Coach Les Miles and the Kansas Football program put the finishing touches on one of the best recruiting classes in the school’s history this week.
Consider:
- The Jayhawks signed the highest-ranked recruit in program history in Texas prep wide receiver Quaydarius Davis. The 6-foot speedster is ranked as the 59th best recruit in the country by Rivals.
- Kansas inked the consensus No. 1 player in the state of Kansas in Lawrence prep running back Devin Neal.
- Rivals ranked the Kansas 2021 signing class as the third-best in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks have never been ranked higher than fifth in the conference in the history of Rivals rankings, which dates back to 1999.
- The Jayhawks signed 22 players in this class with an average 247Sports.com rating of .8482, which is the best by a Kansas recruiting class since 2009.
- Rivals ranked this Kansas class as the 40th best in the country, which is the program’s best ranking since 2011.
In other words, you could say Wednesday was a pretty good day for Miles and the Jayhawks.
This Kansas class contains five defensive backs, four offensive linemen, four wide receivers, three linebackers, two defensive ends, two quarterbacks, one tight end and one running back.
The Jayhawks dipped into Texas where they signed seven future student-athletes in wide receivers Majik Rector, Kelan Robinson and Davis, offensive linemen Larson Workman and De’Kedrick Sterns, linebacker D’Marion Alexander and defensive end Tommy Dunn Jr.
Kansas also signed multiple prospects in Georgia (four), Arkansas (two) and Alabama (two).
Of course, much of the heavy lifting was done for the Jayhawks prior to Wednesday. Kansas announced the large majority of the class in December during the early signing period. In fact, the Jayhawks already have nine members of the 2021 class already on campus and enrolled early.
The group of early enrollees includes a pair of players formally introduced Wednesday in Notre Dame transfer offensive lineman Colin Grunhard and Kansas City area quarterback Conrad Hawley. Grunhard spent four seasons at Notre Dame, playing in 13 career games. Prior to his time with the Fighting Irish, he was a standout at Bishop Miege in Kansas City, starting 50 straight games on the line.
Hawley starred as a quarterback at Raymore Peculiar High School and threw for 2,722 yards and 26 touchdowns as a senior. He also won the Simone Award, given to the best Kansas City metro area high school football player. He is also a former teammate of current Jayhawk wide receiver Luke Grimm.
The remainder of the class is scheduled to be on campus this summer to begin preparing for the 2021 season.