Tyler Lockett

Tyler Lockett (born September 28, 1992) is an American college football wide receiver, punt returner and kickoff returner for the Kansas State Wildcats football team of Kansas State University. He has completed his junior season for the 2013 team. Lockett is the son and nephew of professional football players, and was a prominent member of three state high school championship teams&mdash;two in football and a third in basketball. Through the first nine games of his freshman college season for the 2011 Wildcats, Lockett led the nation in average yards per kickoff return, but he was injured and missed the rest of the season. Nonetheless, he was recognized as a consensus All-American return specialist afterward. In 2012, he was an honorable mention All-Big 12 performer for the 2012 team. In 2013, he was a first team All-Big 12 performer for the 2013 team at both wide receiver and all-purpose receiver. That season he established Kansas State school records for single-game receiving yards, single game all-purpose yards and career kickoff return yards.

Early years
Lockett was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, where he helped lead the Booker T. Washington Hornets to Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) championships in both high school football and basketball. As a sophomore he had several notable contributions to the team on its way to the school's first football OSSAA championship in 24 years. As a junior, Lockett played most of the year with a broken wrist that had at first been diagnosed as a severe sprain. He suffered the injury in the second game of the football season and did not have a screw put in his wrist until after basketball season. Booker T. Washington compiled a 13–1 record and won the 2010 OSSAA 5A championship in football his senior year.

Lockett played several positions in high school, and he was voted All-State by the Oklahoma Coaches Association as a defensive back and Class 5A All-State as a wide receiver. His All-State selection got him invited to the state East–West All-Star game. Lockett was rated as the 16th best high school football player in the state of Oklahoma class of 2011 by Rivals.com, the 115th best cornerback in the national class of 2011 by Scout.com, and the 170th best wide receiver in the class by ESPN.com.

Lockett reached the state championship game in basketball, where Booker T. Washington defeated El Reno High School 72–59 to win the 2011 OSSA 5A Championship. He was voted to the all-tournament second team. Lockett also finished third in the 2011 OSSAA Class 5A state track and field championships in both the 100 meters (11.08 seconds) and the 200 meters (21.9 seconds).

College career
Lockett received an athletic scholarship to attend Kansas State University, where he has played for coach Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats football team since 2011. Both his father Kevin and uncle Aaron played wide receiver for the K-State Wildcats under Snyder. The Wildcats' receivers coach, Michael Smith, has also coached Lockett, his father and his uncle.

Freshman (2011)
He had hoped to redshirt during the 2011 season, which was his freshman year, so that he could add size. He played in 2011 as a true freshman and got off to a modest start. Lockett only recorded four receptions for 50 yards, three rushes for nine yards, one kickoff return for ten yards and two punt returns for a total of 13 yards in his first five games through October 8. Things started to turn around on October 15 when he posted a 100-yard return of a kickoff for a touchdown against Texas Tech. Over the ensuing weeks, he earned numerous Big 12 Conference honors for the 2011 team, including becoming a two-time Big Special Teams Player of the Week. His first Player of the Week recognition came on October 24 after he produced a 251-yard all-purpose yards performance on October 22 against Kansas in the Governor's Cup that included posting a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown while becoming the first player in school history to return kickoffs for touchdowns in consecutive games and having a career high five-reception 110-yard receiving day. His other Player of the Week recognition that season came on November 7 after a 315-yard all-purpose yard November 5 game against Oklahoma State that included an 80-yard kickoff return and three rushes for 84 yards as well as three receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown. Due to what was at first an undisclosed injury, he did not play in the final three games of Kansas State's regular season. Later, the injury was determined to be a lacerated kidney. In the four games before the injury, he had at least three receptions and 125 all-purpose yards in each game.

He was the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, a second-team All-Big 12 selection as a kickoff returner/punt returner, and an honorable mention selection as a wide receiver. He was a first-team All-American selection by Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation, and a second-team All-American selection by CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated. As a result of the extent of his honors, he was recognized as a consensus All-American by the NCAA. He also picked up numerous All-Freshman honors from Sporting News, Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), CBS Sports, Rivals.com (2nd team) and College Football News (honorable mention, WR). Lockett failed to play in 75 percent of the Wildcats' games in order to be eligible to be the NCAA statistical leader for average kickoff return yardage. Although Lockett averaged 35.19 yards per return (16 returns for 563 yards), another freshman, Raheem Mostert of Purdue, led the NCAA statistical category with a 33.48 average.

Sophomore (2012)
Lockett entered the season as a preseason All-Big 12 first team selection by the Big 12 media as a kickoff returner, but ESPN only listed him as an honorable mention selection, giving the first team honor to Justin Gilbert. On September 15, Lockett posted his third career kickoff return touchdown against North Texas, by returning a first quarter kickoff 96 yards. He earned Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors on September 17. On October 20, he posted career highs in receptions (9), receiving yards (194) and receiving TDs (2) against West Virginia, giving him the fifth highest single-game receiving yardage total in school history. His fourth career kickoff return touchdown occurred on November 3 against Oklahoma State. This earned Lockett another Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week. On November 15, Lockett earned a second team Academic All-Big 12 selection. Lockett was a 2012 All-Big 12 honorable mention selection both at wide receiver and special teams. He was also an honorable mention All-American return specialist selection by Sports Illustrated.

Junior (2013)
He opened the season with 7 receptions for 113 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown pass, against North Dakota State on August 30. The following week, he added 111 yards against Louisiana–Lafayette on 8 receptions. On September 21, he connected with quarterback Jake Waters for 13 receptions for 237 yards against Texas in the 2013 Big 12 Conference season opener and had an additional 96 return yards on kickoffs. 237 receiving yards is a Kansas State single-game record, surpassing Jordy Nelson's 214 yards against Iowa State on November 3, 2007. This receiving yardage total was the 2nd highest in the first four weeks of the season behind Texas A&M wideout Mike Evans' 297 yards. Lockett suffered a hamstring injury in the first half of the October 5 contest against Oklahoma State. He returned to the lineup on October 26, to post three touchdowns and 111 yards on 8 receptions and help Kansas State achieve its first Big 12 win of the season against West Virginia. On November 16, Lockett posted 8 receptions for 123 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown reception against TCU. One week later, Lockett caught 12 passes for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns against Oklahoma. He also returned 5 kickoffs for 162 yards. Lockett broke his own Kansas State single-game record for receiving yards and surpassed Darren Sproles for the Kansas State single-game all-purpose yards record (440). Tyler Lockett was named the Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on November 25 upon becoming the all-time Kansas state leader in career kickoff return yards with 1780. His 278 single-game receiving yards was fourth in Big 12 history and his 440 single-game all-purpose yards ranked second in Big 12 history and fifth in FBS history. Following the season, he was recognized as an All-Big 12 Conference first team selection as both a wide receiver and an all-purpose player. FWAA named him second team All-American at wide receiver and Sports Illustrated gave him honorable mention All-American recognition as an all-purpose player. In the December 28, 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Lockett had 10 receptions for 116 yards and 3 touchdowns. It marked the most receptions by any receiver in a Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and the most receptions in a Bowl game by a Kansas State receiver.

Personal
Tyler was born to Nicole Edwards and Kevin Lockett who, having played at K-State from 1993 to 1996, is the school's all-time leading receiver. His uncle, Aaron, who played at K-State from 1998 to 2001, is their fourth all-time leading receiver as well as their second all-time leading punt returner. Aaron also holds Big 12 Conference records and set the school record in the 60 meters. Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder had coached his father and uncle. His paternal grandparents are John and Beatrice Lockett.