Kansas State’s defensive line is back at full strength.

After leaving the football team for several weeks and missing the entirety of spring practices, senior defensive tackle Will Geary is back with the Wildcats.

“He is in our summer program and he has been,” K-State coach Bill Snyder said Tuesday at Big 12 media days. “He is doing quite well from what I understand.”

The reasons for Geary’s sabbatical are unknown, but Snyder said Geary took “care of himself” and did “things right” while he was away.

Snyder remained confident Geary would rejoin the team even while he was away during the spring, and his return is a boon for the Wildcats. Geary is K-State’s top interior defensive lineman. He has been named to the Big 12’s all-conference team in each of the past two seasons and could challenge for those honors again.

Geary has made 120 tackles, including 6.5 sacks, during his three years with the Wildcats.

For the right reasons

Starting left tackle Scott Frantz has received overwhelming support since announcing he was gay on national television last week, but Snyder feared that might not be the case.

Frantz told his teammates on the K-State team he was gay before the start of the 2016 season, and they accepted him by keeping the secret for nearly a year. Still, when Frantz originally approached Snyder about sharing his secret with the world, he had concerns.

“I had some uncertainty about it at that particular point in time and the impact,” Snyder said. “He and I had several discussions and we talked about the impact that it might have on, not his teammates in regards to how they felt, but the response from outside, social media response, the response of the fan base, the response of faculty and administration, and the world, so to speak. I cautioned him that here could be some issues.”

The more Snyder and Frantz discussed the topic, the more support coach showed player. Snyder said he went out of his way to help Frantz arrange an interview with ESPN reporter Holly Rowe when he realized Frantz had pure intentions.

“He wanted to do it for the right reasons,” Snyder said. “It wasn’t about exposing him to the media as such or making himself a national figure. What he wanted to do was help others. That was important to me.”

Aiming high

As much as K-State players appreciate Big 12 media picking them to finish third in the preseason poll (as opposed to eighth like last season), they are setting their sights higher.

Much higher.

“Our team feels like we should win every game,” defensive back D.J. Reed said. “There isn’t a team that should beat us. We could beat ourselves, though. We should win every game. We should win the Big 12 and we should win the national championship. That is where our minds are at.”

Respect us

Snyder rarely makes an opening statement at his news conferences, but he made an exception on Tuesday to stand up for the Big 12.

“I don’t think the Big 12 conference is in any jeopardy whatsoever,” Snyder said, “and not nearly as weak as some might want to portray.”