Marcus Garrett celebrates 18th birthday by making KU commitment official

By Matt Tait     Nov 9, 2016

Kansas University basketball recruiting

A few months after becoming the first player in the 2017 recruiting class to orally commit to the Jayhawks, four-star combo guard Marcus Garrett on Wednesday became the first player in the class to sign with Kansas.

Garrett, a 6-foot-5 combo guard from Skyline High in Dallas, signed his letter of intent at his high school around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Garrett’s signing made the day even more special than it already would have been, as Garrett also celebrated his 18th birthday on Wednesday.

“Coach (Jerrance) Howard has known Marcus for quite some time,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He plays for a good friend of ours, Paul Graham, who I was an assistant with at Oklahoma State many years ago. After watching Marcus and getting to know him, he became a focal point of our recruiting.

“We feel Marcus is extremely talented and so versatile with his size. At 6-foot-5, he can play any position on the perimeter. Anyone can play with him and he can play with anyone.”

Marcus Garrett

Wednesday marked the beginning of the week-long early signing period for the 2017 class and, after he signed, Garrett briefly joined Shay Wildeboor of JayhawkSlant.com for a signing day podcast.

“I woke up excited,” Garrett told Wildeboor. “Walking through the hallways, everybody congratulated me and told me how proud they were of me.”

Asked what it was that sold him on the Jayhawks despite not having visited before making his commitment, Garrett said the research he did into the program made him want to become a part of the family.

“I love the Kansas Jayhawk tradition,” he told Wildeboor. “And I’ve seen that their fans are really into the basketball program. Once I visited, I interacted with the players very well. They still text me to see if I’m doing good or not.”

As for what type of player the Jayhawks are getting in Garrett, he’s a versatile guard who can play multiple positions and is a long and athletic option on both offense and defense who is willing to both set up his teammates and look for his own offense.

But Garrett said intangibles were the part of his game he was most excited to bring to campus.

“They’re gonna get a hard working player that plays defense and competes,” he said.

Self added: “We feel like Marcus’ best ball is well down the road. We’re excited to get him. He’s a young man that knew what he wanted to do early on in process and we appreciate his loyalty toward Kansas.”

— Story was updated Thursday, Nov. 10, to add KU coach Bill Self’s comments following KU’s official release that Garrett had signed

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.