D. Scott Fritchen
KStateSports.com
There are simply so many ways to begin a story about Austin Romaine. He is technically sound. He is mean. The 6-foot-2, 245-pound junior is everything you want in a linebacker. He smiles as he thinks back to his early days as a child from Hillsboro, Missouri, and how he became one of the best all-around players in the state. He played with passion. He played hungry. He received a scholarship offer from Harvard. He thought that was cool. But he knew that he was going to Kansas State, the only Power 4 school to offer him a scholarship. That's all he needed — a golden ticket, a chance to live out his dream in this purple-and-white world, the happiest place on earth.
We can start the story from the beginning. Google "Hillsboro High School" and the accompanying image isn't the academic building that houses more than 1,000 students on 123 Leon Hall Parkway in Hillsboro, Missouri. No, Google the high school and the image that pops up is the school's football field. It's a beautiful sight, really, with the sun dropping below the trees and large stadium lights towering over the game played below.
The field is where Romaine dominated as one of the nation's top-50 inside linebackers, and it's where he rushed for more than 3,000 yards and scored 45 touchdowns during a remarkable career. There's a part of Romaine who always thought he'd play baseball — Jason, his father, put a baseball into Austin's hand before he could walk — but Romaine's strides and devastation between the lines demanded the attention of college football scouts.
Romaine came to K-State. That was a no-brainer. He arrived at K-State as a three-star recruit and the 49th-best inside linebacker in the Class of 2023 by ESPN after earning first-team all-state honors.
Hillsboro High head coach Bill Sucharski was understandably aghast over Romaine's on-field exploits — and where they could lead him someday.
"When you watch football games there are players who are game changers," Sucharski says. "Austin was that type of player. I watched several players who became NFL players, and you could tell they were different than other kids on the field.
"That was Austin."
On Wednesday, inside the team theater room at the Vanier Family Football Complex, Romaine appears, dare we say, a little bit bashful at the heaping praise that has been laid at his feet over the summer of 2025, and as he grinded, and watched film, and watched more film, and worked out, and hit the ice tubs, and took moments now and then just to hang out with his teammates.
Sometimes his teammates will say, "Congratulations." But Romaine, without playing a single down this fall, often doesn't know the reason behind his teammates' praise. Romaine hears nice things about his play, but he tries to stay away from it all. Romaine even deleted his Twitter account.
"The preseason accolades can come out," Romaine says, "but they don't mean anything unless they're after the season. I want to keep my head down and grind."
One day, Romaine is on watch lists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Butkus Award. The next day he's named the best defensive player in the Big 12 Conference by Pro Football Focus. And the next day he's listed as the highest-graded returning linebacker among Power 4 schools.
"I'm excited because I think he's going to have an All-American type season," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says.
Romaine has started 17 games over the last two seasons, including 12 starts during the Wildcats' 9-4 campaign in 2024. Romaine finished with 96 tackles to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles and two pass breakups over his 621 defensive snaps en route to All-Big 12 Second Team honors.
"I think he's one of the best linebackers we've had to play in this system, whether it's been here or at other jobs that I've had," Klieman says. "This kid is a great leader, great tackler, he's got a great base to him, and he's very athletic."
Romaine has already shown that he's a quick learner. For all the I-remember-when stories old men will swap in donut shops across small Kansas towns years from now, this story might not be in the conversation, but it's a critical piece to what we're seeing now.
Here's the story: Romaine was thrust into action as a true freshman due to an array of injuries that plagued the linebacker position in 2023. He played in 12 games with five starts while earning votes from the league's coaches for Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors. His five starts were the most by a K-State freshman linebacker since at least 1988. He had 22 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack over his 320 defensive snaps while also seeing time on 67 special teams plays.
He was forced into action when sixth-year senior Deuce Green, the heartbeat of the defense, went down with a season-ending injury. Daunting? For sure. But Romaine held his own — despite playing part of the season with a broken left hand.
"It's crazy just being thrown in there," Romaine says. "I didn't know much. It pushed me along a lot faster, being next to Austin Moore and Deuce Green, and having Deuce behind me all the time, helping me. It pushed my development a lot faster."
That's a big part of the Austin Romaine story. "We never anticipated him playing as a true freshman and all of the sudden he gets thrown in there," K-State linebackers coach Steve Stanard says. "Austin has made tremendous gains."
Last season, in his first season as a full-time starter, Romaine posted the most tackles by a K-State player since Jayd Kirby had 99 stops in 2017. Romaine had a career-high 12 tackles at West Virginia, Houston and Iowa State. Two of his forced fumbles led to game-winning scores. One was returned 60 yards for a touchdown at Tulane in a seven-point win and another forced fumble led to a 51-yard field goal against Kansas in a two-point victory.
There was a moment that Wildcat Nation didn't see. It came as Romaine quietly stood outside the locker room at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. K-State had just battled to a 44-41 come-from-behind victory over Rutgers. Senior Austin Moore, who seemingly forever was a standout linebacker and team leader, in his final words before disappearing into the locker room for the last time, pointed at Romaine, turned to reporters, and said, "This guy is going to be a pro!"
"Ever since I got here, I looked up to Austin Moore," Romaine says. "He did everything right on and off the field as a player and leader. To get that compliment from him felt really good. To play and learn from him for two years really helped me."
Now, Stanard chuckles. Some guys, behind their experience and playmaking ability and leadership capability, simply become a pillar of the program. That's Romaine.
"Austin is going into his third year, and it feels like he's been here for five," Stanard says. "He sees the game at a different speed. He's ahead of the shifts and motions and recognizes formations and what plays are coming out of formations. He's always trying to get better and hone the craft. That's what I really, really respect."
Romaine is taking second-level and third-level steps as he prepares for the fall. He's a demon on the field. He's a nuisance for the offense. At times, in scrimmages, it appears that he's probably almost too good in the eyes of K-State offensive coordinator Matt Wells.
"Matt Wells is saying, 'How's he seeing this?'" Stanard says. "Austin is a really good zone cover linebacker right now. He knows routes and what routes are coming out of formations. He spends a lot of time up in the meeting room doing the 'unrequired' — stuff we don't ask him to do. And he's asking questions all the time. He wants to know what's going on around him with the defensive ends and safeties. Then he understands concepts and pieces things together. It's easy to coach Austin."
Seems that Romaine is doing some sort of preparation all…the…time.
"I'm not really sure how much time I'm up here, but I'm always asking coaches questions about what I can see, and what can get me better pre-snap and post-snap," Romaine says. "I'm always in the film room trying to understand backfield sets and formations of what is coming out of different plays so when I get onto the field, I feel like I can see better and see what's happening better. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and now I can understand why. I've grown a lot in that part. I was just flowing around as a young guy, and I didn't know where to go when my keys went certain ways. I've grown a lot."
The last K-State linebacker to study like this: Probably Mark Simoneau.
And again, there was a time when football was on the backburner and baseball was the buzz for Romaine in Hillsboro. That changed when a coach approached Jason Romaine about possibly having Austin play little league football. Austin was 12. As his football career took off, college interest grew as well. Romaine carried a 4.3 GPA and received interest from all the Ivy League schools. He had 17 scholarship offers in all. But he had a soft spot for K-State, which was the only Power 4 school to offer him a scholarship. He loved that Stanard chose to attend his high school football games. It was while participating in a K-State camp on June 27, 2022, that Romaine received his official offer from the Wildcats.
Today, the national spotlight shines upon the pride of Hillsboro. And it'll assuredly follow him when No. 20 K-State opens its season against No. 21 Iowa State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, on August 23. And it'll follow him on through the October and November and into the Big 12 Championship Game, if the Wildcats reach that goal. And if things work out, the lights will absolutely follow Romaine into the College Football Playoff.
In this day in age in college football in which some star players seemingly arrive — and then leave — Romaine has apparently planted roots in the Little Apple. Sometimes he thinks back to simpler times, when this dream began, and it was him, a football, and an opportunity.
Now he has the opportunity to be regarded as one of the best linebackers in college football. But that stuff, he insists, doesn't matter until the season and body of work has been fully digested.
In that sense, the Austin Romaine story is just getting started.
And he wouldn't want to finish his story anywhere else.
"I love this place," Romaine says. "I've loved it ever since I stepped on campus. When I was in high school, I knew it was home. It was the only Power 4 school to offer me and give me a shot. I've taken full advantage of that, and I've dug in here. Our coaches say to dig in where you're at. I've dug in here, into this culture, and into my teammates and coaches and support staff."
He pauses.
"I've dug in," he says, "and I will continue to keep digging in.