For the most part everyone's recruiting will be slow in July. Since it is a dead period you will see a small percentage of recruits announce in July from the officials they took in June.
Overall I don't think June was a bad month at all for KU. They came out with some good commits.
The two I thought they would get were D.J. Jones and Jacob Booth. But both have decided to wait.
There is still Bear who now becomes a waiting game.
All signs point that Bear is leaning heavy to KU. If they can land him that would give them seven commits heading into fall camp, which is a good start to the 2023 class.
I never had a good feeling about Brandon High after the visit and that's okay because they will find a RB. That is a position I am not concerned about with the quality of the players on the roster.
I know there were some OL who were on the board that have committed elsewhere, so they will have to reset the group. I don't get as worked up about the OL as some do because that is a developmental position. That is a position you can find big bodies and trim them down or find athletic players and bulk them up. I look back at someone like Anthony Collins who started as a DE and was an Outland Finalist. I remember Adrian Jones under Mangino was a TE and moved to OL and was drafted by the Jets.
Mike Novitsky was a 245-pound OL when he came out of high school. Fuchs developed him. Some think if he has a good year he will leave for the NFL. Look at Jacob Gall who was just voted preseason All Big 12 at Baylor. He transferred from Buffalo and Fuchs recruited him and Buffalo was his best offer in high school. Fuchs can develop talent and coach guys up. You saw that in the improvement with the OL in a short time last year.
But you have to get the OL first. It is way too early to panic. There are going to be a lot of OL available who have a good start to their senior season. They will be able to find capable bodies who can develop but it is uncomfortable to see how many decided to go elsewhere. The OL they were involved with during the early period ended up going to other Power Five schools. They lost two players who are from Pac 12 country to Oregon State, one to USC, and one to Tennessee. Jatta decided to stay in junior college one more year until he got a South Carolina offer. They made up a lot of ground on Calvin Clements. At one time KU was sitting 3rd-4th on his list. In the end they challenged Baylor at the top but it wasn't enough. Fuchs is going to keep recruiting Clements until he signs.
They will go after a couple high school OL and then I think they will target some in the portal.
Speaking of players who can develop keep an eye on James Livingston. I saw him at the last camp and he's a beast. He told me he's a little over 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds.
There hasn't been much movement on Kasen Weisman and it has been hard to figure out. At first I thought Weisman is waiting to decide and now I think it is both sides talking to make sure everything is the right fit. If something happens and they don't connect it is likely KU will go into the season without a QB commit. You can also find good QB who has a good senior year but it is more difficult. Usually the good QBs are gone by the summer. Last time I checked in the Top 25 pro style QBs only two were uncommitted and in the pro style QBs only one was left. Zebrowski found Vasko late although he had been recruiting for a long time. But it usually doesn't happen that way.
I think the 2022 football season is big for recruiting. Last year was Leipold's first year and everything was so rushed. They barely had time to get their system in place and get recruiting set up. But now they've had a year. This is a big year to show progress because last year was like Season Zero. This will be a year for improvement to show 2024 prospects and the ones who have yet to decide in 2023. If they can build off progress they showed last year I think it will help in picking up more 2023 players because you have the Nov/Dec visit season left. And any progress helps sell players in the 2024 class.
From all accounts it looks like the local 2024 class is going to be a little down and certainly a cut under what 2023 was.
Overall I don't think June was a bad month at all for KU. They came out with some good commits.
The two I thought they would get were D.J. Jones and Jacob Booth. But both have decided to wait.
There is still Bear who now becomes a waiting game.
All signs point that Bear is leaning heavy to KU. If they can land him that would give them seven commits heading into fall camp, which is a good start to the 2023 class.
I never had a good feeling about Brandon High after the visit and that's okay because they will find a RB. That is a position I am not concerned about with the quality of the players on the roster.
I know there were some OL who were on the board that have committed elsewhere, so they will have to reset the group. I don't get as worked up about the OL as some do because that is a developmental position. That is a position you can find big bodies and trim them down or find athletic players and bulk them up. I look back at someone like Anthony Collins who started as a DE and was an Outland Finalist. I remember Adrian Jones under Mangino was a TE and moved to OL and was drafted by the Jets.
Mike Novitsky was a 245-pound OL when he came out of high school. Fuchs developed him. Some think if he has a good year he will leave for the NFL. Look at Jacob Gall who was just voted preseason All Big 12 at Baylor. He transferred from Buffalo and Fuchs recruited him and Buffalo was his best offer in high school. Fuchs can develop talent and coach guys up. You saw that in the improvement with the OL in a short time last year.
But you have to get the OL first. It is way too early to panic. There are going to be a lot of OL available who have a good start to their senior season. They will be able to find capable bodies who can develop but it is uncomfortable to see how many decided to go elsewhere. The OL they were involved with during the early period ended up going to other Power Five schools. They lost two players who are from Pac 12 country to Oregon State, one to USC, and one to Tennessee. Jatta decided to stay in junior college one more year until he got a South Carolina offer. They made up a lot of ground on Calvin Clements. At one time KU was sitting 3rd-4th on his list. In the end they challenged Baylor at the top but it wasn't enough. Fuchs is going to keep recruiting Clements until he signs.
They will go after a couple high school OL and then I think they will target some in the portal.
Speaking of players who can develop keep an eye on James Livingston. I saw him at the last camp and he's a beast. He told me he's a little over 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds.
There hasn't been much movement on Kasen Weisman and it has been hard to figure out. At first I thought Weisman is waiting to decide and now I think it is both sides talking to make sure everything is the right fit. If something happens and they don't connect it is likely KU will go into the season without a QB commit. You can also find good QB who has a good senior year but it is more difficult. Usually the good QBs are gone by the summer. Last time I checked in the Top 25 pro style QBs only two were uncommitted and in the pro style QBs only one was left. Zebrowski found Vasko late although he had been recruiting for a long time. But it usually doesn't happen that way.
I think the 2022 football season is big for recruiting. Last year was Leipold's first year and everything was so rushed. They barely had time to get their system in place and get recruiting set up. But now they've had a year. This is a big year to show progress because last year was like Season Zero. This will be a year for improvement to show 2024 prospects and the ones who have yet to decide in 2023. If they can build off progress they showed last year I think it will help in picking up more 2023 players because you have the Nov/Dec visit season left. And any progress helps sell players in the 2024 class.
From all accounts it looks like the local 2024 class is going to be a little down and certainly a cut under what 2023 was.
