When Matt Eck arrived at Kansas State as a preferred walk-on defensive lineman in 1997, he had to choose an academic major. He opted for engineering because his brother was in the same program.
“It was stupid of me to do that because it wasn’t who I am, it wasn’t what I did,” Eck recalled this week.
So, one semester in, Eck changed his major to kinesiology. He loved studying the human body and anatomy and knew he could tie the major into his true love, sports. And in his second semester in that program, his career path and life were changed forever when Rod Cole, the head strength coach for Kansas State, a guy Eck worked with daily in the football program, spoke at one of Eck’s classes.