Jayhawks land first football commitment in the Class of 2024

By Matt Tait     Nov 8, 2022

Kansas University football recruiting

Still riding the wave of becoming bowl eligible for the first time in more than a decade, the Kansas football program picked up its first commitment from a player in the Class of 2024 on Tuesday night.

Running back Red Martel, a 6-foot, 205-pound back out of Beggs, Oklahoma, announced on social media, just after 7 p.m. that he was committed to Kansas.

The fact that Martel was in the stands on an unofficial visit to watch Devin Neal make history certainly did not hurt his feelings about how Kansas uses its running backs. And shortly after his visit, he told KU running backs coach Jonathan Wallace that he was ready to commit.

“I always love to watch Devin Neal run the ball,” Martel told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com on Tuesday night. “It was great. It was really great. Hopefully I’ll get to meet him soon. I really like to watch him play.”

According to Kirby, Martel had offers from KU and Colorado and was starting to receive more interest from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin and others.

But his connection with Wallace and KU defensive coordinator Brian Borland, along with the chemistry and closeness he witnessed within the team during his visits to Lawrence, convinced him that KU was the place for him.

“It feels home to me,” he told Kirby. “And the coaches treat me very well. I can’t wait to get there.”

Martel was the second big recruiting score of the past five days for the Jayhawks, who, last Thursday, landed a commitment from Class of 2023 athlete Jameel Croft, out of Detroit.

A three-star prospect from Martin Luther King High — the same school that produced current Jayhawks Rich Miller and Marvin Grant — Croft is the latest player from the area to commit to KU, and linebackers coach Chris Simpson’s work in and around Detroit in recent years played a big role in Croft picking Kansas.

Safeties coach Jordan Peterson also played a significant part in building the relationship that landed Croft.

“Coach Peterson and coach Simpson have been in close contact with me via telephone and we are building a healthy relationship,” Croft told JayhawkSlant. “It came down to the coaching staff, the school atmosphere and being able to play against the top competition in the Big 12.”

The 6-2, 180-pound Croft is the 10th player in the 2023 class to commit to Kansas.

That group, which will graduate next May, can sign with Kansas during a three-day window in December — Dec. 21-23 — during this year’s early signing period for Division I football programs.

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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.