Why Chris Klieman has high expectations for incoming QB recruit Jake Rubley
Nearly a year has passed since Kansas State lost a close game to Navy at the Liberty Bowl last December, but Chris Klieman has been thinking about that day a lot recently.
Just not for the reason you might expect.
Klieman remembers that day fondly, believe it or not. Why? Because that’s the day K-State landed its highest-profile recruit since Josh Freeman way back in 2006.
Even though the Wildcats lost a football game that day, four-star quarterback recruit Jake Rubley liked what he saw enough to call up Klieman following the defeat. He told the coach that he planned to choose K-State over a host of prominent suitors, including LSU and Michigan. Rubley publicly announced his commitment the following day, which set the tone for K-State’s offseason recruiting efforts and helped it announce 14 early signings for its 2021 class this week.
“That was really great news that day and lifted our spirits after a tough game,” Klieman said on Wednesday. “But 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.”
Klieman has expressed excitement about every member of K-State’s newest recruiting class, but Rubley is without a doubt the headliner.
The 6-foot-3 and 205-pound quarterback from Highlands Ranch, Colorado is the nation’s No. 25 rated recruit, according to ESPN, and a consensus four-star prospect. It’s not hard to imagine him competing for playing time immediately as a freshman, even with Will Howard and possibly Skylar Thompson returning at the position.
“We are excited about Jake,” Klieman said. “We’ve been recruiting him for an awful long time. He’s been on campus a few times ... Jake loves the game of football, and that’s what you are looking for at the quarterback position is someone who loves the game of football, that is a sponge and wants to learn from Coach (Collin) Klein and Coach (Courtney) Messingham and get in our system quickly. He has a really strong arm and is a really accurate player, and we are excited to add another piece to our quarterback room.”
Rubley committed to the Wildcats after throwing for 3,892 yards and 39 touchdowns to go along with 269 rushing yards and seven touchdowns at Highlands Ranch High School. He later moved to West Des Moines, Iowa in an attempt to play his senior season in a state that allowed high school sports earlier this fall. There, he threw for 356 yards and a touchdown, but his season was cut short after just two games because of eligibility issues surrounding his transfer.
He will try to make up for that last time by enrolling early and joining K-State workouts in January.
Klieman is confident Rubley can hit the ground running, because he comes from a good football family. Rubley’s father, TJ, is a former NFL quarterback and Klieman has some history with him. When TJ Rubley was a high school record, Klieman hosted him on a recruiting visit at Northern Iowa.
“Jake is very much the same mold as his father,” Klieman said.
Klieman didn’t impress Rubley’s father enough to help the Panthers land him (he signed with Tulsa), so he missed out on an opportunity to play alongside him as a teammate. But they stayed in touch over the years, and now he gets an opportunity to coach Rubley.
That’s something he has been excited about for nearly a year.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Why Chris Klieman has high expectations for incoming QB recruit Jake Rubley."