I guess it's abit unpractical, but there's something that woulod make a jet as maneuverable (or even better) as a prop combat airplane. Thrust vectoring coupled with fun-fly control surfaces. An airplane with this configuration would be radically maneuverable. But the aircraft would need to be very light, or the engine a big one, say a single .91 Ducted Fan in a 50" span model, with a light but strong structure, and an AUW of no more than 70% of the fan's max thrust. Put some vanes in the jet exhaust to vector the thrust and there you go.

I guess it would be an interesting experiment, but i see that all this hassle for a combat plane is kind of unnecesary.

Just my 2 cents....