Kansas State’s recruiting board keeps getting bigger, and Collin Klein is wasting no time pushing into some of the sport’s youngest and most intriguing talent pools.
The latest addition is Lincoln Maggard, a defensive lineman from Mica Mountain High School in Tuscon, Arizona. Kansas State became the fourth school to offer Maggard, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds. He’s a member of the 2029 class, giving Klein another early swing at a prospect plenty of programs are already tracking.
That same theme runs through several of the Wildcats’ recent offers. One of the more eye-catching names is Noah Gigger, a wide receiver at CarrollWood Day School in Tampa.
Gigger is in the 2030 recruiting class and already holds offers from Maryland, North Carolina and Syracuse. The source says Kansas State is likely getting involved early because Gigger is expected to become one of the nation’s top prospects, and he has been playing varsity since he was 14.
The Wildcats have also been active with linemen and tight ends. Brady Reeves, a three-star tight end at Hill-Murray High School in Maplewood, MN, added Kansas State to a list that also includes Vanderbilt, Iowa State and Miami (OH). Ranked just outside the top 20 at his position by 247Sports, Reeves put up 25 catches for 327 yards and nine touchdowns last season.
Another tight end target is Sloan Blackwell, who received an offer Tuesday night. Blackwell attends Waco Midway High School in Waco, TX, and also has offers from Arizona, Syracuse and Arizona State. Last season, he caught 18 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns, per MaxPreps.
On the offensive line, Kansas State offered Jerry Richmond from East St. Louis High School in East St.
Louis, IL. Richmond also has offers from Florida Atlantic, North Carolina and South Dakota.
The Wildcats followed that by offering offensive tackle Asher Megonnell on Friday. Megonnell attends Ankeny Centennial High School in Ankeny, IA, has an offer from Big 12 rival Iowa State, and is currently unranked.
Klein’s recent list of defensive and skill-position targets is just as loaded. Cortez Jones, a linebacker from Westlake (Ga.)
High School, is listed at 6-foot-3 and 20-5 pounds and has offers from Georgia Tech, Louisville, Missouri and Kansas. Drew Langford is another linebacker on the board, though the source does not list additional offers for him.
The defensive side also includes Elijah Smith, a defensive back from Allen (Texas) High School and a member of the 2028 class. Smith has offers from Baylor, Oklahoma State and Louisville. Dailon Denkins, a cornerback from Fort Bend (Texas) High School, is a four-star recruit at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds.
Kansas State has also offered Julian Dwyer, a defensive end at Cincinnati Moeller High School. Dwyer is a three-star recruit with offers from Boston College, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Illinois and Indiana, and 247 Sports ranks him as the 16th-best player in Ohio. Jekai Lee, a defensive end from Butler Community College, checks in at 6-foot-6 and 280 pounds and also holds offers from Florida International, Georgia State, Southern Mississippi and UTSA.
Meanwhile, Jamison Mobley, an offensive/defensive lineman from Jenks High School in Oklahoma, already has five Division I offers despite being in the class of 2029. He’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds and is still growing.
In Other News...
Collin Klein Still Carries One Sunflower Showdown Memory Into Kansas Week
The Sunflower Showdown has looked a lot different for Kansas State ever since the Wildcats turned the series in 2009, when a 17-10 win started a run that still holds today. For Collin Klein, now leading the program as head coach, that stretch carries a personal edge. He was part of the team that helped launch it, and he remembers the sting of Kansas 2008 win as something that sharpened the edge inside the building.
What followed became more than just a streak. That first breakthrough marked a clear turning point for Kansas State football, and the Wildcats used it to stack up several dominant wins in the seasons that came after. As Kansas week arrives again, Klein still has that earlier memory in mind, a reminder of how quickly the rivalry changed and how much the outcome can still mean on both sides. [Read more 🡒]
Collin Klein Sends Kansas State A Clear Rivalry Warning
Kansas States grip on the Sunflower Showdown has lasted so long that it is easy to forget how it started. The Wildcats have beaten Kansas 17 straight times since 2008, and Collin Klein still pointed back to that year as the reminder that rivalry games can flip fast when a team gets comfortable.
Both programs head into the next matchup carrying losing streaks, which only adds a little more tension to a series Kansas State has controlled for more than a decade. For Klein, the message is less about the past dominance and more about staying sharp, because in a rivalry like this, history can disappear quickly if a team lets its guard down. [Read more 🡒]
K-States First Scrimmage Revealed One Encouraging Sign And One Concern
Kansas State got an early look at itself in a closed scrimmage against Tulsa on a neutral court, and the first read was a mixed one. Senior transfer Brandon Rechsteiner and freshman Jaylen Alexander drew praise from head coach Casey Alexander for the way they performed, giving the Wildcats a couple of encouraging notes as the preseason starts to take shape.
The scrimmage also surfaced some issues the staff will want cleaned up before exhibition play begins, most notably on the defensive communication side. Add in the need to manage a few injuries, and the next stretch becomes important for a roster trying to settle in before upcoming tuneups against Missouri and Nebraska. [Read more 🡒]