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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Four-star defensive end Chris Martin picks KU

By Matt Tait

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Kansas University’s football team picked up its second commitment from a four-star prospect when City College of San Francisco defensive end Chris Martin on Saturday told KU coach Charlie Weis he would be a Jayhawk.

Martin, in town for an official visit with a host of other 2013 players, picked the Jayhawks over offers from Houston, Nebraska, San Diego State and Washington State.

Martin actually held a five-star rating coming out of Grandview High in Aurora, Colo., in 2010. He joins juco defensive tackle Marquel Combs as the other four-star player in KU’s current class and becomes the 16th junior-college standout to pick Kansas and the 10th commitment of the week.

Many of those players made their intentions known this week.

Martin, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound Denver native who played at Florida in 2011, has been clocked under 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash and recorded 61 tackles and 4.5 sacks at CCSF this season. Not surprisingly, his familiarity with Weis played a big role in his decision.

“I’ve always looked at him as a mentor,” Martin said of Weis to JayhawkSlant.com’s Jon Kirby. “He’s a straight shooter and he wouldn’t steer me wrong. He’s been genuine and we have talked several times about what I have been through. He’s told me his plans for KU and I think I can come in and be successful.”

Martin also has a lot of respect for KU strength coach Scott Holsopple.

“I spent my whole year at Florida with Scott Holsopple,” Martin told Rob Cassidy of Rivals.com. “I know what my body is going to look like under Coach Holsopple. And that’s not anything bad.”

Comments

TheSychophant 6 months ago

6-foot-5, 260-pound, and has been clocked under 4.7 in the 40. Wow, that is quick for anybody. But for a guy his size Wow.

1

LAJayhawk 6 months ago

Boom.

3

Mangino_Maniac 6 months ago

Craziness... good craziness.

0

rockchalknjayhawkn 6 months ago

Hell Yes! Booooom!

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HawkNut 6 months ago

Bang Biscuit!! Cccchhhhaaaarrrrlllliiee is a recruiting genius! Bring in the ponies and hope Heaps is the real deal. I see seven wins next season!

0

jackdavid 6 months ago

Uuuhhhhhhh! Easy does it. Hope your right, but perhaps we could manage the expectation level somewhat until at least after a couple or three games next fall.

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Boouk 6 months ago

Ideal Big 12 DE. This team desperately needed a pass-rusher. Now we should be fine at DE next season with Martin, Goodman, Andrew Bolton and Darius Willis.

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dagger108 6 months ago

I'd like another DE, pref one of the HS variety - Paul Jones or Ebenezer Ogundeko.

0

dagger108 6 months ago

A some more WR's as well.

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Boouk 6 months ago

Even though I think McCay might end up being a little bit of a disappointment, I think we'll be ok at WR. Josh Ford will finally have the play-book down, and I think JUCO WR's Mark Thomas (6'2 210 pounds 4.4 40 time) and Rodriguez Coleman will be pretty good.

0

VaJay 6 months ago

and don't forget a kicker!

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LTCUSARet 6 months ago

Recruiting boards talk is that Hutchinson CC kicker Michael Mesh (2nd Team NJCAA placekicker) met with Weis this week and will walk on for next year's team. Good news if true! Here are his stats from his time at Hutch:

Career points - 181, school record for kickers. Career extra-point kicks - 132-143, school record. Career field goals - 16-21 Longest field goal - 47 yards, ties a school record.

0

dagger108 6 months ago

That is encouraging. My guess is that CW told him that he has a spot on the team, if he is willingto show up, and will be first in line if one opens up and h makes his kicks.

0

Boouk 6 months ago

Don't believe in Eric Kahn and Trevor Pardula?

2

daverinoku 6 months ago

We need "Son of Bruce" (Kallmeyer - KU's best ever kicker)

0

baldjedi 6 months ago

I'm amazed almost every time I come back to this site this week we've received another commit! Merry Christmas KU Football! Our class is ranked 30th! Keep em coming Charlie!

3

oklahawk58 6 months ago

In fact, the only Big XII teams ranked ahead of us are UT, OU, OSU, and BU. I know it's early, but it's nice to know Mizzou is looking at our backs, not that they matter anymore.

0

nuleafjhawk 6 months ago

come back more often............

1

kellerman411 6 months ago

Wow. I've never seen KU able to recruit at the line if scrimmage the way we are now.

0

riverdrifter 6 months ago

"Line if scrimmage." Unintended but apt description of what we had had here of late.

0

ralster 6 months ago

Win the trenches on both sides of the ball. See, a real football coaching staff gets that. And easily seen on gamefilm of this season's roster at work was that while run blocking was good, pass protection was not. The D-line was also good vs. the run (ok, "fair"...), but pass rush still needed from the 4 Dlinemen...pancake some people. Signing a 2nd 4star D-lineman: Most propitious for our planned performance in pancaking purple people! Campo has got to have a not-scowl now...?

0

vd 6 months ago

Win the trenches on both sides of the ball. See, a real football coaching staff gets that.

The previous coach didn't get that. His one recruiting class was loaded with O lineman.

0

HawkNut 6 months ago

Team those DE's with Tavi, Combs and McKinney inside equals a pass rush we have not had since JM.

0

Rivethead 6 months ago

I don't think Kevin Young is going to just fade away quietly into the night......

0

Boouk 6 months ago

Keba, Keon, Tedarian Johnson, Tyler Holmes coming off his red-shirt, and John Williams won't either.

0

swishymcjayhawk 6 months ago

Nor will Andrew Bolton, Johnson's JUCO teammate.

0

Chris1955 6 months ago

My favorite Martin (with apologies to Ray Walston)!

1

OklahomaJayhawk 6 months ago

Did someone forget to tell me Christmas was moved? Because Santa and his little helpers are bringing us one heck of a defense for next year!

0

njjayhawk 6 months ago

Perhaps Weis is looking to win Coach of the Year next year, and may, with a stunning program turnaround in a single year.

1

Boouk 6 months ago

6 regular season wins is looking very possible if the kicking game improves with Pardula and Kahn and if Heaps and most of the JUCO's turn out to be as good as they appear to be.

2

LAJayhawk 6 months ago

Who are you and what have you done with the bitter, cynical, and sarcastic njjayhawk???

0

swigrimm 6 months ago

Whoa there njjayhawk. I'm as excited as the next Jayhawk fan, but lets keep things in perspective. At the end of next year, nothing would be better than to have you say 'I told you so'. But until then, lets just hope for a conference win, eh?

3

ralster 6 months ago

I think njjayhawk was being sarcastic...

0

jhawkln 6 months ago

7-4 going into KSU wouldn't surprise me at all next season. 2014- 10-2.

0

BPSkelly 6 months ago

I dont recall this many commits of potential significance signing with KU in such a flurry.

My excitement is tempered, but its good to see Coach Weiss get guys that he seems to want to get.

Hopefully we're turning a corner here.

1

dagger108 6 months ago

Coach Ianello has been recognized before as a top recruiter, and it obviously wasn't just the former school.

0

Boouk 6 months ago

I don't think KU's ever landed 2 4-star defensive lineman in the same class before. Remember how bad our DL was in Gill's last season? Huge upgrades at DE and DT.

0

BringBackMark 6 months ago

But we landed two 5 star quarterbacks last year!

0

Fighter6580 6 months ago

he has to get rid of the Gill Dead weight who couldn't play

2

LTCUSARet 6 months ago

At this point getting rid of any more current scholarship players won't mean any additional scholarships for us until the 2014 season, so it doesn't make sense to do that if any such guys are working hard to contribute (even if it is only in practice) and performing well in the classroom. We can only bring on 27 new starts for this cycle (the 25 annual max for 2013 plus two to apply against 2012 as McKinney's and Shelby's scholarships have not been used yet). If Weis should cut any other current scholarship players, those scholarships will be unfilled for 2013 because of the new starts limit, but can be used for the 2014 recruiting cycle as "2013 starts" for JAN 2014 enrollees (similar to how McKinney's and Shelby's are being used this time around).

0

dagger108 6 months ago

I thought CW said something about being able to apply a few more new scholies against last year's. That's not to say that I'm looking for CW to run off any current players.

0

vd 6 months ago

The more recruits you sign the higher up the ratings you move. The people love CW cause of his recruiting rankings. Get rid of 5-10 players every year, then sign 27 and win the ranking wars.

0

thekansasboy19871967 6 months ago

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!

0

bayareajhawk 6 months ago

I am trying really hard not to get irrationally excited by all of these commitments since I have had my hopes dashed so many times before by the football Jayhawks. So I keep telling myself that we haven't had a lot of luck with JuCo players in the past. Remember Jocques Crawford and his infamous 3,000 yard prediction? I think he was the last JuCo All-American we had, but I may be (and probably am) wrong.

He fell about 2,768 yards short of his predicted 3,000 in the 2008 season. Personally, I think it was the playcalling.

0

trojanhawk 6 months ago

We haven't had a lot of luck with the higher-rated JUCO transfers in recent years (Crawford kind of screwed himself before getting a chance), but overall we've done well with JUCO kids since Mangino arrived:

Brian Murph Bill Whittemore Jason Swanson Jake Cox Charlon Keith Paul Como Rodney Harris Rodney Allen Wayne Wilder Eric Washington Jermial Ashley Eric Butler Eric Washington Kendrick Harper Chet Hartley Patrick Resby

Those kids helped make the 2000s a great decade for KU football.

0

Cmill1221 6 months ago

Don't forget Gabe Toomey! In his one season we went to a bowl game for the first time in a decade. And also Joe Vaughn, He played center two seasons w/ Bill Whittemore and won Big12 New Comer of the year! And good call w/ Jason Swanson!! Here is a crazy fact: He was the FIRST QB TO BEAT NEBRASKA SINCE BOBBY DOUGLAS!!! To say we haven't had success at with Jr College players is a slap in the face to all of the guys who set the ground work for that orange bowl team, and the main reason we are in the situation we are in now is because Gill had a "Ground up" approach and didnt go after guys that were listed above.

0

trojanhawk 6 months ago

Wow, talk about the biggest brain fart ever. I can't believe I left out Vaughn, one of the best OL in KU history.

The list gets massive the further back I go, but the point is programs like ours need some instant experience more than others. Normally I'd be against this many JUCO transfers in one year (because for every successful one, two or three end up busts), but we have more holes now than any time I can remember since the '80s, and we desperately need wins soon. This program is at the tipping point. There are kids graduating from high school now who have not seen KU win more than one Big 12 game since they were in middle school. It's going to be impossible to keep interest alive among casual fans if we don't turn some of these close losses into wins immediately.

I think Gill's recruiting was okay (his staff did most of the work on the trail). It was everything else he did as a coach that ruined too many talented kids' chances of being decent to good in college. Everything he touched around KU turned to stone.

0

LAJayhawk 6 months ago

Not to nitpick, but Crawford's prediction was for 2,000 yards. If he ran for 3,000 yards he would have been the greatest running back in the history of the universe. Or the multiverse. Or the Simpson's 3rd Dimension-verse.

What I'm saying is 3,000 yards will never, ever, ever, ever happen. Like ever.

0

JayDocMD 6 months ago

So you're saying there's a chance...?

0

sports4life 6 months ago

Taylor Cox was a Juco All-American. He performed great last year in the absence of Sims.

0

JhawkalumJB 6 months ago

I wonder if Turner Baty was influential in his decision? I noticed that they attended the same school in San Francisco.

0

dagger108 6 months ago

Turner hosted Ngalu Fusimalohi, OL, SFCC player/commit, as well.

0

shelleysue 6 months ago

I sure hope our QB and kicker are as advertised. I'll stay cautiously optimistic for 2013 and hope for the best. Welcome to all the recruits and thank you for coming to KU! Rock Chalk!

0

dagger108 6 months ago

D we know who else is on campus this weekend?

0

trojanhawk 6 months ago

With the exception of RB and one LB spot (Heeney), the two-deep could have no names on it from last year. I don't think I've ever seen that before, even at KSU-CC. It's both thrilling and nerve-racking putting so much hope into players that will see the field in '13, yet haven't even trained at KU together yet.

Now we just need a kicker (since we recently landed a punter).

1

TheMightyComet 6 months ago

KSU-CC. Absolutely awesome.

0

Boouk 6 months ago

Dexter Linton, Jake Love, JaCorey Shepard, and Jimmay Mundine will probably be on the 2 deep.

0

KGphoto 6 months ago

Aslam Sterling, Gavin Howard, Randall Dent, Huldon Tharp, Schyler Miles, Ray Mitchell and Andrew Turzilli all have a good shot at making the 2-deep. In fact I would guess half or more of these guys make it.

0

JayDocMD 6 months ago

Next? Mount St. Josiah please.

1

LTCUSARet 6 months ago

I'd prefer HS 4* OL Reeve Koehler myself, but I am a firm believer in exercising the Coleman Philosophy whenever possible -- "Why not both?"

And another speedy wideout OR another pass rusher -- yeah, that's the ticket!

1

Boouk 6 months ago

Or another Safety that can start from day one so we aren't relying on Dexter Linton, Ray Mitchell, or Tevin Shaw starting alongside Isaiah Johnson.

0

JayDocMD 6 months ago

If reports below are true, you got your wish. Who's next on our wish list LtC? (Be specific so Santa delivers exactly who we want.)

0

actorman 6 months ago

This is something I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd say during basketball season, but is it football season yet? I can't wait to see what a difference these new guys can make!

3

dagger108 6 months ago

I'd even settle for Spring Ball, though it will be good to see what happens in Jan (JC early reports) and Feb (HS signings).

0

trojanhawk 6 months ago

I don't know if you can post links here, but I'm just blown away by Martin's highlights from CCSF and high school. He is tossing around big JUCO OL like rag dolls:

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1677732/highlights/17908374

Hopefully he has all of his attitude issues in order because he and Combs could really make our DL special for the first time since '07.

0

acsgreens 6 months ago

Reeve Koehler would be a huge pick up. He's huge and loves to pancake (and presumably pancakes as well.). Seems like we've gotten a few SEC caliber guys.

Seinfeld. I am freaking out! by ryantheriote

0

PhogTimeKU2010 6 months ago

More and more I'm beginning to think, "So this is what it's like to have a competent coaching staff running your team." Even at 1-11 I thought this years team would have wiped the floor with last year's team in a head to head match up. This coaching staff is making this off season exciting and hopefully getting enough talent to make an immediate difference next year. I still wonder if we need to pick up another OL and 1-2 more WRs before we run out of scholarships.

1

ralster 6 months ago

SIMPLE: Can't wait to judge Weis+Campo's "product" on the gridiron next year!

0

hawkdds 6 months ago

I love the way Taylor Cox plays and he was a Juco transfer!

2

Kovo12 6 months ago

This site says Reeve Koehler committed to KU today. I hope this is true!

http://247sports.com/Player/Reeve-Koehler-14864

2

JhawkalumJB 6 months ago

That would be great to land a 4 star guy on the O-line!

0

kellerman411 6 months ago

AWESOME!!!!! Holy crap, these guys are on fire. At this point, I think it's okay to have some mild expectations for next year. This class isn't made of rejects who were good in high school but haven't done crap in college. These guys are all proven and decorated athletes out of the Juco ranks. If you think they can't play, go watch some KState film from the last decade...

0

Mangino_Maniac 6 months ago

Wow... that's impressive! Especially with offers from schools like Georgia, Oregon and others. This week has been unreal.. Charlie and company are doing amazing work and have made a believer out of me in their recruiting ways.

0

Chris1955 6 months ago

If I calculated the Rivals formula correctly, with Koehler's addition, this places KU at the #21 spot immediately behind Oklahoma in the recruiting rankings. This places KU behind only Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 2013 football rankings.

Without a doubt, we're seeing talented recruiters in action, with the added inducement of NFL experience. I'm sure the part of the pitch to these players is the "I can get you into the league".

0

Mangino_Maniac 6 months ago

Jeff Blasko deserves a big fat Christmas bonus! ;-)

0

JayhawkInAustin 6 months ago

Don't many high school commits come in later than Juco commits? That could mean that we are artificially higher in the rankings because our class is 2/3 Jucos. When other schools with higher percentages of high school commits finish up, one might think we'll drop some.

It's still great, and I'm still excited, but we might temper ourselves on the rankings.

0

MoralVictory 6 months ago

The rankings are all projected on signed and unsigned players. It is possible we could drop as more high school players commit later, but we also have a few scholarships left to give, so I think that we should at least stay in the same range as far as rankings go.

0

Boouk 6 months ago

See my post below, which I meant to reply to you.

0

Jayhawker28 6 months ago

Is the Kaehler signing legit?

0

Boouk 6 months ago

KU hasn't signed anyone yet. Someone just tweeted that Koehler told a website he hasn't committed to KU, despite OL coach Tim Grunhard tweeting he thinks our next Christmas present is from Hawaii and a website achnologing that Koehler's already committed. Who knows.

0

milehighhawk 6 months ago

Not yet. If you click the link above, one of the "featured" stories toward the bottom indicates Kaehler told the website (tonight) that he had NOT made up his mind/committed.

Also, looks like KU may not get Danzey -- kid seemed blown away by his Auburn visit (according to rivals)

0

Boouk 6 months ago

More JUCO's are able graduate faster because they're spending the extra time at the JUCO to get their academics straightened up, whereas most high-schoolers need that last semester to meet all the academic requirements.

As for the rankings, when they graduate has absolutely nothing to do with their rankings whatsoever. JUCO's are actually graded lower than high-schoolers on the scale because the high-school ranks are recruited heavier than the JUCO ranks, which is why Weis has planned to target JUCO's heavily from day 1.

0

JayhawkInAustin 6 months ago

I didn't mean to say that the time of graduation affected their rankings. If I said that or implied it, I apologize.

I was trying to say that the time they committed to us might affect our rankings, and potentially artificially inflate our rankings, because other schools will sign their players later. MoralVictory seems to debunk that theory as well, though, so, um, never mind :-)

0

MoralVictory 6 months ago

No expert here when it comes to recruiting, just a guess on where we will land. You are right that other teams will probably gain as high school commitments solidify but, hopefully, the handful of offers we have left will help us hold close to our current ranking.

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JHWKDW 6 months ago

Well before I mention this guy, how about our former KU Jayhawk football player Chris Harris and his 98 yard INT return for a touchdown against Baltimore. Rock Chalk!

As for this guy hope Weis can turn this team around with the talent they are bringing in.Well way to bring in 4 star talent, Hey if teams like Nebraska and Wahington State wanted this guy, he must be for real. Well way to get some talent KU staff.

1

jumpinjayhawk 6 months ago

Well when you can promise a kid with 2 years left, the opportunity to play right away and NFL connections and even a glimpse of a NFL career it is hard to turn down. There will have to be a balance of more freshman next year, but for this coming year and the next, it is what KU needs. Go Charlie Go

0

jaykan7 6 months ago

Hopefully Weis isn't promising these kids anything but an opportunity to EARN a spot. I agree that kids will be turned on to the NFL connections, but I am going to reserve any comments about bowl games in the future. I saw a post earlier about being 7-4 going into the final week of the season. I think we win 4 to 5 games next year. I think we can make a bowl in year 3 if Weis continues doing what he's doing. Just because we are getting descent recruits doesn't mean we are automatically bowl bound. Love the optimism though. We always beat K-State in recruiting and how has that worked for us recently. We need more time for Weis to develope players.

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Kirk 6 months ago

I think we can pretty much promise any 4-star juco guy serious playing time right away. Unless we have somebody, um, better at the position?

Which, yeah.

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