Hodgepodge group of players propels No. 4 K-State

There are junior college players from the most out-of-the-way places imaginable, and Division I transfers getting a fresh start. Small-town high school stars from the Heartland, and a motley collection of talent overlooked by most of college football's marquee programs.

This is No. 4 Kansas State, arguably the most diverse team in the country.

One of the best, too.

Listening to quarterback Collin Klein describe the hodgepodge that makes up the only unbeaten team in the Big 12, it's as if the Heisman Trophy candidate is likening sagely coach Bill Snyder to the Statue of Liberty — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” as the Emma Lazarus poem goes, only this time it's the overlooked and the underappreciated.

“We do come from pretty diverse parts of the country, diverse backgrounds, different roads that have brought us here,” Klein said. “I mean, it goes back to his formula of taking whoever is here and bringing us in and molding us together and creating a true team to where it doesn't matter where you came from, how you got here, anything like that. What matters is now.”

Right now, the Wildcats are the hottest team in the country.

They've already won at Oklahoma and West Virginia. They're 7-0 overall, 4-0 in the conference, and for once a favorite going into this weekend's game against No. 15 Texas Tech.

Poring over the roster, though, this isn't the kind of team that should be stacking up against top-ranked Alabama, highflying Oregon or even high-profile Notre Dame.

The vast majority of these guys weren't five-star prospects coming out of high school. Heck, most of them didn't even arrive at Kansas State out of high school, instead going through a junior college for reasons ranging from academics to lack of interest the first time around.

Eight of the 11 starters on defense went that route, including All-American candidate Nigel Malone, the team's top cornerback. Defensive tackle John Sua went to California's Allan Hancock College, hardly a pipeline to national prominence, and defensive ends Meshak Williams and Adam Davis formed quite the pass-rushing tandem during their days at Hutchinson Community College.

Then there are the guys who WERE high-profile recruits but opted to go elsewhere, such as linebacker Arthur Brown, a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.

He had his choice of schools coming out of Wichita, Kan., and opted for the sunshine and warm weather of Miami. When things didn't go how he foresaw, Brown headed back to the often-overcast, usually blustery and far more frigid life of Flint Hills.