Kansas State didn’t have to wait long to see Linkon Cure start flashing the talent that made him such a prized recruit. The sophomore tight end just turned in the best game of his young career, and the Wildcats are hoping it’s the first sign of a much bigger stretch ahead.
Cure’s latest step forward came last week against Oklahoma State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, even in a 66-28 loss. He hauled in five passes for 33 yards, both career highs, and gave Kansas State a glimpse of the player the program has been expecting since he arrived.
First-year Wildcats coach Collin Klein addressed Cure’s progress during his weekly press conference, noting that the tight end has kept improving every week in the program. The next move, as Klein sees it, is simple: get him the ball more.
That’s a meaningful shift for a player who spent his freshman season adjusting to the college game. Through this year, Cure has 18 receptions for 185 yards and a touchdown, a clear jump from where he was a year ago.
The expectations around Cure have been heavy from the start. At Goodland High School in Kansas, he was a three-sport standout who starred on the football field, helped lead the basketball team to the state tournament and won a state title in the hurdles. That mix of size, speed and production made him one of the nation’s top high school tight ends and drew interest from Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M.
Cure ultimately chose to stay home and join Kansas State, becoming the first five-star recruit to sign with the program. But with Garrett Oakley and Will Anciaux already in the tight end room, opportunities were limited early on.
Now, with Anciaux out for the season because of injury, Cure has moved into the rotation and started to look like a real impact player. He still has two years left, and after the way he’s trending, the ceiling looks a lot higher than it did a few weeks ago.
In Other News...
Collin Klein Just Made A Pressure-Filled K-State Offensive Adjustment
Collin Klein has made a notable in-season shift on the Kansas State sideline, turning over play-calling duties after the first eight games and asking offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson to handle that job beginning with the Oklahoma State game. For a coach who was already juggling the demands of running a program, the move reflects a desire to step back from the weekly grind and keep his attention on the broader responsibilities that come with being a head coach.
Klein framed the change as a way to reduce stress and sharpen his focus on the bigger picture, but it does not sound like a permanent handoff. He left open the possibility of resuming play-calling later, which makes this less like a full reset and more like a calculated adjustment as the Wildcats try to navigate the rest of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Is Feeling Some Transfer Losses More Than Others
Kansas States transfer departures have become part of the backdrop to the programs recent transition, and the impact is showing up in different ways depending on who left and where they landed. Some of the former Wildcats who moved on after the coaching changes have settled into new roles at major programs, while others are still trying to find the same footing they had in Manhattan. For a team navigating the demands of the 2026 season, those exits are more than a roster note, because they shape both the depth chart and the sense of what might have been.
Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder at SMU and Jayce Brown at LSU are among the names drawing the most attention, not just because of where they ended up, but because of what their departures say about Kansas States talent pipeline. The Wildcats have had to absorb those losses while also dealing with the broader challenge of keeping the roster steady through a coaching transition, and the full effect is still unfolding as those former players continue their new chapters elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Heads To TCU With A Major Quarterback Problem
Kansas State heads into its trip to TCU dealing with a quarterback situation that leaves the offense in a difficult spot. Avery Johnson is out, and backup Jacob Knuth is also unavailable, adding to a list of absences that includes DeArieun Hicks, Sawyer Schilke and Eli Jackson. Max Lovett is listed as questionable, so the Wildcats are still waiting on one more possible answer before kickoff.
The injury report is a challenge on both sides of the matchup, with TCU also set to be without seven players and two safeties listed as questionable. Even so, the Wildcats concerns are the more immediate storyline because of what the quarterback losses mean for how they can function on offense. With depth already being tested, Kansas State will have to sort through its options quickly before facing a conference opponent that has its own availability issues to manage. [Read more 🡒]