Musings: How Kansas State is navigating the portal

SURE BETS FOR KANSAS STATE

1. Hoops commits: It was a good week for Jerome Tang and company. Not only did they have high-profile visitors on the Kansas State campus but they landed two more key additions in Villanova guard transfer Brendan Hausen and Arkansas big man transfer Baye Fall.
2. Edwards: The sure bet isn’t necessarily the fact that Dylan Edwards will play his college football at K-State after a one-year stint at Colorado. It’s that he will surely have a direct impact on the offense and make the Wildcats much more electric on the offensive side of the ball.
3. Remaining football needs: Chris Klieman and Kansas State still have work to do in the transfer portal. Other positions of need still remain, such as linebacker, defensive tackle and another quarterback. They could dabble a bit on the offensive line as well.

SURPRISES IN THE K-STATE WORLD

1. Dai Dai: Although there was some concern about it prior to his ultimate decision, it still is a bit of a surprise to see point guard Dai Dai Ames opt to enter the transfer portal. His agents notified On3 of the decision on Sunday evening. Yes, the Wildcats are bolstering the roster, but they had to do that in order to compete at the highest of levels. He still would have had a considerable role in Manhattan if he stayed. However, as we have seen time and time again elsewhere and just about at every program in the country, it is tough to build a roster without (unintentionally) alienating someone you want to keep.
2. First visit: Nobody is real shocked that Edwards picked K-State. But they are kind of stunned that he made it a short and sweet recruitment. Giving the Wildcats the first visit and chance to convince him and ending it at that point was not something he would have done (or did) before this year.
3. Locker room reaction: Calling it a surprise is probably a stretch, but it was clear that the newest running back at Kansas State (though he will be used as a pass-catcher as well) has the support of the locker room as well. Not too often have current players voiced their pleasure about a particular addition. But we saw that over the weekend when word circulated that Edwards was going to be a Wildcat. Players such as Avery Johnson, Jayce Brown, Sterling Lockett and Kam Sallis were not shy about expressing their excitement.

JURY STILL OUT

1. Arranging the pieces: Tang has a tall task of continuing to arrange the pieces on the K-State ship. At first, it appeared guys like Ques Glover, RJ Jones and Ames would stick around. Not so fast. All three are in the portal. That means they’ve lost six to the portal and two to graduation. Thus far, they’ve added four in Hausen, Fall, CJ Jones and Dug McDaniel. We do know targets still remain on the board, though, such as Clifford Omoruyi, Baba Miller and Khalif Battle.
2. NIL: While the ease of transferring is probably not a sustainable model, many others have also taken aim at the practice of NIL without any guardrails as well. However, I’d argue the current model is probably a more conducive one to Kansas State. The potential future one that that includes some sort of collective bargaining agreement consisting of media revenue-sharing puts the Wildcats at a disadvantage, just because they don’t have the ability to compete with Big Ten and SEC schools on that front. If there is enough of an appetite from those willing to give, the current form is one where they can compete. And as we have seen in the last year, the appetite is there at K-State. But one could argue it won’t stay there for years and years and years, too.
3. 2025 NFL Draft: We just saw Kansas State represented in the 2024 NFL Draft by tight end Ben Sinnott and offensive linemen Cooper Beebe and KT Leveston. What will happen in the 2025 NFL Draft? It might be a little lighter for the Wildcats, but I could definitely see running back DJ Giddens and safety Marques Sigle getting their name called. It may not extend beyond that just because all of the other potential NFL players could stay in Manhattan. The challenge will be hanging onto everyone as always in the new era, but the 2025 K-State football roster is shaping up to be a special one.

HAS MY ATTENTION

1. Regulation: I’m not going to have everyone agree with me but I believe it is more vital for the transfer portal to be regulated than NIL. I understand that both may need guardrails to an extent, but the ease of transfer is the greater need. Having it more likely for players to play for three different teams rather than one is not a great model or one easy on the eyes of fans. That is not a product that has staying power, in my opinion, and it makes the lives of college coaches untenable. Doing so and having it pass muster with the courts is a challenge, but one that needs to be negotiated. Teams can’t build out rosters without alienating their own athletes (even if unintentional). The march to complete rosters is nearly impossible because of it.
2. Beneficiaries of Edwards: Besides Utah (because they get Davon Booth), those standing to benefit the most from the addition of Edwards are a couple players in Manhattan. Having to pay a large amount of attention to Johnson, Edwards and Brown means the best matchups and a ton of room to operate for both Garrett Oakley and Keagan Johnson. They could have tremendous years just because of their talent level and having others to take focus away from them.
3. October 12: Buckle up. Kansas State plays at Colorado on October 12.

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