K-State Q&A: Football recruiting, game-day food & next year’s basketball schedule
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
We have lots of fun topics to cover about the Wildcats, so let’s dive right in. Thanks, as always, for providing the questions.
Looks like we have pretty intriguing basketball matchups next year. Will this be the best non-conference slate in K-State history? - @the_funky_andy via X.
I wouldn’t go nearly that far. K-State won’t be playing Connecticut, Duke, Gonzaga, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the U.S. Olympic team. But a few notable games are already out in the open.
We know that K-State will play the following notable opponents next season:
- Tulsa (Nov. 17 at Bramlage Coliseum)
- Mississippi State (Nov. 20 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City)
- Nebraska or New Mexico (Nov. 21 at T-Mobile Center)
- at Indiana (Nov. 25 at Assembly Hall)
- at Creighton (Dec. 13 at CHI Health Center in Omaha)
California also owes K-State a game in Manhattan, so there’s a chance the Golden Bears will join the home slate.
Of course, we’re still waiting on Vanderbilt to play its return football game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Sometimes those arrangements get resolved in other ways.
In any case, that will give Jerome Tang’s team five or six challenging games. A lineup that features those opponents will serve as an upgrade over last season when the biggest names on the non-con were LSU and St. John’s.
But it appears Tang is unfortunately not interested in playing Wichita State, which I think is a mistake. I doubt the Wildcats will be looking to add any more testers. Their other seven or eight non-conference games will probably be against total pushovers.
So it won’t be anywhere close to the hardest schedule in K-State history.
Still, it is an upgrade. Tang was able to make his schedule more difficult now that the Big 12 is switching back to 18 conference games instead of 20.
Do you know when the non-conference schedule will be released for Kansas State men’s basketball? - @patemaw7 via X.
I expect the schedule to be released in the near future.
When will recruiting “experts” get it right? - @TheRealBorisT via X.
Anyone who has read this mailbag before knows that I am extremely hesitant to predict where a high school recruit will play in college.
If being a father of four boys has taught me anything it’s that teenagers will make decisions and then change their minds for a million different reasons.
So I’m not going to come out and criticize any recruiting expert who predicted Great Bend tight end Ian Premer to commit to K-State, even though he ultimately spurned the Wildcats (plus KU and Iowa State) for Notre Dame. Earlier this week, it certainly seemed like Chris Klieman and his coaching staff had momentum with the No. 1 recruit in the Sunflower State.
I will tell you that K-State coaches liked their chances with Premer up until about lunch time on Thursday.
It was easy to understand why. Premer grew up admiring the Wildcats and they showed him nothing but love after he became one of the top high school tight ends in the region. K-State likes him so much that Chris Klieman wanted him for football and Jerome Tang wanted him for basketball. I bet the track and field coach would be willing to give him a scholarship, too.
Furthermore, he is the type of recruit that K-State has been landing lately.
I wouldn’t go quite so far as to label K-State as “Tight End U,” but the Wildcats have been hoarding talent at the position lately.
Last season, K-State threw the ball to its tight ends better than any team in the country. Garrett Oakley caught 22 passes for 236 yards and five touchdowns. Brayden Loftin had 11 catches for 125 yards and two scores. Will Swanson finished with nine catches for 66 yards and three touchdowns. Not to be outdone, Will Anciaux grabbed seven passes for 62 yards and three scores.
That’s a combined total of 49 catches for 489 yards and 13 touchdowns.
K-State coaches can really identify good tight ends.
That type of production is mouth-watering for any recruit who plays tight end. Linkon Cure picked K-State over Oregon last season.
Premer didn’t follow in his footsteps. It happens. Notre Dame is one of the most iconic brands in all of college football. It’s not like he committed to Washburn.
But it is a disappointing development for K-State fans. For the first time in quite a while, in-state recruits are looking elsewhere. Notre Dame landed Premer. Braden Wilmes is off to Clemson. And Kansas has surprisingly landed seven of the top 16 prospects in the state. As of now, Lawson McGraw is the only 2026 recruit from the Sunflower State who has committed to the Wildcats.
K-State will hope that is a one-year aberration.
Back to your original question: my suggestion to you, and everybody else who follows recruiting, would be to take crystal ball projections with a grain of salt. Even when a recruiting reporter has inside information a teenager can always change his mind.
Who will start the first game at tight end? And who will be the No. 1 tight end by the last game? -@tbeougher via X.
This is a bit of a trick question.
K-State isn’t afraid to put three tight ends on the field at the same time. So the Wildcats could easily have multiple starters at that position, just like running back or wide receiver.
If new offensive coordinator Matt Wells decides to go with just one tight end, then I expect Garrett Oakley would be the choice. He seems to be the best and most versatile player of the group. But Will Swanson and Brayden Loftin could just as easily join him.
The Wildcats are unlikely to be in the red zone on their first play from scrimmage, so that probably rules out Will Anciaux. But maybe not.
Linkon Cure is better than even the most optimistic supporter thinks he is if he is starting from Day 1.
It’s certainly fun to think about all of them at the end of the season. For some reason, I think Anciaux could end up being the most productive tight end of the group. He is an excellent receiver and grew up playing with Avery Johnson. They should connect for many touchdowns.
Back to an old question: You’ve said one of the small perks of being a beat writer is the press box comes with food. What is the best food item in the K-State press box. Which Big 12 team has the best food? And what would make up your ideal food in the Aviva Stadium PB for the Ireland game? - @ChadFullington via X.
The best food item I can remember at a K-State game was barbecue spaghetti from Cox Bros. That stuff was as delicious as it was unique. But the football Gods haven’t blessed us with that entree in many years.
Strange as it sounds, the food I look forward to the most on game-day is an Italian sandwich. K-State waits to serve them until everyone else has come. So when we go back up to the press box after we’ve watched the game and talked to Chris Klieman and his players, a sandwich is always waiting to greet us. And it really hits the spot.
The best food in the Big 12 can be found at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have different spreads set up for morning games, afternoon games and evening games. Plus, they have all kinds of different snacks and desserts available throughout the day.
One year, they served a brunch buffet that featured barbecue on one side and breakfast on the other. That remains one of my all-time best meals.
I’m not sure what my dream meal in Ireland would be. A good friend of mine travels to Dublin all the time for his job and he says food is not the city’s strong suit. But if they serve fish and chips I will be happy.
The NBA Draft came and went without any selections for Kansas State. Can we expect any former players to sign with G League teams or play on Summer League rosters? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
Coleman Hawkins and David N’Guessan are both good enough to play in the NBA Summer League.
The only question is if N’Guessan will simply look to play overseas, given that he is from the Netherlands.
But Hawkins will definitely play somewhere, and he may play with or against other former K-State players like Barry Brown, Markquis Nowell, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Tylor Perry and Keyontae Johnson.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 9:46 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Football recruiting, game-day food & next year’s basketball schedule."