Goal No. 2: UNSELFISHNESS. There is no “I” in TEAM.

#2 Jake Rubley

Redshirt Freshman | 6-3 | 210 lbs. | Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Quarterback
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Third-String
• Status: On Scholarship

Jake Rubley (b. July 15, 2002) is a four-star pro-style quarterback from Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado (with a tiny detour) who is KSU’s biggest recruit since Jake Waters.

Rubley redshirted in 2021 and did not see any game action, but that could change Saturday.

Although he is currently the third-string quarterback, according to reports, the coaches want to try to preserve Will Howard’s redshirt this season and only use him in times of need, so routine mop-up duty could fall to some combination of Rubley and Jaren Lewis instead.

Rubley, who is majoring in business administration, played his first three years of high school for the Falcons under his head coach and father, T.J. Rubley, who played collegiately at Tulsa before being selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1992 NFL Draft.

Jake Rubley was rated as the 25th-best overall prospect in the Class of 2021 by ESPN, while the organization also rated him the third-best pocket passer in the class and the top overall prospect in Iowa, where he (very briefly) played as a senior due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was regarded as the 12th-best pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2021 by Rivals, while 247Sports rated him No. 22 after he threw for 3,892 yards and 39 touchdowns to go along with 269 rushing yards and seven scores during his career at Highlands Ranch High School.

Rubley was named to the 2020 Sports Illustrated All-America preseason watch list after he earned honorable mention all-state honors as a junior. He also competed in track.

When the state of Colorado shut down high school sports in 2020, Rubley’s dad moved him to Des Moines, Iowa, in a last-ditch effort to get his son on the field for his senior year.

Jake played two games as a senior at Valley High School in Des Moines, under head coach Gary Swenson, and threw for 356 yards and a touchdown on 33-of-57 aim for the Tigers.

After those two games, though, the state of Iowa ruled him ineligible and ended his prep career prematurely. Rubley enrolled early at K-State and arrived in time for spring practices.

(You can read more about that Iowa nonsense in this somewhat snarky and judgy column.)

Rubley picked K-State over a truly impressive set of Power 5 scholarship offers from Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida State, Iowa, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

He also had Group of 5 offers from Colorado State and Idaho, as well as interest from Air Force, Clemson and Notre Dame.

Rubley’s primary recruiters were current offensive coordinator quarterbacks coach Collin Klein and his predecessor as offensive coordinator, Courtney Messingham.

Plus, as head coach Chris Klieman explained, his commitment energized the entire class:

... He absolutely did a great job of trying to help out and reach out, and kids reached out to him. When you land someone of Jake’s caliber, people take notice, and it definitely helped us.”

His father, T.J., ranks fourth in Tulsa history in passing yards, total offense and passing touchdowns for a career, and was inducted into the Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

T.J. Rubley also played in 10 career games with seven starts in two NFL seasons with the Rams and Green Bay Packers.

Jake’s older brother, Ryan, also played football at Tulsa and later at Augustana College.