Help us find the next Top Prospect!
Pictured left-to-right: Goodland's Linkon Cure, Coffeyville's Darell Jones, and Lyndon's Kaedin Massey are just a few of the athletes who saw their recruitment explode after performing well at SP events. (File Photos)
For the better part of the past decade Sharp Performance, Sports in Kansas, and Kansas Pregame have been at the forefront of discovering the top football talent in the state of Kansas, but we want to take it one step further this summer.
“Athletes are being identified as potential college prospects earlier than ever and we want to bring that level of athlete promotion to the state of Kansas with this summer’s Top Prospect showcase in late May,” Sharp Performance CEO Jake Sharp said. “The last few recruiting classes show just how much high level college talent is in this state and Chet (Kuplen) and John (Baetz) and I want to help even more kids connect with college coaches earlier in the recruiting process than ever before.”
The May 28th Sharp Performance Top Prospect Showcase will feature comprehensive coverage by Sports in Kansas and Kansas Pregame and athletes will complete testing and drills in front of college coaches and state and regional recruiting media.
Help us find the next Top Prospect in Kansas by sending nominations to kansaspregame@gmail.com. Include links to film, statistics, postseason honors and results in other sports.
Maybe your athlete will be the next to burst on the scene at an SP Event, just like these players:
Linkon Cure, Goodland
Cure is part of an incredibly athletic family from Goodland with an older brother, Leyton, playing football for Fort Hays State, and an older sister, Lindsey, playing volleyball at Regis University. Linkon is long and athletic with numerous high-flying dunking highlights in basketball. That explosiveness was on full display at SP Events where he posted a 4.79 40, a 9-foot broad jump and a 30.1 inch vertical, as well as eight reps of 185 on bench all as just a sophomore. Now wrapping up his junior year as one of the state's top basketball players, a standout hurdler, and a top ranking nationally as a tight end prospect, Cure used the Top Prospect Showcase to launch a furious recruitment that witnessed major college coaches from across the country make the trip to Goodland to see Cure in person.
Kaedin Massey, Lyndon
Massey made a splash just showing up at an SP Event as he stood 6-8 and weighed 250 pounds as just a sophomore.
Massey tested well at the 2022 showcase, showing off solid footwork for his size with a 5.12 40 and a 4.66 pro agility, as well as a 24.5 inch vertical, a 99-inch broad jump, and 10 reps of 185 on bench, all excellent measurables for a 6-8 sophomore not yet done progressing.
The rest is history as Massey's recruitment exploded and he became one of the top offensive line prospects in the class of 2024. He has since signed with K-State after helping to lead the Lyndon Tigers to the 8-Man I state title and he is currently working to help reproduce that success in basketball.
Darell Jones, Coffeyville
Coffeyville-Field Kindley coach Deonta Wade knows as well as anyone how a Sharp event can impact the future for Kansas athletes.
“The Sharp Showcase is huge for our state and surrounding states that maybe do not get the love as some of the more popular states,” Wade said. “We had a young man, Darell Jones, that went into the showcase with zero offers, zero coaches contacting, etc. He left with an offer from Eastern Michigan and KSU was starting to show interest.”
Now a junior defensive back for K-State, the speedster ran a pair of sub-4.4 hand-timed 40s at the 2020 showcase and posted a 4.15 in the pro agility drill. Those numbers were put on display by Sports in Kansas, Kansas Pregame, GoPowercat.com and other media outlets. Eastern Michigan saw video of Jones on SIK’s Twitter feed and contacted coach Wade on the field at the showcase. Days later Kansas State University coach Chris Klieman offered Jones a scholarship.
Jones eventually climbed to number four in the 247Sports rankings for the Kansas in the class of 2021 and ultimately signed with the Wildcats.
Jaren Kanak, Hays
Jaren Kanak, burst onto the scene with his performance at the 2020 SP Showcase and eventually made his way to the University of Oklahoma to play linebacker following former Clemson defensive coordinator and Salina native Brent Venables to the program.
“The showcase was very, very beneficial for me,” Kanak said. “It was a great way to get my name and numbers out there. I knew I was capable of playing football at the next level and the Sharp Showcase was exactly what I needed to grab the attention of recruits with my testing numbers.”
These are just a few of the success stories from SP events. Nominate a candidate for the Sharp Performance Top Prospect Showcase by emailing kansaspregame@gmail.com and give that athlete a chance to accelerate their recruitment this summer.