The transfer portal is a large part of the college football off-season in today's game.

A year ago, Kansas State landed graduate transfer running backs in James Gilbert of Ball State and Jordon Brown of North Carolina.

Not only that, the Wildcats signed a transfer safety in New Mexico’s Marcus Hayes (who left the program before he became eligible).

They have swung and missed, too.

After picking up Gilbert and before adding Brown, they made a run at Utah running back transfer Armand Shyne, who went on to play for Texas Tech. Last summer, tight end Travis Vokolek picked Nebraska over K-State and Iowa. A couple weeks ago, North Dakota State linebacker Jabril Cox committed to LSU over the Wildcats.

As everyone waited - and continues to wait - on a decision from Northern Iowa tight end transfer Briley Moore, the Wildcats corralled another graduate transfer in the form of cornerback Kiondre Thomas.

He played the last few years at Minnesota and was recruited by the staff that P.J. Fleck and company replaced.

Thomas had a handful of options he considered before picking Chris Klieman and Kansas State.

“I also considered West Virginia, Wake Forest and Tulane,” Thomas told K-StateOnline. “Those three and K-State tried to get me to come to their schools. I just wanted to find a place with a good fit and where the playing time was going to be there.”

Despite playing a lot for the Gophers - that included a starting role in the first four games of last season and 10 starts overall in his career - he had dropped below Benjamin St. Juste on the depth chart in Minneapolis. St. Juste was a transfer from Michigan.

A connection that Thomas had was his familiarity with assistant Brian Anderson. The K-State assistant was a coach at Minnesota under Tracy Claeys and was a part of the staff that recruited Thomas there.

Thomas also shared that Anderson was still on the staff during his first year on campus.

However, it was another coach for the Wildcats that left the lasting impression.

“Coach (Van) Malone reached out first,” Thomas revealed. “I spoke with coach Anderson, too, but Coach Malone is what did it for me.

"I know he’s a good coach," he continued. "And, I like the culture that Coach Klieman is building in Manhattan.”

Stay tuned to KSO for the latest on the recruiting front, specifically with further action expected from the transfer portal.