Why Reggie Stubblefield says one season with Chris Klieman, K-State changed his life
Tears streamed down Reggie Stubblefield’s face as he embraced Chris Klieman before taking the field for his final football game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium last week.
It was such an emotional moment for the Kansas State defensive back that he told his football coach “you changed my life” before he composed himself and then joined his family for more hugs and more tears during the team’s senior day ceremony.
“It was just happiness out there, man,” Stubblefield said later.
If you didn’t know any better, you might have thought he was saying goodbye after spending five years in Manhattan. He was by far the most emotional senior leading up to Saturday’s game against Baylor, topping even quarterback Skylar Thompson, who has broken countless longevity records while wearing purple.
And yet Stubblefield’s time at K-State was anything but long. He has only been on campus for a few months after transferring from Prairie View A&M over the summer for a shot at proving himself for one season at the Big 12 level.
Odds were stacked against him making much of an impact with the Wildcats, but he worked his way into the starting lineup and became a key contributor at lightning speed. His defensive plays, which include 27 tackles, two pass breakups and a forced fumble, have helped the Wildcats to a winning season. Stubblefield will play in his first bowl game later this year.
Along the way, he picked up the nickname “Sauce Boss” from teammates and fans when they noticed his swagger and found out his family has ties to the company that make Stubb’s barbecue products.
The journey has gone better than he dreamed it would. He seemed to realize that while he was hugging Klieman.
“I thank him so much because everything and everybody around this team has just changed my life. They made me a better person. I can’t thank Coach Klieman enough for taking a chance on the kid from a small school. He believed in me and I gave him my all.”
Klieman was initially surprised by the emotion involved in that moment, but it started to make sense after he gave it some thought.
He remembered that Stubblefield almost didn’t make it to K-State.
A problem came up with his transfer credits after he initially committed to the Wildcats and Stubblefield publicly announced that he wasn’t going to be able to play here. K-State fans seemed fine with that development when they realized he embellished some of his stats and prior accomplishments from Prairie View A&M on his Twitter bio. Maybe he wasn’t as good as advertised.
But the K-State football team never gave up on him and appealed the school’s decision to deny his transfer application. He was added to the roster a few weeks later.
Klieman will never forget the excitement he heard from Stubblefield when he told him the news.
“I knew we were getting a kid that had energy,” Klieman said. “But I didn’t know it was this kind of energy. He’s been a guy that has played really well for us. That was a special moment because he realized a couple things. One, how fortunate he was to be playing football, for starters. Two, how fortunate he was to be at Kansas State, because he realized in a short period of time how great the fan base is and how great the university is and how cool it is to be able to say he played football for K-State.”
In hindsight, we all probably should have seen an emotional farewell coming from Stubblefield. He doesn’t hold anything back in games and clearly has something to prove after spending most of his college career at the FCS level.
He plays with reckless abandon and zooms around the field, regardless of whether he is blitzing or dropping back into coverage. Whenever he makes a tackle, he celebrates so wildly that it often annoys opponents.
For him, there is nothing better than blowing up a play and getting under a receiver’s skin at the same time.
But he also puts in lots of work behind the scenes. Most expected him to be a reserve this season, because he didn’t have much time to learn the defensive scheme. But he basically moved into the K-State football complex until he mastered the playbook.
Stubblefield is proud to say he slept in defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman’s office most nights as he crammed for preseason camp.
“That was crazy,” Stubblefield said. “I only had three weeks of preparation, because I got here so late. Coaches took pictures of me every time I fell asleep in there. It was hard work, but that’s what you have to do when you want something bad enough.”
His hard work has paid. His journey is nearly complete. There might be a few more tears before it’s over.
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 10:50 AM.