I confirmed Alabama corner Jhalil Hurley is on campus. His last visit was to Missouri and the word was they were considered the leader but have backed off him or at least slow playing him. It is also believed Michigan State is in the running where he finished his visit yesterday. One source told me, "I can see more schools getting involved if they lose their weekend targets."

Another name to keep an eye on is Tyler Mercer, an OL from North Texas. He moved into the starting spot in week two and made several Freshman All-American lists. He's been a hot commodity because he is a 4X3 and picked up offers from North Carolina, Mississippi State, Arizona State, Arkansas, Miami, Stanford, and Houston.

Stanford OL Trevor Mayberry was supposed to visit this weekend but dropped KU. The Jayhawks are no longer on his list.

The position that is toughest to track right now is wide receiver and this is a tough year to be in the receiver market. This happens to be a year a lot of schools are looking for receivers and the word on the street people are overpaying or receivers. I'm hearing a couple of targets KU was on are no longer in the running on Nyziah Hunter and Omari Kelly.

Cam Pickett is on campus for his official visit and that would be a huge get at wide receiver.

A name to keep on the list is Yanni Karlaftis. He is the younger brother of KC Chiefs DE George Karlaftis. I have heard the staff has been recruiting him but there isn't any new info on him. I know he was supposed to visit TCU this weekend but they canceled his visit.

Temple OL Melvin Siani told me he is working on setting up a visit next week to KU. Right now he is on a visit to Oklahoma State.

There are several teams trying to get South Carolina TE Connor Cox on campus and the Jayhawks were the first. He is expected to leave KU and go to Michigan State and then North Carolina State could get the next visit.

These are a few nuggets I have been working on this morning and will update as I get more.

Is JD returning actually bad for recruiting the WR position due to his play last year? We only threw for 202 ypg (88th in the country) and we didn’t have a receiver top 700 yards.

To start off I'm logging two portal predictions to sign with the Jayhawks.

I'm predicting Lyrik Rawls and Laith Marjan to pick KU. Rawls is a safety from Oklahoma State, who finished his visit on Thursday and from what I gather has canceled his other trips. Marjan is a kicker from South Alabama, I am hearing the special teams staff had been watching him for a while.

Michigan State WR Aziah Johnson is on campus last night and then will head to Kansas State either late today or in the morning.

One corner I hope the staff can land is DJ Graham from Utah State. He told me he will be in late tonight. I've talked to several people about him and I think he will be a contributor next year if he picks Kansas.

Ball State WR Cam Pickett said he will visit this weekend but didn't say if he would be arriving on Saturday. He told previously it would be Saturday but it might be off by a day.

I expect Bowling Green LB Joseph Sipp to visit KU either on Sunday or Monday. He's a player I think the KU coaches knew was going to the portal and were all over him from the beginning. Was a first team all Mac selection.

UAB LB Everett Roussaw told me he will visit this weekend. In the last two seasons has 125 tackles and will be a 3X2 player that makes him attractive.

The big thing with portal players and their reps is filtering what is true and what is not. Also the thing that makes it difficult is reporting offers to raise their stock more to bargain NIL money.

End of first quarter and SDSU leads 7–0 in cold a$$ Brookings (great town though). Both teams have some dudes.

Jackrabbits have been on a roll in recent years supplanting North Dakota State as the premier FCS program.

Things are moving very fast and I am learning there are players reporting offers from KU, who really don't have offers. I'm sifting through some of this info.

They have a focus on special teams are making a run at Laith Marjan a kicker from South Alabama. A source in our network told me he has spoken with Marjan and right now some schools think KU is the leader. This season he was 16-of-17 on field goals and was a Lou Groza semi-finalist.

Had a chance to talk with Langden Kitchen and he really liked his visit and I will have more later. The DE from Northwest Missouri. He really liked Taiwo Onatolu and the staff. His host was Blake Herold.

Lyrick Rawls from Oklahoma State said he had a good visit and I will have more later.

There is some talk that Alabama CB Jhalil Hurley may be leaning to Missouri. I will be tracking that info which could be decided as early as today.

I'm telling you right now, I have been on the phone all night last night and this morning. I think some recruits are taking themselves out of contention with schools with the price tag they are requesting.

Okay there will be a lot of information and things will change by the hour.

I may start individual threads if I know someone is going to visit. But use this thread to post interesting portal entries that you like or anything you see regarding KU.

Quick Take: I heard Lyrik Rawls name early in the process and he is someone the staff targeted early. The staff studied his film and knew about him the minute he went in the portal.

Rawls spent time around the defensive staff and said Brandon Shelby was the coach who recruited him most from the portal. He saw the stadium renovation going on and wanted to be a part of it.

“I like the renovation I like the connection with the coaches, and I honestly think it’ll be a great fit for me here in Lawrence,” Rawls said.

Rawls started his visit on Tuesday and finished up on Thursday morning. He told me he committed after the visit and his focus is on graduating and getting to Lawrence.

“What’s next for me is graduation, then Christmas then whatever date it is for me to report to start as a Jayhawk,” he said.

He will arrive in January.



Breakdown: This season Rawls played 220 snaps was their second highest-rated safety scoring 64.2 on the PFF grade card. His best score was 69.7 for his coverage.

He has the talent and potential to help KU’s secondary. In his career he has 67 tackles and two interception and when he is healthy he can be a contributor.

“Rawls saw a promising start to his career derailed by serious injury that ended his season after starting the first three games of that season,” said Jeff Johnson of O-State Illustrated.

Personally, I think he will challenge for a starting job as the secondary has to deal with the losses of Marvin Grant and O.J. Burroughs and then Purdy entering the portal.



What this means: From everything I can tell I think they will look for another safety in the portal. They lose three scholarship players off the roster and had Brandon Schmelzle committed in the high school class.

I think this first week will be by far the most difficult to sort out in the portal. First off, I believe we see the portal entries slow down next week.

Second, I think we are going to see recruits start making decisions in the next 7-10 days because the best NIL offers may be on the table. There are going to be schools start to squeeze recruits. I am hearing about some portal recruits setting four and five visits. I just don't see some of them taking that many.

For example OL Mahamane Moussa told me he would definitely visit KU. But he took his visit to Louisville and he committed and canceled visits.

Jack Tanner from Tulsa ended his visit yesterday and will have more details from him. He had a good time around Daryl Agpalsa and being around the players. He told me he is headed to Northwestern and Kansas State next.

Safety Lyrick Rawls from Oklahoma State is set to start his official visit today. He hasn't told me what other schools are involved.

I confirmed Jahlil Hurley a former Rivals 250 recruit from Alabama will visit KU this weekend. The KU staff has been on him from the second he went in the portal. Another corner to watch is DJ Graham from Utah State. He transferred from Oklahoma and I am hearing KU may be one of the top schools. Lindenwood corner Tre Bell is also getting a lot of interest. The KU coaches saw him play against them last season and had a chance to watch his tape. Bell told me he will visit next week. The staff is on several corners and Zelmar Vedder is one of them. He is from Sacramento State and will visit KU next week he told me.

The staff has reached out to AJ Pena a LB from Rhode Island who out up big numbers this year. Another LB Antarron Turner from Western Carolina told me last night he plans to visit KU this weekend. The Jayhawks will also get a visit from a talented LB in Omar Graham Jr from Florid State this weekend. I am still waiting to see if LB Reginald Hughes from Jacksonville State sets a visit.

Northwest Missouri State DL Langden Kitchen is supposed to finish his official visit to KU today. I know there are several teams in the mix and Iowa may be the biggest competitor. Wide receiver Omari Kelly from Middle Tennessee will visit KU on Dec. 17. Another wide receiver who will visit this weekend is Aziah Johnson and he will go to Manhattan after his visit. The staff has offered Nyziah Hunter a WR from Cal who is picking up several offers including Syracuse, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Nebraska, KSU, Arizona State, Utah and others.

An OL to watch is Isaiah World from Nevada. He's getting a lot of interest and played for Matt Lubick. One source told me Kentucky is likely to get a visit. Baylor starting tackle Alvin Ebosele will take an official to KU along with Arkansas, Houston and Minnesota. I reported earlier OL Trevor Mayberry a Stanford transfer will visit on Friday.

There is going to be a lot of changes, additions and deletions to the lists over the next 4-5 days. I will be back on anything new I hear.

KU will be seeking $300 million to finish the gateway project according to the attached article. New marriott hotel, new student housing, mix of retail and restaurant space, and a 20,000 sq foot plaza to use for outdoor entertainment space. About $85 million in public incentives. Click the 12ft to see the LJ article.

Special Game Day, favorite day of the year.

Army: Because no one played Navy as a kid.

And the Army goes rolling along…

#ScreamingEagles #GoArmyBeatNavy

Pretty amazing game day post from the past.

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Obviously no one has the answer to this but just going off of how many guys we are offering. Any thoughts from the board and @JK ?

Qb- None. Staff must feel good about what they have after JD in Marshall and McCombs.
Rb- Got Williams so we are probably done there.
WR- WR and LB are the two spots where we for sure where we need some immediate help. I’m thinking we see no less than 2 and probably 3.
TE- I’ve lost track of who/if we’ve offered herr but doesn’t seem like a spot we are going after very hard.
OT- We have Harper in the mix now. Does Tanner still have a spot if he wants it? I’d love to take both these two. Northwestern just got a commit from a huge OT from Liberty.
OG- I think we take at least 1 interior guy. Mayberry would be a solid add.
C- 0
DE- At least 1. Really, really hoping we can land Kitchen.
DT- Keys in the mix. Probably done here.
LB- I think we take 2. Kamara already signed. Sipps is the other guy I really want. Roussette seems like a solid player too.
CB- Maybe 2?
S- Have Rawls. Are we done here?

I know in the past I have told several stories of how instrumental Matt Lubick was to the creativity on the offense.

I know most remember when KU unveiled the option and QB run game to start the 2022 season. It caught West Virginia and Houston off guard. Lubick was one of the big reasons for the installation of that. He came in as a consultant and senior analyst and helped also with advanced scouting and game planning.

He was the guy behind the scenes who gets credit for some of the wrinkles they used.

I was told several times how key he was to helping the offensive staff in designing some of the schemes they used.

I'm not one of those guys who calls a hire a "home run" but this is as close as it gets. I think he will work well with Zebrowski since they already have a working relationship. This is one the best hires Lance Leipold has made and will be a big help to the offense.