Kansas State offensive lineman Cooper Beebe was in high school in the Kansas City area in the mid-2010s when the catchphrase “We want Bama” might have reached its peak popularity.

The confident yet tongue-in-cheek slogan was held up by fans on signs and shared, sometimes ironically, as a hashtag on social media.

For Beebe — the Wildcats’ prototypical three-star recruit ranked No. 1,433 nationally by 247 Sports — the humorous hypothetical has now become his team’s reality.

“Everybody is always like, ‘We want Bama, we want Bama,’” he said Thursday. “Now you look at it and it’s like, ‘Wow, we’re really playing Alabama.’

“As long as I’ve been alive, they’ve been at the top of college football, and they still are.”

That is not entirely true for Beebe, who was born in 2001, but Nick Saban’s 16-season run at Alabama has reached the point where even college football’s oldest players have little-to-no memory of the Tide pre-Saban.

“Never, ever in your life — you watch them win a national championship and you’re like, ‘I’m never gonna play that team.’ Now we’re here. It’s super exciting,” he said. “You’re going against one of the best teams in the country. You couldn’t be more excited.”

The excitement, Beebe says, should not be confused with overconfidence.

“We know the challenge ahead. We know how good this team is. They’ve been successful for years,” he said. “I think we’re prepared for the challenge.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.