It is safe to say Kansas State has it rolling a bit on the recruiting trail in the 2027 recruiting class. K-State has landed Edmond, Oklahoma linebacker Colton McComb.

The announcement from McComb comes while on an unofficial visit to Kansas State. It was the first time the linebacker had visited Manhattan and he was blown away by the Wildcats on his visit leading to his commitment.

McComb was a newer target of Kansas State when Collin Klein was announced as the new head coach. His recruitment was much more of the sprint variety. The Oklahoma native was offered by K-State January 16 by area recruiter Brian Lepak.

Shortly after his offer from the Wildcats, McComb was visited by Kansas State defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson who conducted an in-home visit with the junior. After the in-home visit, he scheduled a visit to Manhattan for this weekend where he pulled the trigger. The K-State defensive coordinator deserves a lot of credit for getting this commitment done for the Wildcats.

The junior held offers from Baylor, Boston College, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Memphis and Tulane along with the offer from the Wildcats. McComb had official visits scheduled to Baylor and Kansas for the summer, but will no longer take those. Both Sooner State schools also wanted the junior linebacker, so he was a very wanted prospect on the recruiting trail. He is also the older brother of David McComb who began his college career at Kansas.

Overall, McComb is commitment No. 5 for Kansas State. At this point last year, K-State still had not received its first commitment yet. He joins the Wildcat class of defensive lineman Dawayne Jones, safety Julian Elzey, cornerback Nazir Pitchford and offensive lineman Canaan Smith. McComb is also the second Oklahoma native to join the class joining Jones.

KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.

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The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, is shutting down its pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) services.

The major hospital in Kansas City confirmed to KSHB 41 News on Friday that PICU services will be ending, though a date is not confirmed yet.

Pediatric services that are not considered “intensive care” are not affected.

According to a spokesperson with the hospital, “chronically low census” in the PICU led The University of Kansas Health System to make the decision.

The health system only has six PICU beds out of the 1,621 beds in the entire hospital. Out of the 542,429 patients who used services at the health system last year, only 150 patients were in the PICU.

“That is well below one quarter of one half a percent,” a spokesperson wrote. “The majority of the time, the PICU is used for overflow from the NICU or neonatal patient care. The health system needs space to meet higher demands for care,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Pediatric patients needing services will still receive emergency, hospital and triage care at The University of Kansas Health System. If more intensive care is needed, the hospital will work with other KC metro health systems to provide that care.

“We will still offer pediatric inpatient services for peds who need hospitalization, but not pediatric intensive care,” a spokesperson wrote. “We also have a large outpatient footprint, as most pediatric issues are treated in outpatient settings.”

Staff currently working in the PICU will continue working with The University of Kansas Health System in either the pediatric or infant units.

“It is common for adult academic teaching hospitals to not provide ongoing pediatric intensive care services when there is a children’s hospital in the same city,” a spokesperson wrote. “This is not an unusual business model. In our case, there’s a children’s hospital less than 3 miles away.”

A date for the PICU closure is not confirmed yet, though a spokesperson said multiple dates are being looked at that coincide with the health system’s fiscal year budget.

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