Jack Fabris emerges as unlikely hero for Kansas State with touchdown against Tulane

Jack Fabris was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.

That is the easy way to describe how the 6-foot-2 redshirt freshman safety from Bogart, Georgia was able to become an unlikely hero for the Kansas State football team during a 34-27 victory over Tulane on Saturday at Yulman Stadium.

But there is much to the story of how Fabris was able to scoop up a fumble and then return it 60 yards for a game-changing touchdown against the Green Wave.

K-State coach Chris Klieman has spoken highly of Fabris since the day he arrived on campus. He showed talent immediately and possessed a higher football IQ than many of his older teammates. In time, Klieman kept saying, Fabris was going to be a playmaker for the Wildcats.

His moment arrived in the fourth quarter Saturday, when K-State linebacker Austin Romaine put pressure on Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah and forced a fumble near midfield.

“Big credit to Austin Romaine,” Fabris said. “He got back there and had the strip sack. I just looked down there and, boop, it falls on the ground for a scoop and score. It was just kind of an instinctual kind of thing. That’s what happened.”

Fabris made the play look easy, as he picked up the ball and ran untouched into the end zone.

But Klieman said many young players may have jumped on the ball in that situation rather than pick it up and try for the score.

Klieman called it the biggest play of the afternoon.

“Absolutely, it was,” Klieman said. “They were driving and we needed to make a turnover. We hadn’t created one the whole season and what a better time to have it happen. Jack Fabris is a redshirt freshman who hasn’t played a lot. Lots of kids would dive on that, and Jack, because he’s a coach’s kid, was smart enough to pick it up and score. That was huge. That was a turning point.”

Fabris grew up in a football family.

His father, Jon, once worked as an assistant coach for the Wildcats under Bill Snyder. He is now retired from college coaching, but he routinely makes the drive to Manhattan so he can watch practice. He was in New Orleans on Saturday, and that support helped Fabris make the biggest play of his young college career.

“I knew the quarterback scrambled back deep, away from all of the linemen,” Fabris said. “I wasn’t thinking, oh we need a big play. I guess it was, but it was just an instinctual thing. I decided to scoop it. When I picked it up I made sure that no one was around me and then I took it into the end zone.”

Believe it or not, Fabris says he works on that play just in case he’s able to recover a fumble in games.

“We work it in practice every week,” Fabris said, “the right way to scoop up the ball when it’s out in the open.”

K-State fans didn’t expect much from Fabris this season, but that will likely change now. That’s what happens when you score a touchdown and help your team win an important road game.