Kansas State's Chris Klieman Respects Linkon Cure Exploring Options
The Kansas State Wildcats officially secured five-star tight end Linkon Cure from Goodland High School.
The Oregon Ducks were in talks of acquiring Cure but couldn't end up flipping him. Wildcats coach Chris Klieman said he respected Cure's analysis of his options, especially for a player of his caliber.
"Really thrilled when you get a five-star in state," Klieman said. "There's not many of those that come from the state of Kansas, so thrilled for the Cure family, thrilled for our program, fanbase. I thought Linkon did a good job of doing his due diligence, and that's what young men are doing now, and I'm good with that. There were conversations the whole time, but in the end, it came down to what his heart told him and how we're going to utilize him."
247Sports recruiting analyst Tom Loy was among those to praise the Wildcats to securing Cure.
"It shows that they have the recruiting chops to go toe-to-toe with the best of the best in the country," Loy said on the 247Sports National Signing Day special. "It was very much laid out to him, `Hey, you can pick Oregon early on and then you can transfer a year later if you're homesick, if you're not happy, if promises are not met ... Really, what it means is Kansas State is very much in play for the best of the best of the country. They will pony up when it comes to NIL. They will pony up and really take that next level, to try to get close to winning national championships and compete at the highest level. It's a very exciting time to be a Kansas State fan."
Jayden Armant is a journalism school graduate of Howard University and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.