WR RJ Garcia on why he committed to Kansas State

Over the course of the last month, Kansas State has lost two commitments. However, they’ve also added three.

The middle of May saw cornerback Omar Daniels make the call for K-State. He was followed by receiver RJ Garcia at the end of May and then receiver Brenen Hawkins to begin the month of June.

A chaotic last 30 days could be a precursor to what the national recruiting landscape will look like for the next seven months or so.

There is a trend with the last three commitments and something they all share in common. None of the three have yet to visit Manhattan. They’ve only grasped it from a virtual sense.

In the case of Garcia, he also had some testimony he could lean on from individuals that he trusted. He was a former high school teammate of Joshua Youngblood and trains with former Wildcat, Byron Pringle.

“Yeah, Josh is one of my close friends for sure,” Garcia acknowledged. “I mean, he loves the coaching staff and talks about the family aspect of the program quite a bit. He shared how important that is to their coaching stuff and that meant something to me to hear it from him.”

Georgia native Omar Daniels, who committed a couple weeks before Garcia, also had some flattering things to say about Kansas State.

“We had chatted for a bit leading up to when I made my decision,” Garcia explained. “He talked a lot about how it was a very tight family environment there. I listened to him about that and then found it out for myself. Everything he said about them was confirmed.”

Now, Garcia hopes to spread the word about Chris Klieman and the Wildcats the same way that Daniels and Youngblood did for him. He has two targets in mind, and they hail from the Sunshine State just like him.

“I’m going to do whatever helps the ‘Cats reach our goals,” he said, excitedly. “And the goal is championships. I’ll be reaching out and working on Jordan Young and Jordan Oladokun. Oladokun is deciding soon so I will get on him for sure.”

K-State, according to Garcia, edged out Rutgers for his services. Iowa State had also offered at one point. MAC programs like Western Michigan and Buffalo were also in contact.

Though he hadn’t visited Manhattan, he had seen enough and felt confident in his choice, and the extended dead period admittedly had some impact on the timing as well.

“That definitely makes everyone’s window to commit, smaller,” Garcia noted. “I just wanted to learn about each school and make my decision. With Kansas State, I just felt comfortable with the coaching staff and the feel for the school. I knew they were right for me and I’m going to stick with it.”

The coaches that have communicated with Garcia have been Jason Ray, Courtney Messingham, Taylor Braet and Klieman. His interaction with the head coach and his assistants were a positive when making his choice, too.

“I know that Coach Klieman runs a great program,” Garcia concluded. “Everything is built around the idea of family. They are a family. I like the way the coaches really care about the players.”

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