Kansas State’s Junior Day consisted of upwards of about 30 prospects on campus and many were from surrounding high school programs in both Kansas and Missouri. One of those programs happened to be Park Hill High in Kansas City.

The prestigious program has churned out quite a few highly-touted recruits over the years so maintaining those relationships and connections is always vital. Two years ago, defensive end Chester Graves signed with Ole Miss. In addition to that, Park Hill has a future nationally recruited player in defensive end Johnny Wilson in the class of 2020.

But for now, K-State is also intrigued by class of 2019 defensive end Ethan Smith. And his first taste of the Wildcat program was a positive one.

“It was great,” he said of the trip to Manhattan. “My parents and I loved it.”

Part of the Junior Day event included presentations by both the offensive and defensive coordinator, depending on what side of the ball you are being recruited for. There was also the presentation inside the Vanier Family Football Complex from head coach Bill Snyder.

But the prospects also got some time in meetings with the position coaches. Smith came away impressed with what he learned and what the experience was able to teach him about techniques that he can use moving forward in his own football career.

“I thought it was pretty cool that we were able to sit down with the position coaches and learn some new things,” Smith said. “Coach (Jon) Fabris taught me a few things that I can take away and put to practice. He was very knowledgeable. He showed us how to use our hand placement to win the majority of the battles at the line of scrimmage.”

Like many that attended the visit weekend, Smith will likely have to return to Manhattan to earn his offer by performing in front of the Kansas State staff at camp. That needs to happen before moving further but he does have strong interest in the Wildcats.

“I like that we took a tour of the whole campus and really learned how student life was,” he said. “I liked how all the coaches treat the former and current players like they are family.”

“It would definitely be one of my top choices of schools to go to,” Smith added.