#3 Jordan Dunbar — Late spring pickup Jordan Dunbar (3), a cornerback transfer from Rice, will have a chance to return to Houston’s TDECU Stadium this season, only this time as a conference opponent. | Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the 34th day until the 2024 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State cornerback Jordan Dunbar.

NOTE: Kansas State has elected to advance players’ classification even though the 2020 season did not affect eligibility. Those who wish to take advantage of this extra year will be listed as a (“super”) senior again after their original eligibility would have been exhausted.

#34 Jordan Dunbar

Redshirt Senior | 6-0 | 196 lbs. | Tarrytown, New York

Position: Cornerback
Previous College: Rice University
Projection: Scout Team
Status: On Scholarship?

Jordan Dunbar (b. Nov. 30, 2001) is an academically gifted, veteran graduate transfer cornerback from Rice who has two years of eligibility remaining.

A late spring addition to K-State’s roster, he should add some needed depth after playing in 25 games over parts of three seasons at Rice, although he redshirted the 2023 campaign.

Dunbar saw action as a true freshman in only one game, playing against Middle Tennessee, during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

The 2021 season was better for Dunbar, who as a true sophomore played in 12 games with nine starts, coming away with 30 tackles and nine pass breakups as he earned All-Freshman Conference USA honors from the league’s coaches.

He led C-USA freshmen (unlike how K-State reports it, Rice apparently reset eligibility immediately after the pandemic year) and tied for fourth overall with nine pass breakups.

Dunbar had a career-high seven tackles against Houston, a game in which he had his first-career pass breakup. He also had five tackles against Southern Miss and broke up a pair of passes in the season finale against Louisiana Tech.

Similar success followed in 2022, when Dunbar was a true junior (by K-State reckoning) but counted by Rice as a sophomore. He again started all 12 games played, totaling 25 tackles and 10 pass breakups en route to All-Conference USA honorable mention accolades.

Dunbar tied for ninth in C-USA in pass breakups; broke up a career-high three passes at Louisiana Tech, while he had two in the Lending Tree Bowl against Southern Miss; and had a season-high four tackles in three consecutive games against Louisiana, Houston and UAB.

If you made it this far, you may be wondering why 2020 wasn’t counted as a redshirt year for Dunbar since he played in fewer than five games. I don’t have a good reason for that, but his bio says he redshirted in 2023 so it’s safe to surmise said redshirt was not used in 2020.

As I said before, I believe Rice basically reset Dunbar’s eligibility after 2020 and gave him a “do-over” season in 2021. This is counter to what K-State has been doing since 2020 (read the statement at the top of this article for a full explanation of that process), which makes it all the more curious that K-State is calling Dunbar a redshirt junior and not a redshirt senior.

I will continue to follow K-State’s stated process, even if they aren’t, and will list Dunbar as a redshirt “super senior” when he presumably returns for his last season in 2025.

Eligibility discussions aside, I question how much impact Dunbar will be able to make this fall following a full season off and also missing spring practices.

K-State is actually fairly deep at the position, if somewhat inexperienced behind the top three options, but if any transfer can break through that logjam, it would be one with two full seasons of starting experience like Dunbar has.

He prepped under head coach Joe Spagnolo at Iona Preparatory Upper School in New Rochelle, New York, leading the Gales to an 8-1 record and a trip to the semifinals of the New York Catholic High School League AAA state playoffs as a senior.

Dunbar earned all-league honors as a high school senior after compiling 44 tackles, four tackles for loss and 12 pass breakups. He came away with with 71 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and 25 pass breakups in his career.

Dunbar originally committed to Rice over offers from Air Force, Albany, Army, Bryant, Bucknell, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell, Florida Atlantic, Fordham, Furman, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Monmouth, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Tulane, William & Mary, and Wofford, as well as interest from Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Harvard, Howard, Massachusetts, Michigan State, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest. (He’s obviously a smart guy!)

This time around, he picked K-State over offers from Arkansas State, Charlotte, East Carolina, Eastern Illinois, Georgia Southern, Marshall, Massachusetts, Temple, Texas A&M-Commerce, UNLV, UTEP and Western Kentucky, plus interest from Boise State, Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Villanova, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Dunbar’s father, Jerome, played basketball at Albany State, while his mother, Juliet, ran track at Harvard. He is also the cousin of Jo-Lonn Dunbar, who played at Boston College and for eight seasons in the National Football League with the New Orleans Saints and LA Rams.