Navarro Junior College offensive lineman Zach Fondal becomes latest to pick KU football

Less than 10 hours after the Kansas University football program got word of a commitment from highly coveted defensive tackle Marquel Combs, the Jayhawks picked up some much-needed help on the other side of the ball when offensive lineman Zach Fondal, of Navarro Junior College, became the latest pledge to pick Kansas.

According to a report from Jon Kirby at JayhawkSlant.com, Fondal, 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, canceled upcoming trips to Arkansas and Texas Tech and committed to Kansas after meeting with KU coach Charlie Weis and recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello on Tuesday.

The two-star offensive tackle becomes the 18th player to commit in the Class of 2013 and KU’s 12th junior-college pledge in the class.

"I didn't want to wait on Arkansas and when (Tommy Tuberville left) Texas Tech it helped me even more with my decision," Fondal told Kirby. "I liked all of the coaching staff at Kansas and I can benefit from them. It is a big weight off my shoulders and I don't have to worry about it anymore.”

Fondal plans to sign with KU next Wednesday and will report to campus in January in time for spring football.

Check back with KUsports.com throughout the day for more information and updates. KU has received at least one commitment a day every day since Sunday and still has as many as nine spots to fill in its current recruiting class.

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JayhawkinNE 5 months, 1 week ago

Starting to steamroll......welcome Zach!!!

billhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

Welcome!

hawkdds 5 months, 1 week ago

Wow, great week of recruiting against K-State and other interested BIG schools, hope we can pick up some more 3-4star true freshmen to develop before these guys leave in two years.RCJH Matt, any word on McKinney?

shelleysue 5 months, 1 week ago

Welcome Zach! Rock Chalk!

Wow. That Tubberville is a piece of work. First he knocks a coach in the head and lies about it, and now he walks out on a dinner with recruits. I guess I'm glad to see him leaving the Big 12.

AznSnSaTioN 5 months, 1 week ago

That's what I said too, now are they ranking him from his high school days or a JUCO ranking?

chiefs386 5 months, 1 week ago

High Scvhool days, I don't believe they rank them with stars after high school.

JHawk06 5 months, 1 week ago

There is supposedly a JUCO ranking that is not out yet. That's according to the ESPN article on Combs.

OklahomaJayhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

Heck of a class so far! Landing a 4-star recruit was a solid step forward. Don't know about you, but the KU ticket office better get on the ball! I am ready to by my season tickets! Rock Chalk!!!!

TheRealTripleA 5 months, 1 week ago

I'm with you - watching Kevin Short's JUCO highlights and he would be nice on the other side of the field from Sendish. Both tall 6'2'' corners and playmakers.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/68579/#highlights/21683403

Boouk 5 months, 1 week ago

We need to get another WR for icing on the cake.

dagger108 5 months, 1 week ago

several

LIFELONGHAWK38 5 months, 1 week ago

WOW, sounds like coach Wise and staff are on a roll getting some much needed and great gets. People better start climbing on board this football train quickly as it sounds like coach Wise and staff are serious about getting this train to start pulling away from the station rather quickly. Welcome to all new football recruits to the Jayhawk nation. Thank you for your decisions in helping to build our program . With coach Wise and staff running this train I feel you made a great decision and will play a very big part in being in the foundation of something very special being built. Rock Chalk forever :-)

milehighhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

A wiseguy, huh? ;-)

dagger108 5 months, 1 week ago

Creative spell check

Reuben_J_Cogburn 5 months, 1 week ago

Well I have to say...the kid does have more stars than KU had victories this season.

That's gotta be encouraging, right?

rockchalk1990 5 months, 1 week ago

good stuff, Cogburn

raprichard 5 months, 1 week ago

One of these days you will get your optimism back, Cogburn.

summers 5 months, 1 week ago

Rooster!!!

BadHaaseJayhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

Junior college offensive line recruit Devonte Danzey went to dinner on Friday night with "eight to 10 coaches" and recruits at the 50-Yard Line Restaurant in Lubbock.

From the story: In the midst of the conversation at the table, he asked the coaches how long they expected to be at Tech (if they were not fired), he said.

“I asked Coach (Charlie) Weis at KU and Coach (Dana) Holgorsen at West Virginia (the same question), just so I know my relationship with them,” Danzey said. “(Tuberville) was just telling me he coached at Miami and Auburn, he coached 10 years and recruited Ray Lewis and kind of blew the question off I didn’t even realize.”

He added: “The waitress brought our food out, and we thought (Tuberville) went to the bathroom, but he never came back to dinner. Then next thing I know, the next day, he made an announcement that he’s going to Cincinnati.”

Wonder how this will play into the recruiting

Brickwall1 5 months, 1 week ago

If this move by Tuberville wasn't already classless enough, there are rumors that he farted right before getting up and leaving. The nerve of that guy.

farnamjayhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

He crop-dusted the table.....

mpann1818 5 months, 1 week ago

As much as I think he is a d-bag, I have to wonder if there is something more to it. Such as the school telling him to just leave. I doubt it but makes you wonder how anyone could do that...

dagger108 5 months, 1 week ago

The school was not happy at all about him leaving.

I'm sure glad we didn't fall for him begging, even if we had to go thru the whole Gill fiasco.

rockchalkblock 5 months, 1 week ago

I'm not Jewish but I feel like it! simce Hanukkah began we have been getting gifts every day! rock chalk

rockchalk1990 5 months, 1 week ago

I don't know how good this kid is, but he's a big lad!

Sybesma 5 months, 1 week ago

Was this kid at dinner with Tubberville when he got up and left for the Cincinnati job?

flyingfinn 5 months, 1 week ago

Ahhhhhhh are we looking at any high school seniors or is this truly JUCO U.

dagger108 5 months, 1 week ago

Yes.

RockinChalkinLA 5 months, 1 week ago

High school 4 and 5 star recruits will come when the Juco players help KU start winning.

texashawk10 5 months, 1 week ago

Yes KU is looking at HS kids, but next week is the JuCo signing period so the majority of recruiting efforts right now are on JuCo players. After Christmas, all attention will turn to the high school ranks to fill however many scholarships KU has left.

trojanhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

Winning games ---> Fans in the seats ---> More quality HS recruits.

jhox 5 months, 1 week ago

The thinking has always been that you win by starting with high school players, but Snyder has kind of proved that's not necessarily true. Actually, I seem to recall Glen Mason and Mike Gottfried both building pretty good teams at KU with a fairly large number of Juco recruits. I'm actually fine with this approach, as it is very clear that we need a lot of help, and we need it now. If we can win 5 or 6 games this coming season, that will make it easier to land high school guys. The downside to Juco guys are that they aren't in your program for 4 years, and they're often questionable students, or they wouldn't have gone the Juco route to begin with. But given the depths our program has reached, we need to start with older, more mature recruits. Hopefully we can get more and more high school recruits each successive year.

KUsmitty4 5 months, 1 week ago

O line is definitely a concern...glad we got ya Zach!!

billhawk 5 months, 1 week ago

Time to start talking to Texas Tech recruits... Cincinnati?

CaliHawk33 5 months, 1 week ago

So Tuberville realized he couldn't win vs. BIG XII programs, and leaves for the Little East in hopes that he will be able to re-acquire a top-tier job. Wow talk about NOT doing it the right way.

ralster 5 months, 1 week ago

Yes, I saw on the ESPN ticker that Tuberville was 20-17 over 3 seasons at TxTech. Man, barely above .500 ball, and his team goes 2OT vs. 1-11 Kansas University...What a weird jump-ship

actorman 5 months, 1 week ago

Guess all those people who were yearning for KU to get Tuberville are looking pretty foolish right about now, huh?

chiefs386 5 months, 1 week ago

I thought the exact same thing.

bb73 5 months, 1 week ago

Ditto

WindmillGIANT 5 months, 1 week ago

Possibly. It sounds more like Tuberville just didn't like Tech, rather than he didn't want to have to compete in the Big12. So I'd like to think that KU would have had more allure for him to stay. Who knows. I never got excited about him because I didn't believe KU had a chance of getting any of the big names that were out there. I know some people still don't like or are skeptical of Charlie Weis, but it's still a little crazy to me that we landed a such a big-named coach and I'm glad we did; I think he's got the program moving and improving again.

KGphoto 5 months, 1 week ago

I keep wondering if Tubbs got himself in some hot water down there. Tech finally gets past the crazy pirate shenanigans and Tubbs smacks the headset off a coach on television. If he's doing that out in the open, I can't imagine it's too pleasant behind the scenes.

ralster 5 months, 1 week ago

Windmill, You are right. Charlie Weis is a big-name for a reason. Those SuperBowl rings on his finger(s) mean something. Give him due time to show us the entire WeisShow. Its only just beginning.