So much for the “too small” tag.

Coming out of Olathe North High, Darren Sproles kept hearing he wasn’t big enough to play running back at the major-college level.

Even after bulking up his 5-foot-8 frame — relatively speaking — to 184 pounds, he still faced questions about his size well into his spectacular career at Kansas State.

Back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons starting in 2002 proved Sproles could more than hold his own — and after rushing for 1,948 yards as a junior, he was named to the All-America first team Monday by the Associated Press.

Sproles was not immediately available for comment Monday afternoon. But coach Bill Snyder, who has praised Sproles as effusively as he has praised any player in his 15-year tenure, said Sproles deserved the honor.

“So many times he gets into open field and almost breaks your ankles when he makes those moves — and they’re inherent, not anything you can teach,” Snyder said. “He just makes people miss him in such an amazing way. He can embarrass a talented, talented player.”

Kansas State’s three-game losing streak at midseason effectively ended any Heisman talk — at least this season — for Sproles. He finished a distant fifth in the voting despite leading the nation with 2,650 all-purpose yards.

Snyder, who had urged Heisman voters to consider Sproles, said voters shouldn’t have held the Wildcats’ skid against the running back.

“If it’s about the best player on an undefeated football team, or the best player on a team with only one loss, then maybe someone should redefine what the award means if you lose three games and you’re out of it,” Snyder said.

Sproles finished tied for third in the AP Player of the Year balloting and lost out to Michigan’s Chris Perry — also an All-America first-team pick — for the Doak Walker award given to the nation’s top running back.

“He was disappointed. He wanted to win that (the Walker award),” Snyder said. “He’s disappointed he didn’t get invited to New York. But he knows how to handle it, and he puts it in the right perspective.”

Sproles likely boosted his All-America stock with outstanding play down the stretch for the No. 8 Wildcats, who won their first Big 12 Conference title and will play No. 7 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2.

He set a school record with 273 yards rushing when the Wildcats clinched the North Division with a 24-14 win Nov. 22 over Missouri, then followed that up two weeks later with the biggest game of his career.

Against then-No. 1 Oklahoma, an overwhelming favorite to win the conference title game, Sproles ran for 235 yards and caught four passes for another 88 yards in the Wildcats’ 35-7 victory.

He had four plays of 50 yards or more in that game, including a catch on a middle screen pass that he turned into a 60-yard touchdown.

By then, though, half of the Heisman voters had already cast their ballots.

“The feedback I get is that he lost several hundred votes because of that,” Snyder said. “Why weren’t people watching him all along? He was just as good a running back in the first game as he was all year.”

Linebacker Josh Buhl — also considered small for his position — was named to the AP second team.

The senior led KSU with 171 tackles, 11 of those for loss.

“He’s a highly motivated young guy who loves to play the game,” Snyder said. “He’s undersized by common standards for the position he plays … and that does light his fire quite well.”