Kansas State linebacker commit Austin Romaine (middle) stands with defensive graduate assistant Devin Klieman (left) and linebackers coach Steve Stanard (right) Romaine committed on Wednesday and then, on Thursday, Arkansas defensive back RJ Lester announced his pledge.
Kansas State linebacker commit Austin Romaine (middle) stands with defensive graduate assistant Devin Klieman (left) and linebackers coach Steve Stanard (right) Romaine committed on Wednesday and then, on Thursday, Arkansas defensive back RJ Lester announced his pledge.
Kansas State added two new commits in two days after the commit of Missouri’s Austin Romaine on Wednesday and Arkansas’ RJ Lester on Thursday
A 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker from Hillsboro, Missouri, Austin Romaine took to Twitter Wednesday evening to announce his intention to become a Wildcat.
Romaine is a 3-star prospect according to 247Sports, the No. 114 linebacker prospect and the No. 29 prospect out of Missouri.
He selected K-State over offers from Air Force, Buffalo, Columbia, Rice, New Mexico State, Pennsylvania, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Southern Illinois, South Dakota, Yale, Tulane and Harvard.
The Wildcats were the last team to offer Romaine, doing so on June 27.
At Hillsboro High School, Romaine has been a weapon on both sides of the ball. He ran the ball 120 times for 1,140 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior in 2021, while adding 16 receptions for 172 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively, he had 100 total tackles (22 for loss) and eight sacks last year en route to a first-team all-state selection in Class 4.
Lester, meanwhile, is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound cornerback from Fort Smith.
He had 58 tackles and four interceptions as a junior for Northside High despite playing with a broken hand.
Lester was clocked at at 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash back in May at a combine at his high school that K-State coaches attended according to the Fort Smith Times Record.
“He pops off the line,” Northside first-year coach Felix Curry said to the Times Record. “He accelerates so quickly for a big guy and he just has that short area quickness and he’s been working on that and that has improved.”
He currently is not rated by any of the major services, but has received scholarship offers from Tulane and Tulsa along with some interest from LSU.
K-State now has 16 commits for the class of 2023, including six other defensive players. The Wildcats’ recruiting class ranks 38th overall and eight in the Big 12 Conference.
