TE Konner Fox talks to KSO about his K-State commitment

Kansas State added its seventh commitment of the class on Wednesday when San Antonio tight end Konner Fox announced that he had given his verbal pledge to the Wildcats. He had actually made the call to the K-State staff on Tuesday night.

After missing on Lucas Krull to Florida in the off-season, and with Trace Kochevar leaving the program, Zach Hanson’s group became a position of need for the 2019 cycle, and this satisfies that spot.

To learn more about how Fox fits into the picture for Kansas State, click here.

Fox's recruitment was a quieter one. K-State extended him an offer after he camped in Manhattan at the end of July. His other Power Five offer came months earlier, from Duke.

Fox also camped at Oklahoma and Baylor and, admittedly, was hoping for an offer from the Sooners. That is why the wait was this long. He visited Oklahoma again earlier this season but no offer came, and that likely cemented his decision.

But he certainly had a lot of love for the K-State program as well.

“It was the best option for me,” Fox said. “I enjoyed my stay up there. The coaching staff is incredible. They’re all very family-like. They get along with each other super well, and it seems more than just a saying. They practice it as well, and it’s real.”

K-State does do a great job of showcasing that to recruits while they are on campus. That is definitely not the first time we have heard it explained that way from a recruit that had just visited. It’s a point of emphasis for K-State, but they execute it well and perfectly.

It has also seemed that the Wildcat offense is in the midst of highlighting the tight end position much more than they have the past several seasons. Actually, it appeared that they had every plan to do so this season until Nick Lenners was injured in the season opener.

Fox is more along the lines of Nick Lenners than he is Blaise Gammon or Dayton Valentine. K-State plans to emphasize him as a passing weapon, first and foremost.

“They would use me as a flex tight end,” Fox explained. I’m also someone that can come in and block. I’m the type of guy they want at the position.”

And to be fair, it makes sense. When looking at his highlight film, Fox is definitely an asset in the passing game and tends to impact the game that way more there than as a blocker. He can be moved all over the field, seems to have natural hands and a larger catch radius than some of their other options.

His relationship with his position coach, Zach Hanson, has definitely grown significantly over the past few months. Hanson, of course, is a new coach in Manhattan, and he is just getting his feet wet on the recruiting trail.

“He’s a great guy,” Fox noted of Hanson. “I enjoy talking to him every day.”

Every day? That’s another positive sign that some of the assistants have ramped up their recruiting efforts, or at least built upon the standard that had been set at K-State the past few years.