A Dream Come True

Athlete Jayson Cuba grew up a Kansas State fan ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, from Newton, Kan., was recently offered a scholarship by the Wildcats and he was all too happy to accept. Cuba talks about his decision to commit early and much more.

“Well, I’ve pretty much grown up loving Kansas State.” Jayson Cuba said. “My dad went to Kansas State and my godfather works at Kansas State. I’ve grown up around the program. My dad would take me to the football games and he’d show me around campus. I was in awe.

“When I was nine years old, my godfather was able to get me down on the sidelines for a game and that was it for me right there. I knew I wanted to be a Kansas State Wildcat. The fans at Kansas State are awesome and the atmospheres at the football games are just incredible.”

When did Kansas State officially offer Cuba a scholarship?

“I’d been going to camps at Kansas State for a while now and the former coaching staff kept in touch with me. When the new coaching staff came in, they called my coach and asked for tape. Coach (James) Franklin called my coach and told him that they liked me a lot and that they would be in touch.

“Finally, my coach gave me Coach Franklin’s phone number, I called him and we talked for a while and he told me that he would know soon about offering a scholarship. I talked to him the very next day and he told me that they wanted to offer me a full scholarship and I gladly accepted on the spot.”

Cuba will be a four-year varsity member and three-year varsity starter in 2006 for Newton. We asked Newton’s head football coach which position he feels Cuba will play in Manhattan.

“That’s a real good question.” Said Brent Glann, head football coach at Newton, “I spoke to Coach Franklin about that subject and Jayson could end up playing a lot of different positions, he could play tailback, linebacker, free safety or strong safety for Kansas State.

“Jayson is an exceptional athlete and a hard-worker. He qualified for the state track meet as a junior in the long jump. As a linebacker, Jayson has exceptional coverage skills, speed and he’s a sure tackler. On offense, he averaged six yards per carry and he was a tremendous blocker.

“We weren’t very good last year and Jayson was the only guy I had that would block anyone but this coming season, he’ll be getting the majority of the carries at tailback.”

Despite being committed, Cuba could find his verbal commitment tested from other D-1 programs. We asked Jayson just how solid his verbal commitment to Kansas State is right now.

“My commitment is 100% solid,” Cuba said. “Coach Franklin let me know when I committed that I knew what a commitment was. He told me that my commitment was my word as a man that I’ll sign with Kansas State next February. I’m a man of my word and I’m definitely going to live my dream by playing for Kansas State.”