De'Arieun Hicks, transfer DL, commits to Kansas State
Another transfer portal entrant has selected Kansas State. De’Arieun Hicks became the seventh player on Monday to transfer to Kansas State, as first reported by On3’s Pete Nakos.
Hicks played his freshman season at Gardner-Webb in 2025 as an interior defensive lineman, which came with promising results. The former Runnin’ Bulldog gobbled up 21 tackles and claimed 1.5 sacks.
A native of Richmond, Indiana, Hicks had little fanfare coming out of high school. That led him to the Big South and Gardner-Webb. Among all FBS and FCS interior linemen in 2025, Hicks received a grade that put him in the top 15% of graded out players.
The top competition for K-State in the race to land Hicks was Iowa State and new head coach Jimmy Rogers. The Cyclones even got the first visit from Hicks over the weekend, but weren’t able to lock him down. Meanwhile, Kansas State Head Coach Collin Klein and assistant Buddy Wyatt were able to make this a recruiting win for the Wildcats.
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Interior defensive line is a position of need going into 2026, the Cats have lost all three rotational tackles from last year. Damian Ilalio and Uso Seumalo graduated, while Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder is in the transfer portal.
Hicks is the eighth portal pickup for K-State this cycle. To track all portal moves for the Cats, use the KSO Transfer Tracker to see who has left the program, who is coming in and each news story and video regarding transfers and Kansas State.
