Kansas State National Signing Day: 3 Who Will Impact 2017
By Stan Unruh
Kansas State Football fans enjoyed all the good news from Wednesday’s National Signing Day. The Wildcats brought coach Bill Snyder and staff an excellent group of young talent.
The Wildcats have more needs on defense than offense. On defense, there are 6 returning starters and 4 others who also contributed last season returning, according to coach Snyder during a post signing-day press briefing.
The Wildcats lost three starting linebackers and need help in the secondary.
They have some depth at defensive tackle but need improvement there too.
The Wildcats signed 11 defensive players on Tuesday.
In my opinion, three players should have an immediate impact in 2017.
Linebacker Da’Quan Patton from Trinity Valley Community College in Texas is rated the fifth best community-college outside linebacker in the nation in the Class of 2017 by ESPN, while he is regarded as the 13th best community-college prospect in the state of Texas by 247Sports.
Defensive Back Elijah Walker from Cerritos Community College in Southern California is rated the top community-college safety in the Class of 2017 and the 13th-best overall community-college prospect by Scout… Picked up First Team Southern California Football Association All-Northern League honors as a sophomore… Ended his community-college career with 117 tackles.
Linebacker Danny Walker is rated the 47th-best outside linebacker in the nation in the Class of 2017 by Scout and the 19th-best player in the state of Illinois by 247Sports.
Going into National Signing Day, Kansas State’s class of 2017 was ranked #69 by Scouts.com
By the end of the day, they had jumped three spots to #66
Coach Snyder said it again on Tuesday afternoon, “It’s what happens over the next 2 or 3 years that defines what kind of (recruiting class) you have.”
Next: Class Rank Not Critically Important At Kansas State
He mentioned the 2015 recruiting class. Some 20 plus student athletes signed that year. Today, 18 of those players are on the Kansas State Football two-deep roster, according to Snyder.
He said, “That tells me that was a reasonably good class.” Scout.com ranked the 2015 Wildcat class #48 in the country. The only top #50 class in recent years.
The class rank is important to fans and the media. Bill Snyder has shown it’s what his staff gets out of the players once they arrive in Manhattan far more than how high they are ranked in February.