Breaking down Kansas State football's weekend flurry of four commitments
While basketball recruiting has stolen most of the headlines for the past month, Chris Klieman and his Kansas State football staff have quietly gone about shoring up their roster.
It all came to fruition over the weekend as the Wildcats picked up four commitments — two each on offense and defense — via the transfer portal and junior college ranks.
On defense, the Wildcats added some needed depth in the secondary with Fullerton (Calif.) College cornerback Jordan Wright and Prairie View A&M safety Drake Cheatum. On offense, Anthony Frias, a sophomore from Modesto (Calif.) Junior College, provides another backup option at running back, while Ole Miss graduate transfer Jadon Jackson adds a veteran wide receiver to the lineup.
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K-State won a recruiting battle with Florida State and West Virginia to attract Wright, a 6-foot, 175-pounder from Collierville, Tennessee. He had 21 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble with eight pass breakups as a sophomore for Fullerton.
The Wildcats return starting cornerbacks Ekow Boye-Doe and Julius Brents, but both are seniors. Getting Wright should allow them to be patient in bringing along redshirt freshmen Omar Daniels and Darell Jones.
Klieman and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman had major holes to fill at the three safety positions, and have done so through the transfer portal. Cheatum is the latest addition from the same Prairie View program that last year produced grad transfer Reggie Stubblefield.
Cheatum had a team-high 86 tackles, including 6.5 for loss, and five interceptions last year for Prairie View A&M. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
The Wildcats return sophomore TJ Smith, a seven-game starter last year, and Kennesaw State transfer Cincere Mason, who played in 10 games with one start before suffering a season-ending injury. During the offseason, they added grad transfers Shawn Robinson from Missouri and Josh Hayes from Virginia, plus Kobe Savage from Tyler (Texas) Junior College.
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Ever since 2021 backups Joe Ervin and Jacardia Wright entered the transfer portal at the end of the regular season, the Wildcats have been looking for backup help behind All-America running back Deuce Vaughn. With Vaughn expected to eat up the majority of carries, it has been a hard sell.
But Frias, a 5-10, 205-pounder from Turlock, California, could be just what K-State needed. As a freshman last year, he rushed for 851 yards and 17 touchdowns for an 8-3 Modesto team and has three years of eligibility remaining.
The Wildcats went into the spring with junior Jordan Schippers and redshirt freshman DJ Giddens as the primary backups.
The addition of Jackson further bolsters a wide receiver corps that already returns senior starters Malik Knowles and Phillip Brooks, plus super-senior Kade Warner, junior Keenan Garber and promising redshirt freshman RJ Garcia. Jackson had 15 career catches for 171 yards and one touchdown in three years at Ole Miss.
K-State still is looking for some help at linebacker after losing Maryland transfer Branden Jennings, walk-on Kienen Gaskin and redshirt freshman Gaven Haselhorst to the transfer portal since the final week of spring practice.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football adds four recruiting commitments over weekend
