After earning freshman All-American honors at Baker University during the 2014 season, 2014 Free State High graduate Keith Loneker Jr., son of former KU offensive lineman Keith Loneker Sr., has decided to try his luck at the Div. I level.

A 6-foot-2, 225-pound bull who never shies away from the action, the younger Loneker has transferred to KU, where he will start school and conditioning in the coming weeks and sit out the 2015 season as a walk-on.

“Growing up as a Lawrence kid, I always went to the (KU) games and played football on the hill, and it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to go to KU,” said Loneker, who led Baker with 90 tackles, nine for loss, last season.

The fact that the school on the hill was his father’s alma mater only added to Loneker Jr.’s desire to become a Jayhawk. But he and his father said there never was any pressure to follow in dad’s footsteps.

“If he wanted to go to K-State, I wanted him to go to K-State,” the proud papa said Tuesday. “If he wanted to go to Baker, I wanted him to go to Baker. But, man, I’m jacked. I am. Because I know that growing up he always wanted to go to KU.”

Out of high school, Loneker received interest from a handful of D-I schools but not many scholarship offers. That led him to Baldwin City, where he played for former KU linebacker Jason Thoren — a Lawrence High grad — and worked to improve his strength, speed and ability to make plays.

It was Thoren’s influence, both on Loneker Jr.’s game and his mind, that inspired him to make the leap.

“I’m not gonna lie, I doubted (whether I could play Div. I football) when I went into Baker,” Loneker Jr. said. “But I did a lot of work (last) summer, and having a good year at Baker and listening to coach Thoren tell me I am able to play at that level, that really reassured me.”

His father, who stood 6-foot-3, 305 pounds his senior season at KU and spent four seasons in the NFL after college, offered similar support.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he can play here,” Loneker Sr. said. “Zero.”

That’s what made for such an enjoyable exchange when the younger generation recently confirmed to his father that he would spend the next few years wearing a KU helmet and playing in the same stadium his father once did.

“He obviously was very excited,” Loneker Jr. recalled. “But he’s just that type of guy that wanted to leave everything up to me and let me make my own decision. Getting to see the grin on his face when I told him I’m going to KU was pretty special.”