“Gotta appreciate how funny it is that we paid an arm and a leg to get Gregory, ignoring other issues with the defense, and he's been outplayed by Whitaker all year”
Darien Whitaker Jr.
Played for two head coaches in two seasons at Kansas State. One game to point at: 3 tackles and 1.5 sacks against Tulane — Week 3, 2026.
14 tackles · 2.5 sacks
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
14 tackles. 2 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
His game this year: disruption in the backfield — 5 tackles for loss, 2 of them sacks, in the 8 games with play by play.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kansas State | 14 | 10 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 2 |
| 2025 | Kansas State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 16 | 12 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 2 |
Last game (Wk 9): 2 tackles.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 8 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 71-3vs Nicholls | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 34-7vs Washington State | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 31-20vs Tulane | 3 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | — | 1 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 4 | L 26-31@ Cincinnati | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 16-35vs No. 22 Houston | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 35-24vs Kansas | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 17-28@ Arizona State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-27@ Colorado | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 14 | 10 | 5.0 | 2.5 | — | 2 |
Ratings of the games shown run from -14 to +13 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Road3g | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+2g | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Collin Klein
Pass share
47.0%
263 pass / 296 run
Plays / game
69.9
8 games
Team sack rate
3.8%
287 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2026
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #201 at the position.
The No. 1,203 recruit in the country is starting at linebacker in the Big 12.
2026 is in progress.
Coaching lineage · 2025–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Chris Klieman → Collin Klein. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
