More than a name: Student copes with moment in viral spotlight

By Riley Wagner

The Pittsburg State University Gorillas are known nationally for being a top standard program in NCAA Division II football. This year, however, the Gorillas football team got national coverage because of something different. 

During the season, one of the team’s players, Luke Niggemann, went viral on social media after videos posted to the team’s social media accounts caught the attention of commenters who noticed the similarity of his last name to a racial slur. Then it happened again. 

Now, after videos of him have been watched and reshared some 4 million times, Niggemann is trying to sort out exactly what it all means, not only for his career but also his personal life.

Going viral

Football has been a part of Niggemann’s life for as long as he can remember. At Girard High School, just 11 miles from PSU, Niggemann was a quarterback, and a good one. He was a two-time 3-A all-state player and was a finalist for 3-A offensive player of the year. 

After a strong start in high school, the tight end found success again this year, his second with Pitt State. The team’s “wildcat” offensive package fit well with his skills from Girard. Niggemann racked up 149 rushing yards on 24 rushing attempts with seven touchdowns on the year. 

But it wasn’t his play that got people’s attention—it was his name.

About halfway through the season, a video posted to the team’s TikTok page gained more than 700,000 views. The video showed Niggemann scoring a touchdown against Missouri Western, but the focus was on the closeness of his name to a racial slur rather than about his gameplay. 

Then, on Oct. 21, 2024, another video grabbed the spotlight, this time truly going viral. The video is of him scoring a 32-yard touchdown run against Fort Hays State. The post on the team’s page alone the video has eclipsed nearly 4 million views and 394,400 likes. 

Other TikTok accounts such as “barstoolsports,” which has over 43 million followers, have also posted the video. Barstoolsports’s Jac Mac posted a version of the video of his own that has also garnered 1 million views. 

“This is all brand new to me”

The fame following from the videos has made things complicated for Niggemann. He said he never expected something like it to happen, least of all to a player in rural Kansas.

“Going viral is something I didn’t see happening to me,” Niggemann said. “Small town Girard, Kansas, doesn’t have fancy social media like that, so this is all brand new to me.” 

During the season, he said it seemed like these viral videos happened every week—which brought attention to the team, even if it wasn’t for the best of reasons. For Niggemann, these moments in the spotlight were just a byproduct of the work done by his coaches and peers. 

“I was very lucky to be put into great situations by both coaches and teammates,” he said. “The hard part was done for me.” 

One of those teammates is quarterback Jake Wolff, who said the videos of Niggemann going viral reassured them of the type of man Niggemann is.

“My first impression of Luke was that he was very down to earth and always wants to do the right thing,” Wolff said. “In fact, the viral videos reassured it. Luke isn’t the kind of guy that wants or needs to be the center of attention. He would rather the team get the attention.”

Niggemann’s roommate is Pitt State linebacker Tyler Ross, who agreed with Wolff that Niggemann is the kind of person who doesn’t let this kind of attention get to them.

“He is a very humble and considerate person who is willing to put others first,” Ross said. “He approaches each day as if there isn’t a tomorrow.”

Those are important traits when fame, however fleeting, arrives. With viral attention comes pressure to perform. But Niggemann said years of training have made him comfortable with that kind of pressure.

“I have always had a lot of pressure on me growing up in sports,” Niggemann said. “It doesn’t bother me a bit. I am only concerned about the well being of the team.” 

Ross noted, though, that he’s heard Niggemann say that he’s using the pressure—not to build himself up but to take the team even further next year.

“One specific time, he mentioned pressure to have as good of a year, or better than last year’s season, next year because he didn’t want to be a one hit wonder,” Ross said.

Leaving a different mark

Now, with the season over, he feels less in the spotlight.

“It does not affect me much on a day to day basis, but it definitely comes up in conversation,” he said. 

The question now is whether the attention gathered in 2024 carries over into the 2025 season—and whether he’s known at Pitt State for his name or his game-play.

“Being viral right now doesn’t matter to me,” Niggemann said. “I would rather leave a different mark while I am here. I want to be remembered as a person who was always looking to lift up and bring others along.”