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Goal No. 12: NO SELF-LIMITATIONS.Expect more of yourself.

#12 Jaron Tibbs

True Senior | 6-3 | 212 lbs. (+2) | Indianapolis, Indiana

• Position: Wide Receiver
• Previous College: Purdue University
• Projection: Starter
• Remaining Eligibility: 1-2* years (*if 5 to play 5 goes into effect or he redshirts)
• Status: On Scholarship

Jaron Tibbs (b. Feb. 2, 2005) is a highly touted transfer wide receiver from Purdue who immediately raised eyebrows with his play in 2025 spring practices and continued wowing throughout the summer.

Tibbs, who is majoring in kinesiology, proved last season to be an instant plug-and-play starter as both a reliable possession receiver and a deep-ball threat. Most importantly, he stayed healthy (unlike the departed Jerand Bradley and Jayce Brown) and available. Which means Tibbs enters 2026 as our most reliable wide receiver.

Former offensive coordinator Matt Wells had nothing but praise for his abilities last year in a press conference:

Yeah, he’s good. He’s a good player. He’s smart, versatile, can play lots of spots, blocks well on the perimeter, cares about blocking, has strong hands, and he’s probably deceptively faster than you think. He has a big body. I think he’s going to have a very good year. We’re hopeful of that and he is too. He’s a great kid who’s been raised the right way and he’s bought into everything at K-State.

Tibbs’ former position coach, Matthew Middleton, agreed last summer the transfer is a special kind of player:

He’s a threat not only down the field but when it’s thrown underneath, he’s able to put a foot in the ground and get vertical and get that hidden yardage. He makes contested catches as well.

Hot off the press, we have this fall camp-opening assessment of Tibbs from new head coach Collin Klein:

Jaron Tibbs — getting him back from the spring was tremendous. He’s had a really, really good camp and started fast.

In 2023, Tibbs did not redshirt* and appeared in eight games at Purdue, which included his first career start in the season finale against Indiana in which he had season highs in receptions (3), yards (27) and long catches (14).

He also hauled in an 8-yard pass against Ohio State and a 7-yard reception at Northwestern.

In 2024 season, Tibbs played in all 12 games with 10 starts for the Boilermakers, totaling 305 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 25 catches. He posted a career-high 73 receiving yards in the season finale at Michigan State, which included a career-long reception of 38 yards.

Tibbs had a career-high five receptions against Nebraska, while he had four catches apiece against Indiana State, Illinois, Northwestern and Michigan State. He went above 50 receiving yards at Illinois (51 yards) and against Northwestern (56 yards), and tallied touchdown receptions against Indiana State and at Illinois.

At Purdue, Tibbs played under current K-State running backs coach Cory Patterson in both 2023 and 2024, and he also played with new K-State defensive back Koy Beasley in 2024.

Last season in Manhattan, Tibbs played in all 12 games with 11 starts, ranking first on the team in receptions with 47 and ranking second with 595 receiving yards to go along with three touchdowns as he earned All-Big 12 honorable mention accolades. He saw time on 622 offensive snaps, the most among all K-State wide receivers.

Tibbs tallied a career-high eight receptions against UCF — going for 72 yards — and backed that performance up with a career-high 80 receiving yards on six catches at Baylor.

He also went over 50 receiving yards against North Dakota (55), Army (61), TCU (51), Texas Tech (54) and Colorado (55); tallied a career-long reception of 38 yards against the Red Raiders; had receiving touchdowns against North Dakota, Army and Kansas; and finished the season as an Academic All-Big 12 performer.

Tibbs prepped under head coach Bill Peebles at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, where he was regarded as the 95th-best wide receiver in the Class of 2023 by 247Sports, while the organization rated him the 12th-best overall prospect in the state of Indiana.

He was named to the 2022 Indiana Football Coaches Association All-State Top-50 team and was selected as the 2023 City Male Athlete of the Year, as well as being a member of two state championship teams, including during his junior season when he caught 10 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns in the title game.

Tibbs tallied 910 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior, setting school records for career catches (154) and receiving yards (2,479), while he finished second in receiving touchdowns (24).

He also played basketball, averaging 13.2 points per game as a junior and 16.3 points per game as a senior as he was named to the Indiana Football Coaches Association Supreme 15 senior all-state team. Says Tibbs of this:

I tell people all the time that basketball helped me with my other skills. Going up for a 50-50 ball is going up for a rebound, and getting off the press at the line is really just crossing somebody over and trying to get to the paint.

Tibbs originally committed to Purdue over offers from Akron, Ball State, Colgate, Columbia, Dartmouth, Eastern Michigan, Holy Cross, Illinois State, Indiana State, Iowa, James Madison, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois and UT Martin.

He later picked K-State as his transfer destination over offers from Arkansas, East Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Liberty, Louisville, Minnesota, Rutgers, USC, UTEP, Wake Forest and Western Michigan.

Learn more about Tibbs’ journey in this excellent D. Scott Fritchen profile article from January 2025. You can also refer to our prior recruiting coverage of him in the transfer portal, complete with high school recruiting film.

*Keep in mind that starting this season, redshirted players can play in up to nine total games and retain their year of eligibility. If the 5-for-5 rule survives its court challenges, that number goes from nine to “all of them.”

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