Brayden Wood commits to Kansas State University

[player_tooltip player_id="22529" first="Brayden" last="Wood"] certainly wasn’t hurting for outstanding options for where he might play his college football, and hasn’t been for quite some time now. When it came time to make a decision by the self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. on Monday, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound Fairview High defensive end had narrowed his final six schools down to Boise State, Colorado State, Hawaii, Kansas State, Louisville and Washington State. At the end of a long recruitment process that started for Wood at an earlier age than most, he had put plenty of time and thought into his future. The decision was now clear. Kansas State. “I love the coaching staff there,” Wood said. “The coaching staff has shown me so much love. They hand-wrote letters to me and three of the coaches sent get well cards to my sister when she had surgery on her knee. The thing that really sparked the relationship with the coaches was when coach (Chris) Klieman called me on a Tuesday and we had an hour-long conversation during lunch time. It was a really good conversation and that started to feel like the best place for me to be.” [caption id="attachment_23482" align="alignright" width="207"] [player_tooltip player_id="22529" first="Brayden" last="Wood"][/caption]Wood, who sits at No. 13 in the Prep Redzone Colorado player rankings for the Class of 2021, said he originally wanted to commit in May once he had at least three official visits under his belt. He ended up getting a few more late offers so he pushed his decision back in order to fill out his five full official visits. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic cancelled Wood’s remaining visits and expedited his decision, which he announced live on 9News. Kansas State changed defensive coordinators recently, promoting Joe Klanderman to the role in early March. Klanderman was previously the safeties coach and Wood said he took a liking to the incoming DC right away. Plus, he has some family connections at Kansas State and the chance to join a childhood friend who recently committed to the Wildcats also was a factor in his decision. “My cousin played for West Virginia so he played against Kansas State a lot,” Wood said. “A lot of my family has been out there and been around the program. One of my buddies, [player_tooltip player_id="22519" first="Jake" last="Rubley"], who I played youth football with growing up, is going there too. We kind of went hand-in-hand together as kids and it’ll be cool to be two guys going out there from Colorado.” Rubley, the star quarterback for Highlands Ranch, committed to Kansas State in January. He is the No. 3-ranked 2021 in the PRZ Colorado player rankings. As a junior in 2019, Wood led the Fairview Knights with 116 tackles, including 18 for a loss. He had 2.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hurries for the Knights, who advanced to the Class 5A state quarterfinals before losing 42-28 to eventual champion Cherry Creek. In three varsity seasons to date, Wood has been credited with 234 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries and seven pass deflections. He said he is currently interested in pursuing a long-term career in coaching or recruiting football.