Kansas State offensive lineman Scott Frantz, who is thought to be a hot prospect for the NFL, has come out as gay, according to reports.
The sophomore says that his teammates and coaches have already known for a year, according to ESPN.
Frantz says he came out during a team exercise in 2015, after Coach Bill Snyder brought in a motivational speaker who encouraged players to be authentic to themselves.
“I came out to my teammates, and I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that,” Frantz said. “And ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since. So it’s been an amazing experience.”
“So the very first time I said those words were in front of, you know, 110, 120 football guys,” Frantz added. “So you can imagine how scared I was, how nervous I was. … This could go either really bad or could go really good. And thankfully, my teammates embraced me with open arms, and it was great.”
Frantz also said he felt he was gay in fifth grade but didn’t fully accept it until he was a junior in high school.
Coach Snyder insisted that Frantz’ sexual orientation would never have had any effect on his position on the team.
As the 2017 season begins, Frantz will join Arizona freshman My-King Johnson as the only two openly gay players in FBS.
If Frantz were to be drafted into the National Football League, he would become only the second openly gay player to ever join the league. The first was Michael Sam, who was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in 2014 only to wash out after a single season.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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