So I spent a great deal of time today out in western Kansas, where I got the chance to touch base with Cure and several ancillary sources on the recruitment. One of the things I love the most in this profession is covering kids like Cure who are transparent, congenial and measured in their approach to recruiting. That’s because it invariably allows me to share some thoughtful and comprehensive updates with all of you. I have a canned interview with Cure coming for the network, but it doesn’t contain any of the juicy stuff. All of said juicy stuff is right here in this members-only update. So let’s start from the top.
— Cure was pretty straightforward about his top tier of schools. Kansas State and Oregon are the two that stand out right now, with Oklahoma the only school that I would consider to be lurking. Penn State is just too far away, and it would seem Colorado simply waited too long to pull the trigger.
— I’m fading on the notion that Cure would actually end up at Oregon. Back in October, in the very first update I ever posted about the blue-chip TE, I wrote that “he and his family have come to the mutual agreement that they'd like to eventually choose a school reasonably close to home.” Cure likes the Ducks a lot, but the distance is borderline prohibitive. Even after the plane flight up to Oregon, Eugene is rather isolated and requires a substantial drive from the airport. I just don’t see how Dan Lanning and his crew overcome that immutable obstacle.
— So here’s where things stand: I think Oklahoma is the only school that could prevent Cure from staying home and playing for the Wildcats. If it sounds bonkers that a player of his caliber could choose to play college football in Manhattan, Kansas, rest assured that I share your sentiments. At least on paper, it’s tough to believe, and even the most diehard Cats fan would begrudgingly concur. But there are a few things to consider here, and hopefully this helps shed some light on why Kansas State has become the frontrunner in this race.
— First off, Cure’s a farm kid. Farm kids like farm schools. It’s just the reality. As one source put it to me, “I get the feeling the small-school, good-ole-boy vibe [at K-State] fits him.” For those that remember the Grant Brix and Kaedin Massey recruitments, this should make plenty of sense. Goodland is a remote town of five thousand people in the northwest corner of Kansas. It’s a tight-knit community with a heavily agricultural nature. That matches Kansas State to a tee, folks.
— Secondly, Cure doesn’t come from a family that lives and breathes college football, nor one that has any frame of reference for the pageantry inherent to the recruiting process. They don’t see it through the same lens that you and I do. Among the schools that Cure has visited thus far, Kansas State is the family’s preference for a variety of reasons. Proximity is not the least of those reasons, especially given that Cure’s older brother plays at Fort Hays State. The family could reasonably watch both of their boys play football on the same weekend.
— What do the Sooners have going for them? Start with this: Oklahoma’s on the shortlist despite never having hosted Cure on a visit before. That says something. OU also has the advantage of being somewhat close to home; Goodland is a good trek from anywhere, so is the difference between four hours to Manhattan and seven hours to Norman truly that substantial? That’s a query that the Sooners will no doubt present to Cure and his family this weekend. And Cure also admitted to me that as he gets deeper into the process, he’s beginning to consider the development factor more and more. Naturally, that bodes well for Oklahoma.
— Cure has a better relationship with Brent Venables than any other head coach, which is doubly significant because Venables is himself a rural Kansas native. There’s a lot of common ground between the two. It’s also easy to foresee the S.O.U.L. Mission making a resonant impression with Cure and his family, as they’re very faith-driven and attentive to life outside of football.
— A couple of key figures in this process could be Jaren Kanak and Michael Boganowski, each of whom signed with Oklahoma as the No. 1 player in the Sunflower State. Cure told me that he already intended to converse with Kanak this weekend, as the Sooners’ rising junior linebacker is probably the one player with a perspective that most closely resembles Cure’s. Meanwhile, Boganowski has overlapped with Cure on visits to Kansas State in the past, so there’s some existing familiarity — and Boganowski’s decision conveniently came down to KSU and Oklahoma. There’s no player better equipped to explain any areas in which the Sooners have the edge on the Wildcats.
— Cure would like to have this decision done relatively early in the cycle. This is not going to be a dramatic recruitment. He knows what he wants, and the list of schools he’s seriously considering is extremely short. I will keep tabs on his visit and provide y’all with an update as expediently as I can. But this weekend could — and should — go a long way toward determining whether the Sooners will once again play spoiler for K-State (as in Boganowski’s case), or whether the Wildcats will exact their revenge on the recruiting trail. I think it's a great sign if Cure sets another visit, even tentatively, before he leaves Norman. But if that isn't the case, it would stand to reason that Oklahoma still has work to do to overcome Kansas State.
— The kid’s getting the full red-carpet treatment tomorrow. I have been assured of that by several sources. There are precious few players in the 2025 class that outrank Cure in terms of priority in the Switzer Center. The OU staff is determined to make it count when they take their first swing.
— And finally, Papa Cure (Greg) apparently listens to the Under the Visor Podcast, which is never a bad sign as far as Oklahoma is concerned.
