2024 Kansas State recruiting update: Cornerback
ON THE KANSAS STATE ROSTER: Donovan McIntosh (freshman), Kanijal Thomas (freshman), Darell Jones (sophomore), Jacob Parrish (sophomore), Will Lee (sophomore), Justice Clemons (junior), Jordan Wright (junior), Keenan Garber (senior)
NEEDS: 2
RELEVANT K-STATE TARGETS/COMMITS: N/A
KANSAS STATE CORNERBACK STYLE PREFERENCE
As what seems to be the case at most positions, Kansas State really values length at the cornerback spot. For example, Julius Brents posted a ridiculous wingspan at the NFL Combine during his preparation for the draft.
Both K-State true freshman Donovan McIntosh and junior college addition Will Lee also possess similar size and arms on the boundary. If you do not possess length, being special at every other trait is a requirement to be appealing to the Wildcats.
Kansas State assistant Van Malone wants his guys to be sticky in coverage. Jacob Parrish isn’t the longest player, but he and Kanijal Thomas don’t surrender a lot of separation to the wideouts that they cover.
The final characteristic that really pops in the room is speed. K-State could have a ridiculous 4×100 track team just among the cornerbacks on the roster. There is an incredible amount of speed between McIntosh, Thomas, Parrish, Darell Jones and Keenan Garber.
ROSTER OUTLOOK
Kansas State lost their top two corners from a year ago in Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe. However, there is some excitement around the position group because of the high upside guys that have been signed in the last two classes.
Jacob Parrish played in all 14 games as a true freshman in 2022. The Olathe North product saw a bunch of snaps in both the Big 12 Championship Game against TCU and the Sugar Bowl matchup against Alabama.
When reading between the lines, it seems as if Parrish has won one of the starting jobs locked down because of that initial jolt of progress and his offseason work.
Lee missed the first few practices in March, but he provides a lot of potential as well. He was the best player on the field during the NJCAA National Championship Game following the 2022 season at Iowa Western Community College.
His performance led to him gaining a bunch of late offers, but he stuck with K-State. He earned first team All-American honors by the NJCAA, was also a first team All-Conference pick and was an All-Region selection, too. Lee has three years of eligibility and does not have a redshirt year available.
Jordan Wright redshirted last season after playing two seasons at Fullerton Community College. He played in two games in 2022 and recorded one tackle.
It seems crazy, but don’t count out Keenan Garber. He could carve out a role in 2023. Garber played in all 14 games in 2022 as a receiver and special teams player before switching to cornerback midway through the season.
The Lawrence native played in 21 snaps in the Big 12 Championship Game in the secondary after Boye-Doe went down with an injury.
Justice Clemons redshirted in 2022 after suffering a back injury. Darell Jones has had a great offseason in training and is one of the better testers for Kansas State. He tied the vertical jump record at the school that was set by Terence Newman with a 41.5 inch jump.
Jones has also been clocked at 22.48 miles per hour in practice.
Kanijal Thomas and Donovan McIntosh have been on campus for a few weeks. Thomas was singled out to KSO as a freshman who could make some noise this season. He is along the same lines as Parrish, and like the Olathe native, also was offered after performing in front of the K-State coaches at camp.
RECRUITING SUMMARY
After losing Omar Daniels to the transfer portal and seeing Colby McCalister switch to safety, two seems like the right number in the 2024 cycle, but Kansas State could get away with just signing one as well.
All eight scholarship players can return for 2024, though it is a little tricky to discuss scholarship space in July.
As of right now, there aren’t many names to discuss. Alexander Rodgers never visited K-State after they each chose to go their separate ways, and after an official visit from Plas Johnson, the Wildcats have chosen to pass on him, too.
Houston native Carson Williams visited last month and also camped, but Kansas State does not seem to be in a rush to budge on him, either. The Wildcats will reset the board at cornerback and look to spot one at camp in July or to assess senior tape in the Fall.
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