When Mesa Ribordy was a senior at Louisburg High he was attracting a lot of attention from college coaches. But they weren’t from the type of schools he wanted to play for.

Eventually he would pass on all of small-school offers he had to chase his dream of playing football at a higher level.

“I had a lot of division two offers,” Ribordy said. “I had Illinois State, Missouri State and others like that. I really wanted to play Power Five football and Kansas gave me the walk on offer. Thankfully I came from a family that could afford it and helped me with that. I decided that was the route I wanted to take and it worked out really well.”

After redshirting his freshman year Ribordy would earn a scholarship a year later. Last year as a redshirt freshman he played guard before settling in as the center. He started the last five games at center and never had a bad snap.

Coming out of Louisburg he lettered nine times in football, basketball, and track. When the Jayhawks reached out to him he was a 245-pound tight end. A few meals later he is now tipping the scales at 300 pounds.

“I have put on 55 pounds since I got here,” he said. “I weighed in at 245 pounds my first day. Putting on the weight was a struggle at times especially my first summer. I lost weight in the beginning because all of the running. Then I started gained it slowly. After my redshirt year I was about 270. The best way to do it is gain it slow. It was a good balance with the majority of muscle and a little bit of fat. I think the process was really good.”

Putting on the weight wasn’t the only adjustment he had to make. After playing tight end in high school he never played a down as an offensive lineman let alone snap a ball.

“The difference between the two is offensive line is a natural position,” Ribordy said. “You don’t just catch a ball and run. You have a very regimented of technique and footwork that you have to learn that took me awhile to understand. Once I got it, it clicked pretty quick. The hard part for me has been understanding defensive structure and deciphering what they’re going to do. That’s one thing I am still working on. Coach Yenser has helped me a lot.”

Before the season started Ribordy was named to the Rimington Watch List. The award goes to the nation’s top center. In two years Ribordy went from a walk on, learning a new position he had never played, to being named to the Rimington List.

“It was a little shocking,” he said about making the list. “I never saw myself playing offensive line and from the position switch I never saw myself excelling this fast. It has been a nice surprise in a way but a lot of hard work went into that. Putting in the hours with our coaches has really helped out. At the same time, I feel like I have earned it to be in the position that I am.”