Kansas State felt like home to tight end commit Garrett Oakley
One of the more recent additions for Kansas State was made by Columbus, Nebraska tight end Garrett Oakley. He was originally committed to Northern Illinois before flipping to the Wildcats.
Oakley was part of a three-commit week for the Wildcats that also included Georgia safeties VJ Payne and Jordan Perry. Like Payne and Perry, the decision to pick K-State as his future school was an easy one.
"I developed a good relationship with the coaches," Oakley said. "I took a visit in late July and really enjoyed everything that I saw."
Much of his recruitment went under the radar, particularly the part that involved Kansas State. He never even posted about receiving a scholarship offer from them or anyone else. Because of that, it's not a surprise to find out that the July visit wasn't his only one to Manhattan.
"I came back up for game day against Nevada and the atmosphere was unreal," he shared. "It was something I wanted to be a part of. Kansas State felt like home."
The visit for the Nevada game struck a chord with him in a few different areas.
"Catching up with the coaches and experiencing the atmosphere was really fun," Oakley mentioned.
It's no secret as to who was recruiting him. Conor Riley handles the entire state of Nebraska for the Wildcats and has since the day he has been employed by K-State. That's where he grew up and he knows that area better than anyone.
Jason Ray coaches the tight ends.
"My relationship with Coach Riley is pretty good," Oakley noted. "He recruited me the most and was honest with me throughout the whole process."
The Wildcats were not the only Power Five school involved with Oakley. Arizona State, Minnesota and Utah were also in the mix. It was rumored that Wisconsin had also entered the picture, but he did not mention them when speaking to KSO about how his recruitment unfolded.
He is the third player from the Omaha metro to commit to Kansas State, joining Gage Stenger and fellow tight end Brayden Loftin.
"I don’t know them personally, but I’ve been paying attention to their seasons and they are balling," Oakley pointed out. "They both reached out to me as soon as I committed. They were welcoming me to the family."
Not many know about his game or have looked too far into it. Our evaluation has already been posted, but we asked Oakley to assess his game, himself, to see how he would fit into the K-State offense.
"Since I am playing as a true tight end this year, I get a lot more mismatches and my route running has gotten better over the Summer," he explained. "I like to stretch the field and make big plays, but I also enjoying playing on the line and being physical."