MANHATTAN — The NCAA transfer portal officially opened for undergraduates on Dec. 4, and since then 16 Kansas State football players have announced their intentions to leave before the Wildcats head to Orlando, Florida, to face North Carolina State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28.

The Wildcats finished the regular season at 8-4 and tied for fourth in the Big 12 with a 6-3 record.

Since the early departures, K-State’s coaches have turned their attention to replenishing the roster through the portal, and in the past couple of days have added two more commitments, bringing their total to three.

The first portal addition, last week, was North Dakota offensive lineman Easton Kilty. In the past two days they have added Austin Peay defensive end Travis Bates and Ball State safety Jordan Riley.

This is still by far the greatest exodus from the program in the portal’s brief history, which may force the Wildcats to replenish the roster with more portal additions. K-State coach Chris Klieman has used the portal sparingly, but to good advantage in recent years, bringing in key players to fill positions of need while preferring to develop the roster from within when possible.

K-State’s biggest transfer hits so far were senior quarterback Will Howard and senior safety Kobe Savage, both two-year starters and team captains.