Collin Klein Laying the Foundation for His Time as K-State Coach

Collin Klein has been a K-State legend for nearly 20 years, having been a star quarterback for the Wildcats from 2008 to 2012. His final season was one for the record books, as he led the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship, while finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Now, as the head coach he is back looking to take the program to another level once again.

For Klein, laying the foundation for how he wants the program to look moving forward is a huge part of this first year. To achieve this, Klein and his staff must bring in a very good 2027 recruiting class. While it is only verbal commitments right now, fans in Manhattan have to be estatic because it is clear that Klein is executing his plan in incredible fashion.

Klein putting together a special 2027 class

This past weekend was huge for K-State, as they had around 15 guys on campus on official visits, and three of those guys have already committed. The Wildcats currently have 14 commitments in the class, and according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, the Wildcats have the 29th-ranked class in the country. The class currently ranks third in the Big 12, trailing only Texas Tech and Houston.

Klein is building the class from the line of scrimmage. Of the current 14 commits, six are on either the offensive or defensive line. Four of them are on the offensive line, led by interior offensive lineman Kelvin Eiwo and tackle Brayden Harris. The Big 12 may be known as more of a speed, up-tempo type of conference, but Klein and his staff are looking to build the team from the inside out.

Balancing act of high school recruiting classes, as well as the transfer portal

In the past, bringing in the best high school recruiting classes each year played a huge role in teams going out and being successful. With the transfer portal, that isn't the case anymore. Teams are bringing in guys each year who enter the portal to help fill gaps on their current rosters.

For K-State, the Wildcats don't have the money to go toe-to-toe with the top schools in the country with the top recruits in both the portal and high school. K-State football has long been known as a program that finds guys the other schools skipped over and develops them into outstanding players. While it is harder than ever to do that with the portal, there is still a path to do just that for Klein at K-State.

Being able to keep all these commits may be a challenge, but the fact that Klein has been both so aggressive and successful in his first recruiting cycle should give K-State fans a ton of optimism for the future.

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