‘It felt personable’: K-State football crowd wows Nebraska transfer Adrian Martinez

New experiences are rare when you have played college football for as long as Adrian Martinez.

Still, the Nebraska transfer felt like a freshman as he ran out of the tunnel and took the field for his first home game as Kansas State’s starting quarterback last week at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

“I had pretty high expectations,” Martinez said. “The guys were telling me, it’s going to be awesome out there, it’s going to be electric. I think we sold out and it was a great atmosphere.”

Martinez entered this season having already played in 39 games as a college quarterback, including 20 for the Cornhuskers inside Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. He enjoyed his time in Lincoln and loved playing in front of a sea of red. After all, it is hard to beat a home-crowd advantage that features 90,000 fans no matter how good or bad the team just so happens to be.

But his lone game so far in front of 50,000 purple-clad fans was just as much fun as any of those games.

It was different, though.

“I would say it kind of goes along with how I feel about Manhattan and the community,” Martinez said. “It felt personable, like the crowd was right there and they were really a part of that experience.”

His favorite moment of his first game with the Wildcats occurred in the second half after he scored a rushing touchdown that gave K-State a 27-0 lead. After he ran through the back of the end zone, he exchanged high fives with fans sitting in the front row behind the south end zone.

That’s not something he recalls doing before.

“The ref had to warn me not to high five the crowd, which I should have known better,” Martinez said. “But it was a great experience.”

He also enjoyed watching the K-State defense pitch a shutout as the Wildcats won 34-0.

“It was awesome, it was a great experience,” Martinez said. “That first third down, it took me by surprise how loud it got in there.”

How did that compare to Memorial Stadium?

He isn’t afraid to answer the question.

“Memorial can feel grand at times,” Martinez said. “I would say in Manhattan ... man, you can feel that passion from the student section.”

K-State football fans provided a fun environment for Martinez and the entire team by packing the stadium with 50,469 last weekend. Filling every seat at games has been a challenge for the Wildcats since the coronavirus pandemic began, but that may be changing.

Not only is K-State coming off its first home sellout since 2019, an even bigger crowd is expected when Missouri comes to town at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Wildcats have been selling standing room only tickets for weeks.

It’s safe to say Martinez is ready for more.

“I am incredibly excited to be a part of an old school Big Eight rivalry,” Martinez said. “I know we are sold out and we have a lot of Missouri guys on the team. A lot of guys are passionate about this game.”