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K-State National Signing Day 2014: Hayes, Mack, Adams, and Davidson

College football's National Signing Day is Wednesday, February 5, 2014. Your benevolent despot takes a peek at four more new faces, one of whom's already secured.

By Jon Morse
Are you excited yet?
Are you excited yet?
Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Moving on with our breakdown of K-State's expected recruiting class, we've got a strange mixed bag. One guy who's already signed and enrolled, another guy who came out of nowhere, a raw athlete, and a walk-on. Let's carry on, shall we?

Luke Hayes
Offensive Tackle
Butler CC; Scott City High School (Scott City, Kansas)
6'6", 300 lbs, n/a 40

The eleventh-best JUCO OT in the country and the eleventh-best JUCO player out of Kansas according to 247, Hayes had a standout year on the offensive line at Butler. Anchoring a line which helped the Grizzlies to a 9-2 season and a 6th-place finish in the final NJCAA rankings, Hayes earned first-team Jayhawk Conference honors and was a second-team NJCAA All-American.

Hayes, who is already on campus and signed his NLI during the November period, is a serious candidate to step in and immediately take over for the departed Cornelius Lucas. Blake Seiler managed to secure Hayes against a fairly strong raft of competitors including Michigan State, Miami, Kentucky, Kansas, Baylor, Arizona, and North Carolina State.

Jesse Mack
Cornerback
Highland CC / Spartanburg High School (Spartanburg, South Carolina)
5'11 1/2", 180 lbs, 4.50 40

Mack came out of nowhere the week of the early signing period and announced his intention to play at K-State, but didn't offer a hard commit until after his official visit a couple of weeks ago. Mack is a top-150 JUCO recruit who redshirted in 2012, making him a 3x3 when he arrives at K-State. (247 has him listed as an early enrollee, but in a conversation with ESPN's Jeremy Crabtree Mack noted he'll be graduating in May.) Mack had 42 tackles and 2 picks last year for Highland, who advanced to the NJCAA playoffs for the first time in school history.

Mack's sudden emergence was timely, coming just days before Darius White decommitted. He may not be a factor at all this year, though he's got no redshirt to burn. His commitment, however, blunts the absence of a true freshman recruit at a position in which the program is desperately in need of help. One concern from watching film: he ducks for the shins a lot. The staff's going to have to break him of that and team him how to tackle.

(My favorite bit in this video: Mack pancakes an OL on a blocked FG return)

Kendall Adams
Athlete (Safety/Wide Receiver)
All Saints Episcopal High School (Fort Worth, Texas)
6'1", 197 lbs, 4.60 40

Hauled in by Andre Coleman, Adams racked up fairly impressive stats on both sides of the ball as a senior. As a safety, he had 83 tackles (7 for loss, and a sack), four picks, a forced fumble and three recoveries; as a receiver, he hauled in 47 balls for 981 yards and 14 touchdowns.

It will be interesting to see exactly what the staff chooses to do with Adams, but the prevailing opinion in recruiting circles is that he's a safety, not a receiver. If so, he's definitely stepping into a position of needed depth.

Zach Davidson
Quarterback
Harrisonville High School (Harrisonville, Missouri)
6'5", 210 lbs, n/a 40

When Aaron Sharp decommitted, panic set in across the land, riots ensued, families were torn apart. But then, quietly, a senior from Harrisonville decided he was going to listen to Del Miller and walk on in Manhattan, and there was... well, mostly silence, because nobody gets excited about walk-ons. But Miller wanted Davidson badly, even though he had no scholarship to offer.

But Davidson's actually an intriguing prospect, and if you haven't seen his video yet I think you might get a little excited. A three-year starter at Harrisonville, he was named first-team all-state as an all-purpose back -- and was also an academic all-state selection. He targets the ball well, and he runs with Klein-like determination (although he could use a little more pep in his step). At worst, Davidson will provide Jesse Ertz some needed competition down the road, but it's entirely possible in 2017-18 we could be looking at each other and saying, "Aaron who?"

NEXT: Curtis takes aim at the two big guns as he picks off four more commits.

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