By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Every school has “max-out day,” when guys try to better their best in a variety of weightlifting exercises. No. 20 Kansas State is no different.

But when Jonathan Truman settles under the bar, everybody else in the room stops what they’re doing to watch. The former walk-on-turned starting linebacker is quite possibly the pound-for-pound strongest player to have ever come through Bill Snyder’s program.

Truman has been known to bench press more than 430 pounds and squat more 540, numbers that are impressive for anyone but even more so considering he’s just 5-foot-11, 215 pounds.

In fact, that weight training is a big reason he’ll be starting for the second straight year when Kansas State opens its season Aug. 30 against Stephen F. Austin.