Kansas State adds Omaha athlete Darien Whitaker

Kansas State has added another prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. Omaha, Nebraska linebacker Darien Whitaker has announced his commitment to K-State. Some recruitments are a marathon and some are a sprint. Whitaker’s recruitment was more of the latter.

The Omaha native participated in the final camp of the Summer for Kansas State July 25. He received an offer after the camp and a few days later announced his de-commitment from Northern Iowa. After de-committing from the Panthers, Whitaker came back to the K-State season opener versus UT-Martin.

He took his official visit for the Kansas game this past weekend. The visit was such a success that Whitaker decided to go ahead and commit to the Wildcats. Whitaker was one of a large number of visitors on hand for the Sunflower Showdown.

Did we mention flips? The rising senior linebacker is the third prospect to flip their commitment to Kansas State in the 2025 cycle.

An interesting note is K-State has flipped a prospect from the Group of Five, Power Four and FCS level. Not a lot of teams can say that. Fellow Nebraska native Sawyer Schilke flipped his commitment from Northern Illinois and Florida-based safety Logan Bartley flipped his commitment from Wake Forest.

Despite already holding four commitments from linebackers this cycle, Kansas State thought Whitaker was too good to pass up after seeing him perform in person.

He was a major standout in how he moved and how physical he was. He also provides versatility and could slot in at each of the three linebacker positions or even safety or defensive end. A move to the defensive line has become more likely.

In total, the senior held offers from Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Washington State and South Florida before flipping to K-State. His top three included the Cougars and Bulls before committing to Kansas State.

Overall, Whitaker is commitment No. 19 for K-State.

He joins Dillon Duff, Weston Polk, Will Kemna, Martel Jackson, Adonis Moise, Dalton Knapp, Schilke , JoJo Scott, Maguire Richman, Dominic Mitchell, Brock Heath, Linkon Cure,  RJ Collins, Monterrio Elston, Ashton Moore, Noah King, Bartley and Brad Stanyer.

The Nebraska native has not yet been ranked by On3.