Recruiting Corner: Back in the Saddle

[Charles O'Brien]

Sorry about the lack of Recruiting Corner updates lately. I got word that the Army is going to make me do a pond jump here in the not-so-distant future, so I have been preparing for it. Because of that, my focus hasn't exactly been on KU or recruiting. Don't worry, I have my priorities back in order and recruiting corner will be a little bit more regular from now on.

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes lately so I will try to play catch-up.

• Freshman QB Christian Mathews has officially made the switch from quarterback to wide receiver this year. He has been practicing with the receivers for quite a while, but the official switch only came a few days ago.

Mathews absence at the quarterback position will leave KU with 3 quarterbacks for 2010, which basically makes signing a JuCo QB almost a certainty. There were a lot of questions about why KU had offered two JuCo QB's a few weeks ago...now we know.

• 2010 OLB commit Ed Fink is STILL an unknown. The guy is almost a ghost. His team lost in the playoffs last weekend, so his season is now officially complete. Hopefully there will be a few updates on him in the near future. What I know is that 1) he is a tackling machine (110 SOLO tackles in 10 games and over 150 on the season) 2) he flew below the radar screen because he missed all but a couple games last year due to injury and was still recovering when the summer camps and combines rolled around so his numbers were down.

As a random aside, he ran a 4.8 forty at the beginning on June while still recovering from having a broken leg...take from that what you want...but it tells me that if a guy can run a 4.8 while out of shape and still recovering, he probably has speed in the 4.6-4.65 range which is pretty decent for that position.

• 2010 RB commit James Sims has been tearing it up this season, especially in the last 3 games. Last weekend he rushed for 377 yards on 27 carries with 7 touchdowns. Through 9 games this season, Sims has produced almost 1400 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns.

Sims appears to be proving his worth and has shown signs of having a very bright future at Kansas. This may allow the coaching staff to hold off on signing a second running back for the Class of 2010. As of right now, the only RB that I feel the staff may still be pursuing is DJ Jones.

• Denton Ryan WR Bud Sasser has narrowed his list down to two schools: Kansas and Mizzou. He had already visited Nebraska, but cut the Cornhuskers from his list 2 weeks ago. He plans on visiting both Kansas and Missouri in December. Playing time will be his main deciding factor.

• OLB Jeremiah George of Clearwater, Florida has tentatively scheduled a visit to Lawrence for December 11th. As of right now, he is deciding between Kansas and Iowa State, but a pending offer from Michigan could cause him to reopen his recruitment to the Wolverines. Through 8 games, George is averaging almost 11 tackles per game

• Lakeland, Florida prospect Quayshawn Nealy is planning on visiting KU in December. The 6'0", 215 lbs. linebacker is physical and agressive. He is a strong Ole Miss lean, but is still planning on taking his visit to Lawrence.

• Mullen HS OLB Nduka Onyeali is planning on taking a trip to Kansas in the near future. He has narrowed down his list to 5 schools: Kansas, TCU, Minnesota, Syracuse, and Arizona State. He has already made three official visits: TCU, Minnesota, and Syracuse. While he is listed at OLB, it is more likely that he will play on the defensive line.

• Plymouth, Minnesota WDE Tobi Okuyemi has recently received an offer from the Kansas staff. The staff has been recruiting him for quite a while, but until recently, had not offered. More than likely, the staff was waiting to determine if there would be scholarship room available. Okyemi is 6'3", 250 lbs., and runs a 4.7 forty. As a junior, he posted 9 sacks and 17 tackles for loss. He has already visited Iowa and is visiting Nebraska this weekend. He has offers from Big Ten, Big XII, and SEC schools.

• Fullerton CC OT John Cullen has recently received a Kansas offer. He is currently high on Utah, Tennessee, and Auburn, but has not closed his recruiting down to other schools. He has already completed his visit to Tennessee and will likely visit Auburn and Utah after the season. He is planning on taking all 5 of his official visits, although he is currently unsure of where else he wants to visit. He is a May graduate, but did not use a redshirt at Fullerton and has 3 years to play 2, so he would likely be a redshirt candidate.

• Moore, Oklahoma TE Austin Haywood committed to OU after giving KU serious consideration. The bad news is that Haywood is a VERY talented tight end/defensive end and could have definitely been a play maker for Kansas. The good news is that OU doesn't have any more scholarship room to snatch-up any more KU targets. 13 of OU's 25 commits held KU offers, of those nearly half gave Kansas a solid look before selecting the Sooners. It is disappointing, but 4 years ago, none of those prospects would have given KU a look, so it is a definite step in the right direction.

• Kansas has pretty much been eliminated from the Marcus Lucas lottery. He finally narrowed down his list to 5 schools: Mizzou, OU, Arkansas, Stanford, and Tennessee. The one caveat to that statement is that OU is more or less out of scholarships unless they are able to grayshirt one of the recruits from this years class.

[Charles O'Brien]

Jeremiah George is off the list, just committed to Iowa State

[Arthur M Nease Jr]

Hey, non football comment, good luck, good health and know that you and your fellow service folks are in our prayers. God bless and come home safely.

[Charles O'Brien]

Yeah, LSU offered, but I don't know that I would really worry about him jumping ship. I think that he is just really flattered at this stage of the game. LSU already has 3 DE's and are in he hunt for at least one more. I don't know that he is ready to go that far from Hutch and he is big into his family. Im pretty sure he stays with KU. He likes the staff, the campus, the school.

[DJ Goodwin]

Charles have you heard anything on Geneo Grissum? I heard that maybe a big-time program was going to come after him.