Kansas State Football: Identity crisis plagues Wildcats
By John McCarty
We will start with recruiting. When I spoke to both John Kurtz and Matt Hall, they both emphasized to me how little effort the Cats as a program (aside from recruiting director Tyler Braet) do.
Kansas State, except for perhaps bye weeks, doesn’t recruit during the season. If you are wondering, yes, that is unheard of. Snyder wants to focus on the players already on campus.
When I spoke to John Kurtz, he indicated to me the changes in approach, a ‘shift in going after a more coachable player. More mentoring approach with players. No longer did the staff ‘turn over every rock’ to find a special hidden gem.
Kansas State has also had issues recruiting their own backyard. Over the past ten years, the Wildcats have failed to land any of the top recruits from their own state.
"“As much as anything, it’s a lack of effort. The top two players this year are quarterback Graham Mertz and defensive end Marcus Hicks. Martz wasn’t offered or ever pursued, and Hicks, -who’s family was literally begging K-State to recruit him- was never made a prime target” -Matt Hall, KStateOnline.com"
The Wildcats, in part because they don’t put special emphasis on any one player, rarely get into recruiting battles with other programs, especially other Power-5 conference schools. Per Matt Hall, as current, there are only 34 players on the roster that had received scholarship offers from another P5 school when they committed and signed with Kansas State.
"“I think that number dips down below 20 when trying to find kids who had multiple P5 offers”"
An interesting school in part of this discussion is the University of Wisconsin. Not in warm weather or a coast or even a long track record of greatness, the Badgers have had success recruiting in the Kansas/Kansas City area.
A.J. Taylor (Rockhurst High School, Class of 2016) along with Isaiah Loudermilk (Howard, Kansas, Class of 2016) are contributors for a Badger program, along with commitments from Blue Valley North quarterback Graham Mertz and Wichita tight end Clay Cundiff. Wisconsin put far more effort into recruiting these local players, going out of their way to make a young player feel special and wanted.
"“These players heard far, far, far more from Wisconsin, for example, then they ever did K-State. I think Kansas State has a it of an expectation that Kansas kids should come to K-State out of desire to play for the Wildcat program and less because they put in a ton of effort recruiting them” – Matt Hall"