Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder to SMU in the transfer portal.

Burns should be a player who competes to play right away along the Wildcats’ defensive line.

Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kamari Burns picks Kansas State football in transfer portal

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