The room fell silent when Kansas State offensive lineman Scott Frantz told his teammates he was gay last year.
But only for a moment.
Once K-State football players processed the personal secret Frantz had shared with them in a players-only meeting designed to help them bond before the start of the 2016 season, the room filled with cheers and words of support.
“I distinctly remember the guy I was sitting next to, Steven West, standing up and telling him, ‘No one cares. You are still Scott to us,’” former K-State receiver Deante Burton said. “Then we all kind of started telling him the same thing, that it doesn’t change who you are or how we see you.