Wildcats walk-on turned Blue Bombers rookie Schoen shining in award-worthy season

From starting as a walk-on at Kansas State University to putting together a Most Outstanding Rookie-worthy season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, wide receiver Dalton Schoen has turned heads during his inaugural season in the Canadian Football League.

Born and raised in Overland Park, Kansas, Schoen’s journey to becoming one of the most dominant wide receivers in the CFL started at his local Blue Valley Northwest High School. His talents saw him garner attention from prestigious Ivy League academic institutions such as Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Air Force Academy, according to Rivals.com. Though, there was only one place he wanted to be, even if it meant earning a roster spot and working his way up.

"I just wanted to be at K-State so bad. I think it's a really important part of my story," the 25-year-old Schoen told TSN. "I grew up a huge K-State fan and both my parents went there, all my aunts and uncles, my older brother, older sister; everyone had gone there. I looked at a lot of different places in recruiting, but it meant the world to me to get that walk-on spot at K-State and, obviously, it didn't take much for me to buy into the program."

Schoen spent his entire collegiate career with the Wildcats, starting as a redshirt freshman in 2015. The following 2016 season, Schoen pulled on the Wildcats' iconic purple and white uniform against Florida Atlantic University, marking the start of his goal to get better and make an impact on the program.

"I think as far as my career goes, something coach (Bill) Snyder, who was my coach when I got there, said – legendary coach – he would always talk about intentional improvement. If you can just get a little bit