What's The Latest On New Kansas State Football Star Elijah Hill?

Kansas State football kicks off its season in just two weeks. Wildcats fans will finally see their favorite team back on their screens and get to watch what program legend Collin Klein does in his first year coaching.

But to have the success they've been hyped for over the offseason, they need major improvement in one area: the defense, particularly upfront. Last season, Kansas State boasted arguably their weakest defensive unit since 2015, with opponents gashing it for big yardage. This is the biggest area of improvement behind the offensive overhaul.

Hopefully, defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson can get the program back on track. One of the biggest names being lauded as the saving grace is defensive end Elijah Hill.

After missing a few spring practices, Hill has been back to producing in the fall.

"He's been healthy this entire fall camp. He's got really heavy hands," Peterson said in his fall camp press conference. "We talk about spilling pullers and slicing tight ends and things of that nature – they'd better bring it because he's about to headbutt them."

Hill has been hyped as the most coveted addition aside from edge rusher Wendell Gregory, who won the 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year award after logging 12 tackles for loss and four sacks. Hill led Conference USA in sacks last season with nine on just 22 total tackles.

"He does a really good job being physical at the point of attack, and he does have a really good explosion," Peterson said. "That's one of those positions where it's yet to be determined exactly what the extent of the role is and what specific situations. But despite missing some practices in the spring, he's in a good spot right now."

The defensive ends have been the strong suit of the defense, holding three of the last five Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year awards. This continued last season, with guys like Tobi Osunsanmi and Ryan Davis anchoring the line upfront.

The main focus will be on run defense, which starts in the middle. Kansas State was one of the conference's worst units to start the season, regularly giving up huge rushing performances and failing to set the tone upfront. This trickled down to the secondary, which couldn't contain opposing receivers for much longer as the run defense continued hurting them. Either that or they'd have to overhelp up front and steer away from their own missions in the secondary.

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Jayden Armant is a contributor to KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at [email protected].