K-State recruiting notebook: Will the Sunflower Showdown have an impact on recruiting?
Kansas State hasn’t yet seen the payoff on the recruiting trail it might have expect after downing No. 5 Oklahoma at home Saturday, but a trip to Lawrence offers another opportunity.
Although the Wildcats might not see the returns of a win over the Jayhawks this weekend, there is at least one high-profile prospect the result might influence down the road. Here is your weekly K-State recruiting notebook.
Another Lawrence product on the move?
Every year since 2017, a prospect out of Lawrence has pledged to K-State.
In 2015, offensive lineman Scott Frantz went with the Wildcats. Since then, cornerback Ekow Boye-Doe, receiver Keenan Garber and fullback Jax Dineen all came to Manhattan, too.
There might be another in the class of 2021.
Lawrence High running back Devin Neal has been a name circulating across the Kansas high school football landscape. He has helped take Lawrence from 1-8 last season to 7-1 already in 2019.
Neal has two offers: KU and K-State. Only a sophomore, it would behoove both programs to invest a lot of capital in Neal before he pulls in more from out-of-state programs.
Neal has already taken an unofficial visit to KU, but there is reason to believe K-State would get the last laugh.
Heading into the 2019 Sunflower Showdown, the Wildcats have 57 former Kansas high school football players on the roster. KU has 28. K-State has four Kansan captains: Trey Dishon of Horton, Wyatt Hubert of Shawnee Heights, Dalton Schoen of Blue Valley Northwest and Denzel Goolsby of Bishop Carroll.
KU has one: Bryce Tornaden of Lawrence Free State.
So far in the race for uncommitted in-state talent, K-State is dominating.
The Wildcats have the oral pledge of Blue Valley’s Dorian Stephens and lead on Gardner-Edgerton’s Davonte Pritchard and Rose Hill’s Noah Bolticoff.
K-State has five who are verbally pledged to the class of 2020. The Jayhawks have three.
K-State hasn’t lost to KU since 2008, but Wildcat coach Chris Klieman said he isn’t placing any more importance on this game on the field or on the recruiting trail.
“It’s still a body of work,” Klieman said. “I don’t like to look at one game. That was obviously a big game and a big win, but it’s still about your overall body of work.”
Tajiri Smith decommits
The momentum is mounting.
A few weeks ago, K-State offered then-Memphis pledge Tajiri Smith, a three-star defensive back out of Atlanta. To date, it is arguably his most impressive scholarship offer on the table.
Monday, he reopened his recruitment and de-committed from Memphis. K-State is believed to be a leader in the clubhouse.
“I still plan to sign during the early signing period and enroll early to the school of my choice,” Smith posted to Twitter.
Smith took an official visit to K-State during the weekend of the TCU game.
This story was originally published November 1, 2019 at 12:52 PM.