Even after giving an oral commitment to play football at the University of Arkansas, Kale Pick remained captivated with what was brewing in Lawrence.
The standout quarterback at Dodge City High kept his ties to the Razorbacks but made trips to Kansas University on two separate occasions to watch the Jayhawks’ new offense at work.
He loved it.
“I thought it was perfect for me,” Pick said.
Part of the appeal is what KU’s spread attack allows its quarterback to do – in short, make plays. But Pick had heard about what the Jayhawks were moving to even before he committed to Arkansas.
Once he saw it in action – and saw Kansas start 7-0 and charge up the national rankings – he became sold. He soon after changed his mind and gave an oral commitment to KU this week.
“It’s nice that the offense they were telling me about works and looks good in games,” Pick said. “I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
KU has nine known pledges for the 2008 class, but Pick is one of the first to commit since the Jayhawks crashed the national spotlight and the Top-25 rankings.
“It helped,” Pick said.
And it will continue to. Success attracts successful players, and while the KU coaches aren’t going after bigger and badder prospects based on the team’s ongoing run, they are noticing a difference in the ones they’ve pursued all along.
“The kids that we’re recruiting now, a lot of them now want this to be a visit,” KU coach Mark Mangino said Tuesday. “They decide they want to set a visit with us.”
For Pick, it went a step further a step faster.
A 6-foot-2, 200-pound dual-threat QB, Pick liked the coaches at Arkansas but became worried about the speculation that the Razorbacks (4-3) might clean house after this season.
So he’s now staying closer to home and considering graduating from high school in December so he can move to Lawrence before spring practices start.
Pick is the second commitment from the state of Kansas to choose KU, joining McPherson tight end Tanner Hawkinson. KU is targeting other local players like Wichita North defensive tackle Darius Parish, who is committed to Nebraska but considering re-opening his recruitment.
“I’m very interested in (KU),” Parish told Rivals.com. “I have been following them, and I know they are undefeated. They have been looking good.”
Similar testimonies figure to surface between now and signing day in February, especially if the Jayhawks finish strong to complement the unblemished start.
The future, in many ways, takes a back seat to the present when assessing the positives of KU’s national splash.
But benefiting both, like the Jayhawks’ 2007 season could do, is like double-dipping in the success.
The Jayhawks plan to capitalize. Pick, of course, is early proof that they already are.
“(Recruits) are really taking an interest in putting us in their top five where maybe we were in the top 10 or 12 (before),” Mangino said. “We’re still recruiting the same kids we were in the summer. It’s just a matter of the interest level in some of them is rising.”
