Kansas State holds off Oregon for 5-star tight end Linkon Cure on signing day
Signing a five-star football recruit isn’t easy.
Chris Klieman and the Kansas State football team learned that lesson this year with Goodland tight end Linkon Cure. Even after the Wildcats secured a verbal commitment from the top high school senior in the Sunflower State, the Wildcats had to fight until the bitter end to secure his services on signing day.
But that is exactly what they did. K-State held off a late push from Oregon and Cure signed a national letter of intent to play for the Wildcats on Wednesday.
“I thought about it a lot,” Cure told 247Sports during a video interview. “I didn’t sleep last night. I was thinking about it all last night. I even had a graphic made (for Oregon). I kept reminding myself I took all those visits (to K-State) as a junior and I thought the process through. I had to remind myself of that: what I committed to and what my values were and what really mattered to me and who I wanted to be as a player and as a person. So I will be sticking with Kansas State.”
Klieman said he was “thrilled” when he Cure signed.
“He’s one of the best athletes in the country,” Klieman said. “Not in the state, in the country. He has speed, size, strength and the ability to jump, run. All those things. We’re excited about getting him.”
Cure originally picked K-State over Kansas, Oregon and Texas A&M when he committed in July. But part of him wondered if he made a mistake passing on the Ducks. So he kept speaking with Oregon coaches and took a visit to Eugene over the weekend to see the campus.
His journey to the northwest left many K-State fans fearing the worst. But the Wildcats convinced him to stick with his original commitment.
“They never stopped recruiting me hard,” Cure said.
Klieman later said the Wildcats let Cure have some space as he evaluated his options late in the process.
But they were able to convince him to stick with his original commitment when things mattered most.
“We knew he went on another trip, but we continued to communicate with him,” Klieman said. “We told him where we saw him here, how we could utilize him, not just on the field, but maybe from a cultural standpoint, from a development standpoint. I still think we’ve got the most tight end touchdowns of anybody in the country. That’s easy to have tangible evidence of how we’re going to utilize you.”
Cure’s final decision was good news for K-State. Cure, a 6-foot-6 and 220-pound playmaker, is the first five-star high school prospect to sign with the Wildcats since 2000.
He has long admired K-State and grew up going to games in Manhattan. His family had tickets in section 227 of Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The allure of playing there as a college athlete was too much for him to pass up, even after Oregon made a push for him.
“It means everything,” Cure said. “This is a childhood dream.”
Cure highlights a 26-man recruiting class for the Wildcats. Fourteen of them plan to enroll early and participate in spring practice.
The group ranks No. 38 nationally and No. 4 in the Big 12, according to On3.
K-State’s 2025 football recruiting class
Logan Bartley - 6-2, 200-pound safety from Naples, Fla.
RJ Collins - 5-11, 175-pound safety from Kansas City, Mo.
Nunu Concepcion - 5-10, 170-pound wide receiver from Charlotte
Linkon Cure - 6-6, 220-pound tight end from Goodland
Jemyri Davis - 6-1, 175-pound wide receiver from Fort Worth
Dillon Duff - 6-3, 190-pound quarterback from St. Louis
Monterrio Elston - 5-8, 185-pound running back from Little Rock, Ark.
Brock Heath - 6-5, 260-pound offensive lineman from Overland Park
Martel Jackson - 6-2, 175-pound cornerback from Derby
Will Kemna - 6-5, 265-pound offensive lineman from Eldon, Mo.
Noah King - 6-3, 195-pound safety from Cincinnati
Dalton Knapp - 6-5, 225-pound defensive end from Grapevine, Texas
Dominic Mitchell - 6-2, 200-pound safety from Paradise Valley, Ariz.
Adonis Moise - 6-0, 185-pound wide receiver from Bradenton, Fla.
Asthon Moore - 6-0, 205-pound linebacker from Louisburg
Cub Patton - 6-0, 180-pound kicer from Lubbock, Texas
Weston Polk - 6-2, 215-pound linebacker from Coppell, Texas
Larry Porter - 6-1, 185-pound wide receiver from Kansas City, Mo.
Maguire Richman - 6-2, 210-pound linebacker from Leawood
Sawyer Schilke - 6-3, 230-pound linebacker from Kearney, Neb.
JoJo Scott - 6-2, 175-pound cornerback from Lakeland, Fla.
Brad Stanyer - 6-5, 240-pound defensive end from Grapevine, Texas
Serious Stinyard - 5-11, 185-pound defensive back from Lutz, Fla.
Patrick Tackie - 6-3, 296-pound defensive tackle from Bronx, N.Y.
Dylan Villarouel - 6-4, 300-pound offensive lineman from Cumming, Ga.
Darien Whitaker - 6-4, 215-pound linebacker from Baltimore
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 10:12 AM.