Coaching a Room Full of ‘Football Junkies’

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Luke Wells spent last year coaching his son, Walker, and Bixby High School to the Class 6A State Championship in Oklahoma. Now Wells steps back into a familiar arena — as tight ends coach at a Division I school.

Just so happens Kansas State boasts arguably the best tight end group in college football and is bringing in the top-rated high school tight end in the country for the 2025 season.

"These guys are football junkies," Wells said. "They spend time outside of the building watching extra tape and are very, very prepared when they show up every day, and they want to be great. It's a very fun environment as a coach."

Luke Wells is vaguely familiar with K-State offensive coordinator Matt Wells. Matt is Luke's older brother.

However, Luke Wells' football roots extend far beyond family. An Oklahoma quarterback in 1997-99, Wells served as Oklahoma student assistant from 1999-2001. He served on Division I coaching staffs at Louisiana-Monroe, Iowa State, Utah State, Texas Tech and Tulsa, specifically coaching tight ends at Louisiana-Monroe (2004-06), Iowa State (2011-12), Utah State (2017-18), Texas Tech (2019-21) and Tulsa (2022).

He worked under Matt when Matt served as head coach at Utah State and Texas Tech.

Now Luke, who was hired by K-State head coach Chris Klieman in February, is charged with guiding a strong tight ends group formerly coached by Brian Lepak, who was promoted to offensive line coach when Conor Riley departed for the Dallas Cowboys.

"Having Luke in that room is awesome," Matt Wells said. "Luke is a very good coach. He's a very good technician with the tight ends. He walked into a really good tight end room, and Brian left it in very good shape. He has a very good player coming in a couple months to add to that room. He's done a good job, and he's a really good coach and a really good recruiter. He's a good team guy. He's a good staff guy."

Wells is mightily familiar with K-State. Wells was an Oklahoma graduate assistant when Oklahoma beat K-State 41-31 in Manhattan on October 14, 2000, before beating the Wildcats again 27-24 in the 2000 Big 12 Championship game. But Wells also remembers the Wildcats' string of 10- and 11-win seasons along with their 35-7 win over the top-ranked Sooners to capture the 2003 Big 12 title.

A quarter-century later, Wells is excited to don the purple and white.

"I've been in the league long enough to where I had several games against K-State," he said. "I've always known what K-State is all about. Really good first impression here. Walking into offseason workouts here and seeing players lead the team has probably been the most impressive thing. The accountability we have in this program and the way our guys work and what Coach Tru does in the offseason with our guys, it's been a pretty neat deal to see.

"I've enjoyed getting around the players. They've been a fun group to coach. I really like this staff. I like the direction the program is heading. There's been a lot of sustained success at K-State. Coach Klieman is built on that, and he's a consistent winner. I'm very grateful to be in a program like this."

Wells oversees a tight end group that accounted for 49 catches and a nation-leading 13 touchdowns in 2024.

"It's a group that has played a lot of snaps," Wells said. "They played four guys last year and those guys had a really big role. The tight end position is a focal point of the offense in the run game and in the passing game, and they lean on those guys. These guys are pros."

Junior Garrett Oakley had 22 catches for 236 yards and five touchdowns last season.

"Every day he's a consistent competitor, shows up ready for practice, and does a really good job," Wells said. "He's a good blocker and has great hands. He shows the ability to make contested catches. I'm really happy with where he's been right now this spring."

Junior Brayden Loftin had 11 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

"Brayden is an athletic kid who has good hands and is really good on the perimeter," Wells said. "I've been pleased with his development."

Sixth-year senior Will Swanson had nine catches for 66 yards and three touchdowns.

"Will is a very consistent guy, tough, gritty, and a guy you can use in a lot of different ways," Wells said. "They've used him some in-line with the pass and he's been a fullback and he's a sixth-year veteran who's been great."

Sophomore Will Anciaux had seven catches for 62 yards and three touchdowns.

"Will Anciaux is one of the more-improved guys," Wells said. "Will is a young guy and just from seeing what he did last year and watching tape with him, man, he's continuing to improve. He's a good in-line blocker with length and really good hands. He's been taking steps in the right direction this spring and has continued to improve."

Exactly how dangerous is the current state of the K-State tight end position?

"It's extremely dangerous," Wells said. "We'll continue to develop these guys if there are some things we can improve on. They need to be guys that are sure handed, meaning when it's third down or a critical point in the game in the red zone, they're guys that the quarterback feels comfortable getting the ball to, and they have been those guys. We can continue to build on that and be able to have the flexibility to play with multiple tight ends at a time and run the ball behind them and play-action pass and be very effective doing that, then also be able to use them along the perimeter as well."

The tight end position is expected to receive a boost when true freshman Linkon Cure arrives in Manhattan. At 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, Cure, a native of Goodland, Kansas, is the top-rated high school prospect ever to sign at K-State and chose the Wildcats over 27 other scholarship offers. He had 42 catches for 946 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior, and 1,049 receiving yards with 17 touchdowns in addition to 208 rushing yards and six scores as a senior.

"He's a really special talent," Wells said. "I've enjoyed getting to know Linkon these past couple months. We'll have a plan for him. We'll make sure when he gets here this summer that we get him caught up. We're already installing some things with him and getting him to where he understands what we're doing, and we'll see how that goes this fall. I'm really looking forward to coaching him and seeing what he can add to the room as well.

"The first thing that jumps out is just his athleticism. His film jumps out at you. He can run, he can stick his foot in the ground, and he has exceptional receiving skills for a guy his size."

One potential challenge for Wells could be distributing snaps among his talented and capable pack.

"Absolutely a challenge," he said. "I told those guys early on my philosophy as a coach is really simple and it's to play the guys who you know you can win with. If you have a couple of guys, man, that's a really hard season, because you really need three or four of them to get you through a season. It's a long season. You need three or four really good tight ends that can help you win games. It's a long season and bodies are going to wear out.

"The challenge for me is what are their roles and what have they earned with their roles as far as how much playing time they've earned, and to expand their roles, and see where that is. The good thing with this offense is we have multiple personnel groupings. We can get two or three of them out there. We also have a lot of different substitution groups, so I have to be a little bit creative with that to see how I can use that to help our guys have roles on this team. Then as we get further into camp and as the season goes on, that role could get bigger depending upon how well they're playing."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Will Anciaux

Brayden Loftin

Garrett Oakley

Will Swanson

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