By Tim Everson

The group, which had been tutored by the current Wildcat offensive line coach Brian Lepak up to last season, is now being led in his first year in Manhattan by Luke Wells, a former tight ends coach at Tulsa, Texas Tech, Utah State and Iowa State, and the brother of associate head coach and offensive coordinator Matt Wells.

“So far, it’s been great,” Luke Wells said. “We’ve had a lot of fun out there. This is a fun group to coach. These guys are excited to play every day. I love the culture of this football program, and we’ve got a bunch of tough kids that love playing football and love showing up to work. It’s a really good environment to be around.”

Wells got quite the present when he arrived in Manhattan. K-State’s tight end room may be the most veteran-laden and talented on the roster, and just turned in a season where they recorded 13 touchdowns as a whole, which led the nation. Those 13 scores were split up between the top four returners, led by junior Garrett Oakely who tied with sophomore wide receiver Jayce Brown for a team-high five touchdowns in 2024.

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The K-State football hot streak for recruiting continues, specifically in the Lone Star State, with their most recent addition in Miles Toedecki, a three-star quarterback out of Austin, Texas.

Toedecki, playing at Vendegrift High School, finished his junior season with some ridiculous numbers, including 48 touchdowns through the air to just 7 interceptions and over 3,000 yards passing, leading VHS to a 6A State Championship with a 15-1 record on the season.

Toedecki picked up several honors, such as District 25-6II Offensive MVP, Texas 6A-II State Championship MVP, and the Austin Sports Journal’s 2024 Mr. Austin Football award.

Toedecki makes the fifth Texas prep player to commit to K-State following a busy weekend of visits for the Wildcats. His recruitment process with K-State moved very quickly, as he was offered just two weeks ago on May 23rd.

Off the football field, Toedecki’s 5.4 GPA may be a large reason why he had offers from several Ivy League schools including Yale and Harvard.

Toedecki marks the eighth commitment for the class of 2026 for the Wildcats with momentum picking up rapidly.

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MANHATTAN, Kan. (K-State Athletics) – Luke Wells, a veteran offensive coach who has worked for three prior Big 12 programs over the course of his career, has been hired at Kansas State to work with the Wildcat tight ends, head coach Chris Klieman announced Monday. His hiring is pending a successful background check.

“Luke brings an extensive amount of coaching experience and recruiting energy to our tight end room, which of course has been a big piece to our recent offensive success,” Klieman said. “I have known Luke for quite a while and even visited with him during previous position openings, and we are thrilled to have him and his family in our program.”

Wells, a 2002 graduate of Oklahoma who both played and coached for the Sooners, most recently coached in college at Tulsa in 2022, while he has also spent time coaching receivers and tight ends at Iowa State and Texas Tech during his career.

“I am grateful for the opportunity from Coach Klieman to help this staff and be a part of the winning culture at K-State,” Wells said. “I can’t wait to get to work with our talented group of tight ends.”

While at Texas Tech, Wells all but built the tight end position from scratch while helping three players from his position room earn All-Big 12 accolades in tight end Donta Thompson and inside receiver Dalton Rigdon in 2019 as well as inside receiver KeSean Carter in 2020.

Prior to arriving at Texas Tech, Wells served as Utah State’s co-offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 2013 to 2016, working with the tight ends the first three years and then the quarterbacks in 2016. He shifted back to overseeing Utah State’s tight ends and inside receivers his final two years in Logan where the Aggies boasted one of the nation’s top offenses. It was the first time he worked under his brother, Matt, K-State’s current offensive coordinator who was the head coach at both Utah State and Texas Tech.

Wells mentored one of the top tight ends in Utah State history in Wyatt Houston, who tallied 86 receptions for 933 yards and nine touchdowns over the 2013 through 2016 seasons, as all three of his marks ranked second in school history among tight ends. Houston earned All-Mountain West Honorable Mention accolades as a senior in 2016.

Prior to Houston, fellow tight end D.J. Tialavea thrived under Wells’ direction before signing a rookie free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014. Tialavea went on to join the Falcons’ organization a year later and was a member of the franchise when Atlanta played in Super Bowl LI. Another Wells pupil, Jefferson Court, joined the professional ranks in 2015 as he was the 37th player selected in the CFL Draft by the Ottawa Redblacks.

Offense was a prevalent theme of Utah State’s success during Wells’ final two seasons as the Aggies averaged 47.5 points per game in 2018, which trailed only Oklahoma for the top spot in the country. The Aggies racked up 618 points on the season, snapping the Mountain West and Utah State single-season records in the process.

Utah State scored at least 40 points in 13 different games over his final two seasons, including 10 times with 50 or more points. The Aggies reached the 50-point mark a school-record seven times in 2018 alone en route to breaking almost every offensive record in Utah State history.

In Wells’ first season, the Aggies set school records for completions (297), total plays (1,073), touchdown passes (30) and first downs (310). Utah State scored 445 points that season and attempted 481 passes, which both ranked second in school history. Utah State’s tight ends also set the single-season school record for touchdown receptions with nine, topping the previous record from 1993.

Prior to his time at Utah State, Wells was the wide receivers and tight ends coach at Iowa State from 2009 through 2012, helping the Cyclones advance to three bowl games in four years.

Wells arrived in Ames following six seasons at Louisiana-Monroe where he began as an offensive graduate assistant in 2003 before being promoted to tight ends coach for the 2004 through 2006 seasons and then tutoring the Warhawks’ wide receivers in 2007 and 2008. He coached first team all-conference tight end Joey Trappey in 2005 and second-team honoree Zeek Zacharie in 2006 before producing an honorable mention wide receiver in Anthony McCall a year later. Wells also served as ULM’s recruiting coordinator over his final two seasons, helping Monroe sign its highest-rated class in school history at that time.

Wells earned his first full-time coaching position managing the wide receivers at Denton (Texas) High School in 2002. He began his collegiate coaching career as a student assistant at Oklahoma from 1999 through 2001, helping the Sooners claim the 2000 Big 12 Championship and BCS National Championship.

Wells earned his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma in secondary education in 2002. He and his wife, Coby, have a son, Walker, and a daughter, Kinsley.

THE LUKE WELLS FILE
Hometown: Sallisaw, Oklahoma
College: Oklahoma – Bachelor’s in Secondary Education (2002)
Family: Wife: Coby; Children: Walker, Kinsley
Playing Career: Oklahoma (Quarterback), 1997-99

COACHING CAREER TIMELINE
1999-2001, Oklahoma (student assistant)
2002, Denton [TX] High School (wide receivers)
2003, Louisiana-Monroe (graduate assistant)
2004-06, Louisiana-Monroe (tight ends)
2007-08, Louisiana-Monroe (wide receivers/recruiting coordinator)
2009-10, Iowa State (wide receivers)
2011-12, Iowa State (tight ends)
2013-15, Utah State (co-offensive coordinator/tight ends/recruiting coordinator)
2016, Utah State (co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks/recruiting coordinator)
2017-18, Utah State (inside receivers/tight ends)
2019-21, Texas Tech (inside receivers/tight ends)
2022, Tulsa (tight ends)
2023-24, Bixby [OK] High School

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Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman, met with the media on Friday at the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview the upcoming Rate Bowl against Rutgers.

Looking ahead, the Wildcats are set to participate in Rate Bowl Media Day next Tuesday in Phoenix. This event will provide further opportunities for the team to engage with the media and discuss their goals for the bowl game.

The post Watch: Klieman discusses Rate Bowl matchup with Rutgers appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman, met with the media on Friday at the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview the upcoming Rate Bowl against Rutgers.

Looking ahead, the Wildcats are set to participate in Rate Bowl Media Day next Tuesday in Phoenix. This event will provide further opportunities for the team to engage with the media and discuss their goals for the bowl game.

The post Watch: Klieman discusses Rate Bowl matchup with Rutgers appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

By Tim Everson

Kansas State players got one of their Christmas presents a little early this year courtesy of head coach Chris Klieman and head football equipment manager Al Cerbe.

On Friday, Klieman announced that the Wildcats would be sporting a new on-field look when they play Rutgers in the Rate Bowl on Dec. 26.

K-State will take in the field in their normal purple uniform tops that they’ve worn at home since 1989, but instead of the regular silver helmet and pants, the Wildcats will be wearing a white helmet with purple Powercats on the sides and a purple stripe down the middle and all-white pants.

To view the full article visit theMercury.com.

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By Tim Everson

Saturday was an offensive rejuvenation for Kansas State in almost every phase of Kansas State’s 41-15 win over Cincinnati.

In a sport like football where there are so many moving pieces at any one time, it’s impossible to say that only one decision made the difference between the Wildcats flailing on offense like they’ve done for the past month or soaring like they did Saturday night.

However, a slight coaching change may have been the spark that reignited the Wildcat offense Saturday evening.

To view the full story visit theMercury.com.

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By Lewis Marien

It has been a bye week for Kansas State, so let’s take a look back at the then-No. 16 Wildcats’ 29-27 win over Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan. As of Nov. 2, K-State — now ranked 22nd in the country — is 7-2 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 Conference play.

The post PHOTOS: Relive the latest Sunflower Showdown football game appeared first on News Radio KMAN.