This weekend, Kansas University’s football coaching staff got a good feel for what a blitz from West Brook High in Beaumont, Texas, might have looked like this season.
First came linebacker Collin Garrett, and, behind him to clean things up, was defensive end Ben Goodman.
In that same order, the West Brook teammates orally committed to join coach Turner Gill’s Jayhawks next season, with Garrett pledging his services Friday and Goodman following suit Sunday afternoon.
Garrett, 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, recorded 137 tackles as a junior and 155 more this season. Last week, he was named the district defensive MVP.
Goodman, 6-3, 225, is a three-time all-district selection and was clocked at 4.68 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He chose Kansas over California, Houston, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Miami (Ohio), North Texas, Tulane and Tulsa.
Both players are expected to visit Lawrence on Dec. 17, and Goodman told Rivals.com the two teammates were looking forward to attending KU together.
“We have been friends since middle school,” Goodman said. “We have always said we would like to go to the same school. We talked about it, and Kansas felt right for both of us.”
Defensive line coach Buddy Wyatt was the lead recruiter for KU with both players.
Twenty players from the Class of 2011 — Gill’s first full recruiting class — have made commitments to KU. Two of them — running back Darrian Miller and offensive lineman Dylan Admire — already have signed their letters of intent and will arrive at KU in January. The other 18 prospects remain tied to KU via nonbinding oral commitments.
The signing period for high school senior football players begins Feb. 2.
Stoudt shines in bowl game
KU recruit and Iowa Western Community College quarterback Zack Stoudt, 6-5, 235, closed his juco career in record-setting fashion Saturday.
Stoudt, whose team fell, 48-36, to Snow College in the Top of the Mountains Bowl in Sandy, Utah, completed 39 of 76 passes for a bowl-record 440 yards passing. He was intercepted once and sacked twice.
Currently ranked as the No. 2 junior-college QB in the country, Stoudt will graduate this month and is expected to choose a school in time to enroll there for the spring semester in January.
KU is competing with Louisiana Tech, Mississippi, Toledo, UTEP and Wyoming, among others, for Stoudt’s services. Stoudt recently called Kansas his leader.
Safety picks Ole Miss over KU
Otha Foster, a 6-2, 205-pound safety from Pearl River (Miss.) Community College, chose Mississippi over Kansas on Sunday afternoon.
KU and Ole Miss were Foster’s two finalists. He told RebelGrove.com that Mississippi won out because it was close to home and a member of the SEC.
