Kansas State University Athletics
Trust in the Development
Nov 20, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
A little more than 11 months after Linkon Cure signed his letter of intent with Kansas State, ending a recruiting process for the nation's No. 1-rated high school tight end in the Class of 2025 that included 28 scholarship offers and a push by Oregon, the K-State freshman tight end/wide receiver stands surrounded by reporters at the Vanier Family Football Complex.
"It's definitely been a tough journey," Cure says.
Cure, the pride of Goodland, Kansas, wears a purple Nike t-shirt with a white Powercat embedded upon the chest. It's Monday, just after noon, and Cure is in the midst of a week of preparation for a final road game to a 2025 season that, well, has incurred a laundry list of challenges for the highest-rated signee in K-State history.
"I kind of set myself back doing that track season and basketball and not graduating early," Cure says. "That was just a rough start. Then I had an injury over the summer to my toe that I'm still dealing with, and then an injury to my knee. It's definitely been rough. And then learning the offense, after learning all the tight end stuff, I had to switch positions and learn all the receiver stuff. It's been rough.
"Honestly, I've enjoyed it so far. It just shows a lot about my perseverance. It's been a lot of fun. I love being out there."
At 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, Cure possesses a God-given blend of speed and athleticism that makes him one of the most agile athletes to wear a Wildcat uniform. K-State was the first school to offer Cure a scholarship on June 14, 2023. In all, Cure took unofficial visits to Penn State, Miami and Texas A&M, and he took official visits to Kansas, Texas A&M, Oregon and K-State.
Cure was rated as the 32nd-best overall player in the Class of 2025 by 247Sports. He had 946 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior, and he had 1,049 receiving yards with 17 touchdowns as a senior. He also was a star basketball player. He also was a two-time state champion in the 300-meter hurdles in addition to winning the 110-meter hurdles as both a junior and senior at Goodland High School.
But, yeah, this season has been challenging with delayed arrival to campus due to a May high school graduation, and with the toe injury, and with the knee injury, and with everything else along the way.
"You come in as highly touted as he and the expectations, those are hard for a young person to have to handle coming in here," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says at his weekly news conference. "And there's the fact that he did what he wanted to do and what he needed to do in track, so he didn't get here until June. We tried to get him up to speed, but our summer was short, our fall camp was shorter, and then he got banged up and missed most of that fall camp. I just appreciate him staying the course."
Cure played on the scout team for the first few weeks of this season while learning the offensive system.
"We also had to figure out what he was as a player," Klieman says. "You don't know, and we didn't get a great chance because of the injury in fall camp to find out what he is. He's a really physical player. It's been fun to watch that physicality and his confidence in playing physical."
Cure made his first catch as a K-State Wildcat against UCF (for 10 yards) on September 27, which was met with loud applause from the sellout crowd at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He had two catches for 18 yards at Kansas on October 25. He has played in each of the last seven games, including his first career start at Oklahoma State last Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He caught two passes against the Cowboys.
"Without a doubt, he came up with a big play and a big catch on Saturday," Klieman says. "As we continue to spoon-feed him — and I know it's Game 11 and how much can you spoon-feed him — but I go back to him missing fall camp. With our offense, we have to be simple yet creative because you want to make sure we don't overload him as well. He's been a factor, and he's got to continue to be a factor for us."
What's Cure learned most about himself during his freshman journey?
"A lot of things," he replies. "I don't even know if I could put it down to one thing. My perseverance and knowing things will be OK. Honestly, I've kind of had to see it that I need to trust my development. I knew all the expectations coming into the season and the expectations I had for myself. I need to learn it's going to be OK, and I have time and have to fully develop myself."
Cure's versatility lends itself toward better overall development on the field.
"I think it's awesome," he says. "It's really going to help me out with all my development. I'm going to go back to that tight end position and what I've learned is how to read coverages a lot more and attack leverage, and I'm going to bring that back to the tight end position. It's going to work out really well for me."
Cure has caught a pass in Lawrence and Stillwater this season and now will have the opportunity to catch passes in Salt Lake City when K-State, 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12 Conference, visits No. 13 Utah, 8-2 and 5-2, in Saturday's 3:00 p.m. kickoff at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"We're super motivated," Cure says. "We know it's going to be a tough game. We know it's a good team. We're all pretty excited for it. We really need to set the tone with this game, and we'll see how things start off with our practice, but I'm pretty excited."
There have been good times, and not-so-good times.
Cure puts it all, including the preseason expectations, into perspective.
"It's definitely been tough," he says. "I fought through the ups and downs. Honestly, all glory to God. He has helped me out through all this stuff. It's been good so far.
"Even at Goodland, something I always did whenever everything was getting to me is I'd go to church and sit in a pew for a long time. That's what I've done here so far. I've really found a close relationship with God."
And really, that's where this all began for Cure, with a prayer, with listening to his heart, and he spent a long night praying before signing his letter of intent that day in Goodland more than 11 months ago. In the end, Cure found peace. His heart said: "K-State."
And his love for K-State seemingly only continues to grow.
"It's a dream come true," he says. "Sitting there as a kid and watching everybody else run out (of the tunnel) and now I have the ability to do it, it's been awesome.
"It's just been a dream come true."
A little more than 11 months after Linkon Cure signed his letter of intent with Kansas State, ending a recruiting process for the nation's No. 1-rated high school tight end in the Class of 2025 that included 28 scholarship offers and a push by Oregon, the K-State freshman tight end/wide receiver stands surrounded by reporters at the Vanier Family Football Complex.
"It's definitely been a tough journey," Cure says.
Cure, the pride of Goodland, Kansas, wears a purple Nike t-shirt with a white Powercat embedded upon the chest. It's Monday, just after noon, and Cure is in the midst of a week of preparation for a final road game to a 2025 season that, well, has incurred a laundry list of challenges for the highest-rated signee in K-State history.
"I kind of set myself back doing that track season and basketball and not graduating early," Cure says. "That was just a rough start. Then I had an injury over the summer to my toe that I'm still dealing with, and then an injury to my knee. It's definitely been rough. And then learning the offense, after learning all the tight end stuff, I had to switch positions and learn all the receiver stuff. It's been rough.
"Honestly, I've enjoyed it so far. It just shows a lot about my perseverance. It's been a lot of fun. I love being out there."
At 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, Cure possesses a God-given blend of speed and athleticism that makes him one of the most agile athletes to wear a Wildcat uniform. K-State was the first school to offer Cure a scholarship on June 14, 2023. In all, Cure took unofficial visits to Penn State, Miami and Texas A&M, and he took official visits to Kansas, Texas A&M, Oregon and K-State.
Cure was rated as the 32nd-best overall player in the Class of 2025 by 247Sports. He had 946 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior, and he had 1,049 receiving yards with 17 touchdowns as a senior. He also was a star basketball player. He also was a two-time state champion in the 300-meter hurdles in addition to winning the 110-meter hurdles as both a junior and senior at Goodland High School.
But, yeah, this season has been challenging with delayed arrival to campus due to a May high school graduation, and with the toe injury, and with the knee injury, and with everything else along the way.
"You come in as highly touted as he and the expectations, those are hard for a young person to have to handle coming in here," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says at his weekly news conference. "And there's the fact that he did what he wanted to do and what he needed to do in track, so he didn't get here until June. We tried to get him up to speed, but our summer was short, our fall camp was shorter, and then he got banged up and missed most of that fall camp. I just appreciate him staying the course."
Cure played on the scout team for the first few weeks of this season while learning the offensive system.
"We also had to figure out what he was as a player," Klieman says. "You don't know, and we didn't get a great chance because of the injury in fall camp to find out what he is. He's a really physical player. It's been fun to watch that physicality and his confidence in playing physical."
Cure made his first catch as a K-State Wildcat against UCF (for 10 yards) on September 27, which was met with loud applause from the sellout crowd at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He had two catches for 18 yards at Kansas on October 25. He has played in each of the last seven games, including his first career start at Oklahoma State last Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He caught two passes against the Cowboys.
"Without a doubt, he came up with a big play and a big catch on Saturday," Klieman says. "As we continue to spoon-feed him — and I know it's Game 11 and how much can you spoon-feed him — but I go back to him missing fall camp. With our offense, we have to be simple yet creative because you want to make sure we don't overload him as well. He's been a factor, and he's got to continue to be a factor for us."
What's Cure learned most about himself during his freshman journey?
"A lot of things," he replies. "I don't even know if I could put it down to one thing. My perseverance and knowing things will be OK. Honestly, I've kind of had to see it that I need to trust my development. I knew all the expectations coming into the season and the expectations I had for myself. I need to learn it's going to be OK, and I have time and have to fully develop myself."
Cure's versatility lends itself toward better overall development on the field.
"I think it's awesome," he says. "It's really going to help me out with all my development. I'm going to go back to that tight end position and what I've learned is how to read coverages a lot more and attack leverage, and I'm going to bring that back to the tight end position. It's going to work out really well for me."
Cure has caught a pass in Lawrence and Stillwater this season and now will have the opportunity to catch passes in Salt Lake City when K-State, 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12 Conference, visits No. 13 Utah, 8-2 and 5-2, in Saturday's 3:00 p.m. kickoff at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"We're super motivated," Cure says. "We know it's going to be a tough game. We know it's a good team. We're all pretty excited for it. We really need to set the tone with this game, and we'll see how things start off with our practice, but I'm pretty excited."
There have been good times, and not-so-good times.
Cure puts it all, including the preseason expectations, into perspective.
"It's definitely been tough," he says. "I fought through the ups and downs. Honestly, all glory to God. He has helped me out through all this stuff. It's been good so far.
"Even at Goodland, something I always did whenever everything was getting to me is I'd go to church and sit in a pew for a long time. That's what I've done here so far. I've really found a close relationship with God."
And really, that's where this all began for Cure, with a prayer, with listening to his heart, and he spent a long night praying before signing his letter of intent that day in Goodland more than 11 months ago. In the end, Cure found peace. His heart said: "K-State."
And his love for K-State seemingly only continues to grow.
"It's a dream come true," he says. "Sitting there as a kid and watching everybody else run out (of the tunnel) and now I have the ability to do it, it's been awesome.
"It's just been a dream come true."
Players Mentioned
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