Meet your 2019 Recruit: Khalid Duke, Linebacker, Georgia
Kansas State will work to transition a former high school wide receiver and safety in to an outside linebacker when he gets to campus this Fall.
Khalid Duke is a three star prospect who accepted the Cats offer to be a linebacker when he committed in December. The 6'4" frame will give him ample room to add 20-30lbs (currently 225lbs) in muscle that will be necessary to fight the edge and tight ends in the Big 12 and nationally.
You can't help but get excited about this kid's athleticism though. You can see in the first highlight that he starred as a kick returner for Riverside Military Academy in Georgia. He was also listed as a wide receiver, but played mostly as an H-Back or Scat-Back in the offense. I did not include any of his offensive highlights, but you can see them here.
On the defensive side, while he played strong safety his coverage skills were much more like a cornerback. He'll bring that coverage ability to the linebacker position.
He also knows how to bring the lumber when stacked inside the box or hitting a man in the open field. Those are great run stuffing attributes that he'll use a great deal in his new position.
The two biggest skillsets he'll need to work to develop is pass rushing. I'm not sure how much he'll be asked to do it, but he needs to be ready to seal an edge. The second skill will be to fight with tight ends on the line of scrimmage. As athletic as TE's are these days - he can't afford to play off the line and let them run free - he's got to hit them on the line and knock them off their routes.
Assuming his athleticism translates - this is a great recruiting victory for Kansas State from the heart of SEC country. He'll be a great addition for the 2019 Cats, and could see the field and Klieman plans to play some freshman.