Walk into Denzel Goolsby’s room at his small duplex in Manhattan, and you’ll find a special trophy.
The award isn’t from his days of stardom at Wichita’s Bishop Carroll, where he helped win a pair of Class 5A state high school football championships. They aren’t from a standout freshman season on the offensive side of the ball at Kansas State, either.
The trophy is for his performance as a defensive back in the 2017 Cactus Bowl. Goolsby was named Defensive MVP after the Wildcats’ 35-17 victory over Josh Rosen-less UCLA.
The Bruins’ Top 10 quarterback didn’t play that day, but the trophy means a lot to Goolsby because of the uncommon path he was asked to take in his first two years at K-State and the family tradition he is trying to uphold.