The recent recruiting efforts of head coach Lance Leipold and his staff began yielding results this weekend, as the Kansas football program’s 2022 class started growing.
James Livingston, a prep offensive lineman from Michigan, became the second prospect on Sunday to declare his allegiance to KU.
“I am proud and excited to announce I have committed to play football for the University of Kansas,” Livingston wrote in a note he posted to Twitter. “Go Jayhawks!!!”
Rated a two-star offensive tackle by Rivals, Livingston had just visited KU on Friday, picking up a scholarship offer in the process, as he met with offensive line coach Scott Fuchs and other members of the staff.
Livingston already was familiar with Leipold, Fuchs, recruiting coordinator Chris Simpson and other members of the KU staff, having first been offered a scholarship to play at Buffalo before Leipold and several of his assistants and staffers left to work at KU.
To date, Livingston reportedly has received offers from more than a dozen programs, including Iowa State, Arizona State and Indiana at the Power Five level.
Listed at 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds in the summer leading up to his senior year at Dexter High (Mich.), Livingston currently is the only offensive lineman in KU’s expanding 2022 recruiting class.
Given the timing of the coaching transition, with Leipold taking over at the end of April and then needing to solidify his staff in early May, the Jayhawks hadn’t added any recruits for next year in more than two months before picking up two on Sunday.
Livingston’s pledge came a few hours after three-star Texas prep cornerback Jalon Peoples committed to KU.
All verbal commitments, though, are nonbinding. The earliest any Class of 2022 prospects can sign with KU and make their ties to the program official is in December.
Committed!!????❤️ #RockChalk@CoachFuchs @CoachSimps @CoachLeipold @KU_Football @AllenTrieu @phil_jacobs16 @DextIvan @coach_whittaker pic.twitter.com/YmMQi8keBi
— James Livingston (@JamesLiv71) June 27, 2021
(Rivals rankings)
• Dewuan Mack — 3-star Missouri DB
• Jacobe Chester — 3-star Texas athlete
• Nikki Taylor — 3-star Alabama athlete
• Jalon Peoples — 3-star Texas CB
• James Livingston — 2-star Michigan OT
