Slate: K-State Adds Two Football Commitments

Previously

BracketCat continued his clockwork feature series of K-State football players by highlighting number 82, walk-on tight end Cameron Cotton, who is a legacy K-Stater. Do you know who is number 81? Check back later to find out.

Football

Lots of June football news today. Most important: K-State secured two commitments to the 2019 class yesterday. The first is Lawrence Free State’s Keenan Garber, a 5’11 defensive back who may switch to receiver in Manhattan. How excited was he to commit? He and his parents drove from Lawrence to Manhattan to deliver the word in person. Garber becomes the third recent scholarship player raided from enemy territory, joining starting offensive tackle Scott Frantz (Free State) and redshirt freshman defensive back Ekow Boye-Doe (Lawrence High), who is a longtime friend of Garber’s.

The second recruit, Velton Gardner, made his pledge about fifteen minutes after Garber announced his. Gardner is a dual-threat quarterback from Skyline High School in Dallas. His size (5’9, 170 pounds) has led many to speculate that he may change positions in college. But others have compared him to current quarterback Alex Delton, who is no giant himself. In any case, K-State out-dueled Texas Tech, Colorado, Syracuse, SMU and others to secure a commitment from a good athlete.

Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos, who is touring western Nebraska with football coach Scott Frost, said he would like to schedule future games with former Big 8 foes, especially K-State and KU. You might suspect there is a long, long line of Power-5 programs waiting to schedule a series with Kansas, but the mention of K-State specifically is noteworthy. Have realignment wounds healed sufficiently to schedule games in Lincoln again? In any case, don’t expect a resumption of northern border hostilities anytime soon. Football schedules are booked years in advance, and the Cornhuskers’ non-conference slate is set through 2022.

Men’s Basketball

Bruce Weber and his staff have been busy hosting prospects for the 2019 recruiting class. The most recent is 6’9 post Montavious Murphy. As with seemingly all things recruiting, the coverage is mostly behind a paywall. But apparently Murphy, a Spring, Texas native, who ESPN rates as a four-star recruit, loved his visit to the Little Apple and expects to announce his decision soon. You can see his highlight package at Verbal Commits.

Women’s Basketball

Jeff Mittie’s squad will play a difficult non-conference slate in 2018-2019, with games against nine post-season and five NCAA tournament teams. The highlight is a November trip to Cancun, where the ‘Cats will play Syracuse, DePaul and Princeton. The schedule appears especially daunting when viewed in light of the youth on K-State’s roster. The squad will include six sophomores and four incoming freshmen.

Miscellany

The Kansas City Royals have made an annual tradition of hosting local college fanbases for one night each season, and Friday is the night for K-State fans to wear their purple pride at Kaufman Stadium. You might not see a good baseball game. But you could get a gray and purple K-State-themed Royals cap, for whatever incentive that provides.

Happy cooler Tuesday, ‘Cat fans.