Recruiting Corner: Waiting Game
Program Update
Until a new coach is named, don’t plan on any new commits. Success at this time can be measured with keeping our current recruits on board and keeping the other targets from going elsewhere. That is about as good as you can do until a new coach is hired…recruits don’t want to commit to a program they may not want to be a part of in a month.
The staff has been hitting the trail hard in recent weeks. Even though the status of the program is up in the air, they haven’t stopped working. So far every commit is still on board, although almost everyone of them has said that their continued commitment will depend on the next coach. There really isn’t anything else that can be done. Texas Tech, LSU, among others have been poking around KU’s top targets. That is to be expected, although with the right coach, it will be a moot point.
The biggest recruiting setback will be among the December graduates, both high school and junior college. Jacoby Walker, in particular, is on the edge. As a dual threat quarterback, he stands to have the most to lose with a coaching hire. Several junior college prospects are on tap to visit in the next week. The first day that they can sign their letter of intent is December 14th. If KU doesn’t have a coach in place by the 10th or 11th, the Jayhawks will miss out on them…those prospects just can’t afford to wait.
Other Recruiting News:
-Butler CC (El Dorado, KS) linebacker Toquavius Gilchrist is expected to be on campus today. He is a 6'2", 230 lbs. 4-Star OLB prospect. Bill Miller is his lead recruiter and Gilchrist has narrowed down his list to three: Kansas, Houston, and Kansas State. Originally from South Carolina, his grades forced him to go the JuCo route, although he was being recruited by Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Clemson. Gilchrist, originally a running back, redshirted in 2008 while he learned the linebacker position and put on nearly 40 pounds. He reportedly ran a 4.38 40 when he arrived at Butler, although with the weight gain, he probably runs somewhere in the 4.5-4.6 range now. He was a first team All-Jayhawk Conference selection. Gilchrist is a December grad and will have 3 years to play 3.
-WR Bud Sasser has narrowed down his list to three schools: Kansas, Arizona, and Missouri. He has stuck by his decision to visit KU, although he has yet to schedule a visit. He has already scheduled visits with Mizzou and Arizona. I believe strongly that Sasser is taking a wait and see approach and that a Marcus Lucas/Dexter Ransom commitment will go a long way towards determining where Sasser ends up.
-DE Micah Robinson is quietly moving up recruiting boards across the country over the last 2 months. His on the field skills as a pash rusher have made him particularly attractive to schools in pass-happy conferences. KU has recently extended him an offer, and his recruitment is just starting to warm up so Kansas is still very much in the mix.
-WR Dexter Ransom has dropped Kansas from consideration. He has narrowed down his list to Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah.
-OLB Nduka Onyeali dropped KU from consideration shortly after the turmoil with Mark Mangino was announced. This isn’t likely to change, regardless of the next head coach.
-Kansas commit Andrew Turzelli is still a relative unknown. However, I have been able to track down some information on him. As a senior he caught 54 passes for 950+ and 11 scores. He is also reportedly closer to 6'5 than 6'4, although with high school kids you never can tell. He has been known to play a little in the defensive backfield and has solid speed. The biggest risk is that his high school coach is the brother of the Matsakis brothers that are currently on KU's staff, and with the expected turnover, who knows if he will stay on board.
Mid Season Tape
Yes for most prospects the season is now over, however, for the most part, mid-season film is just starting to get out there into the open. Until now, I have been going off of previous seasons and whatever I could gather weekly through Youtube and such. Well, now several Kansas targets have produced their mid-season tape so I can update them.
Jordan Rodgers
Throwing mechanics have improved. He is almost automatic inside of 10 yards…slant routes are dangerously good. His arm strength has drastically improved over the last 12 months, although he won’t be throwing accurate 60 yard bombs any time soon. He is good enough to throw the deep out route and posts, but the deep fade is a little suspect. He has a solid pocket sense and moves around well under pressure. As a runner, he has Bill Whitemore-esque skills…the kind of runner that runs for 45 yards but leaves you scratching your head as to how someone that looks that slow can move like that. He has a very effective “white guy at the Y” juke move that consistently works.
Even though all of the Mangino’s-gone-who-is-the-new-coach stuff has put a lot of other recruits into a hold over pattern, Rodgers interest hasn’t waivered.
DJ Jones
Jones is as good as advertised. His ability to move between the tackles and find holes is impressive. He is a very patient runner that consistently follows his blocks. He can be both shifty and bullish at the same time…making speed cuts and then running through defenders. He doesn’t have the acceleration to have an instant burst into the second row, but he has a good vision and once he gets into open space he can kick it into high gear. His top speed isn’t ideal, but his overall running ability is a great asset. He is also a pretty solid pass blocker out of the spread.
Updated Commit List
So far nothing has changed since Mangino was forced to resign. Hopefully it stays that way.
Jaqwaylin Arps DE 6-3/230
Zach Bolton OL 6-2/260
Justin Castor K 6-5/-
Dave Clark DB 6-2/190
Jeremiah Edwards DT 6-1/270
Ed Fink LB 6-3/221
Geneo Grissom DE 6-4/230
Trayvon Henry LB 6-2/220
Ricki Herod Jr. WR 6-2/175
Jimmay Mundine LB 6-1/225
James Sims RB 6-0/205
Trent Smiley TE 6-4/225
Keeston Terry WR 6-2/179
Andrew Turzilli WR 6-4/185
Jacoby Walker QB 6-2/210
Happy Trails
Go ahead and put a rubber stamp on these guys because they are officially gone. It doesn't matter who the new coach is, I don't know that Kansas has a realistic shot to bring any of these guys back to the table.
RB Tyson Gulley (Akron, OH) has committed to Syracuse
RB Darryl Fields (Madill, OK) has committed to SMU
WR Chris Hawkins (Channelview, TX) has committed to Minnesota
WR Kyle Guinyard (Ennis, TX) has committed to SMU
WR Jimmy Hall (Sylvania, OH) has committed to Northwestern
WR Darius Tubbs (Humble, TX) has committed to UTEP
OT Skyler Schofner (Sunbury, OH) has committed to Michigan State
Until a new coach is named, don’t plan on any new commits. Success at this time can be measured with keeping our current recruits on board and keeping the other targets from going elsewhere. That is about as good as you can do until a new coach is hired…recruits don’t want to commit to a program they may not want to be a part of in a month.
The staff has been hitting the trail hard in recent weeks. Even though the status of the program is up in the air, they haven’t stopped working. So far every commit is still on board, although almost everyone of them has said that their continued commitment will depend on the next coach. There really isn’t anything else that can be done. Texas Tech, LSU, among others have been poking around KU’s top targets. That is to be expected, although with the right coach, it will be a moot point.
The biggest recruiting setback will be among the December graduates, both high school and junior college. Jacoby Walker, in particular, is on the edge. As a dual threat quarterback, he stands to have the most to lose with a coaching hire. Several junior college prospects are on tap to visit in the next week. The first day that they can sign their letter of intent is December 14th. If KU doesn’t have a coach in place by the 10th or 11th, the Jayhawks will miss out on them…those prospects just can’t afford to wait.
Other Recruiting News:
-Butler CC (El Dorado, KS) linebacker Toquavius Gilchrist is expected to be on campus today. He is a 6'2", 230 lbs. 4-Star OLB prospect. Bill Miller is his lead recruiter and Gilchrist has narrowed down his list to three: Kansas, Houston, and Kansas State. Originally from South Carolina, his grades forced him to go the JuCo route, although he was being recruited by Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Clemson. Gilchrist, originally a running back, redshirted in 2008 while he learned the linebacker position and put on nearly 40 pounds. He reportedly ran a 4.38 40 when he arrived at Butler, although with the weight gain, he probably runs somewhere in the 4.5-4.6 range now. He was a first team All-Jayhawk Conference selection. Gilchrist is a December grad and will have 3 years to play 3.
-WR Bud Sasser has narrowed down his list to three schools: Kansas, Arizona, and Missouri. He has stuck by his decision to visit KU, although he has yet to schedule a visit. He has already scheduled visits with Mizzou and Arizona. I believe strongly that Sasser is taking a wait and see approach and that a Marcus Lucas/Dexter Ransom commitment will go a long way towards determining where Sasser ends up.
-DE Micah Robinson is quietly moving up recruiting boards across the country over the last 2 months. His on the field skills as a pash rusher have made him particularly attractive to schools in pass-happy conferences. KU has recently extended him an offer, and his recruitment is just starting to warm up so Kansas is still very much in the mix.
-WR Dexter Ransom has dropped Kansas from consideration. He has narrowed down his list to Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah.
-OLB Nduka Onyeali dropped KU from consideration shortly after the turmoil with Mark Mangino was announced. This isn’t likely to change, regardless of the next head coach.
-Kansas commit Andrew Turzelli is still a relative unknown. However, I have been able to track down some information on him. As a senior he caught 54 passes for 950+ and 11 scores. He is also reportedly closer to 6'5 than 6'4, although with high school kids you never can tell. He has been known to play a little in the defensive backfield and has solid speed. The biggest risk is that his high school coach is the brother of the Matsakis brothers that are currently on KU's staff, and with the expected turnover, who knows if he will stay on board.
Mid Season Tape
Yes for most prospects the season is now over, however, for the most part, mid-season film is just starting to get out there into the open. Until now, I have been going off of previous seasons and whatever I could gather weekly through Youtube and such. Well, now several Kansas targets have produced their mid-season tape so I can update them.
Jordan Rodgers
Throwing mechanics have improved. He is almost automatic inside of 10 yards…slant routes are dangerously good. His arm strength has drastically improved over the last 12 months, although he won’t be throwing accurate 60 yard bombs any time soon. He is good enough to throw the deep out route and posts, but the deep fade is a little suspect. He has a solid pocket sense and moves around well under pressure. As a runner, he has Bill Whitemore-esque skills…the kind of runner that runs for 45 yards but leaves you scratching your head as to how someone that looks that slow can move like that. He has a very effective “white guy at the Y” juke move that consistently works.
Even though all of the Mangino’s-gone-who-is-the-new-coach stuff has put a lot of other recruits into a hold over pattern, Rodgers interest hasn’t waivered.
DJ Jones
Jones is as good as advertised. His ability to move between the tackles and find holes is impressive. He is a very patient runner that consistently follows his blocks. He can be both shifty and bullish at the same time…making speed cuts and then running through defenders. He doesn’t have the acceleration to have an instant burst into the second row, but he has a good vision and once he gets into open space he can kick it into high gear. His top speed isn’t ideal, but his overall running ability is a great asset. He is also a pretty solid pass blocker out of the spread.
Updated Commit List
So far nothing has changed since Mangino was forced to resign. Hopefully it stays that way.
Jaqwaylin Arps DE 6-3/230
Zach Bolton OL 6-2/260
Justin Castor K 6-5/-
Dave Clark DB 6-2/190
Jeremiah Edwards DT 6-1/270
Ed Fink LB 6-3/221
Geneo Grissom DE 6-4/230
Trayvon Henry LB 6-2/220
Ricki Herod Jr. WR 6-2/175
Jimmay Mundine LB 6-1/225
James Sims RB 6-0/205
Trent Smiley TE 6-4/225
Keeston Terry WR 6-2/179
Andrew Turzilli WR 6-4/185
Jacoby Walker QB 6-2/210
Happy Trails
Go ahead and put a rubber stamp on these guys because they are officially gone. It doesn't matter who the new coach is, I don't know that Kansas has a realistic shot to bring any of these guys back to the table.
RB Tyson Gulley (Akron, OH) has committed to Syracuse
RB Darryl Fields (Madill, OK) has committed to SMU
WR Chris Hawkins (Channelview, TX) has committed to Minnesota
WR Kyle Guinyard (Ennis, TX) has committed to SMU
WR Jimmy Hall (Sylvania, OH) has committed to Northwestern
WR Darius Tubbs (Humble, TX) has committed to UTEP
OT Skyler Schofner (Sunbury, OH) has committed to Michigan State
Views: 0
Comment
About
Links
BIG 12
Burnt Orange Nation (UT)
GENERAL SPORTS
The Daily Blitz (all football)
Tangled Up In Royal Blue (KC Royals)
Burnt Orange Nation (UT)
GENERAL SPORTS
The Daily Blitz (all football)
Tangled Up In Royal Blue (KC Royals)
RSS FEEDS
Credits
© 2012 Created by DJ Goodwin.
Powered by 
.
You need to be a member of Hawk Digest to add comments!
Join Hawk Digest