The Kansas football team’s incoming freshman class will have one fewer member than expected. Andrew Simpson, a Class of 2021 linebacker who signed with the Jayhawks this past December, announced Wednesday he had been granted a release from his letter of intent.
“I look forward to another opportunity to pursue my academic and athletic goals,” Simpson wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to the coaches and players for the relationships I have built during my process.”
Rated a three-star prospect by Rivals, Simpson is a 6-foot-1, 220-pound outside linebacker from St. John Bosco High School, in Norwalk, Calif.
Simpson committed to KU in May of 2020, and was recruited by former outside linebackers coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who left the program this offseason to take an assistant coaching job at SMU.
Seven members of KU’s 2021 recruiting class graduated high school early and already are on campus, going through spring practices and taking classes.
Now that Simpson is out of the mix, KU is still set to bring in 13 more scholarship freshmen this summer. Two of them play linebacker: D’Marion Alexander and Trey Staley.
KU also recently severed ties with another 2021 recruit who had signed with the program in February: four-star Dallas high school receiver Quay Davis. KU announced in late March it “terminated the recruitment” of Davis after gathering information about his connection with a battered woman shown in social media photos.
Davis was the highest-ranked recruit to sign with KU since Rivals started gauging players’ abilities in 1999.
I have been granted a release from my National Letter of Intent NLI to the University of Kansas.
I look forward to another opportunity to pursue my academic and athletic goals. Thank you to the coaches and players for the relationships I have built during my process. #GodsPlan— Andrew Simpson ² (@dreww___2) April 14, 2021
