A look at the state of Kansas football recruiting

By Staff     Oct 25, 2017

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Kansas running backs coach Tony Hull watches over his players during practice on Thursday, April 6, 2017.

Recruiting continues to progress at a sluggish pace for a Kansas football program that needs the remaining Louisiana high school prospects to stay committed to salvage the class.

Kansas and Kansas State rank tied for last in the Big 12 with 10 verbal commitments so far in this the first year of the early December signing period, according to Rivals.

The recruiting website lists 20 verbals for Oklahoma State and TCU, 19 for Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas Tech, 18 for Texas and West Virginia and 16 for Iowa State.

The state of Texas remains the main source for Big 12 recruits, even though the SEC has done a nice job in recent years of invading the state for some of its best talent.

So far, 86 of the 169 verbal pledges from Big 12 schools are from Texas. Kansas and West Virginia are the only schools without a Texas commitment listed. Two Texas high school players had made verbal pledges to KU but decided to reopen their recruiting, including quarterback Clayton Tune, who backed out Saturday night after attending a game at Baylor.

As the losing seasons mount, it’s growing tougher and tougher for Kansas to land Texas recruits because it’s picking behind so many Big 12 schools, plus other in-state schools such as Texas A&M of the SEC, Houston and SMU of the American Athletic.

Head coach David Beaty’s hiring of running backs coach Tony Hull has resulted in several prospects from the Bayou considering Kansas. Four Louisiana recruits remain committed to Kansas, per Rivals, and three have backed out.

A look at Big 12 football recruiting, ranked in order of verbal pledges:

School Verbal Commitments Texas recruits Other states
Oklahoma State 20 12 Oklahoma (6), Illinois, Louisiana
TCU 20 12 Louisiana (5), California, Iowa, Washington
Baylor 19 18 Colorado
Oklahoma 19 8 Oklahoma (5), Florida (2), Ohio (2), Kansas, Tennessee
Texas Tech 19 16 Louisiana (2), Kansas
Texas 18 14 California, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma
West Virginia 18 0 Georgia (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (3), Tennessee (2), Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, West Virginia
Iowa State 16 2 California (4), Iowa (2), Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigian, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Kansas 10 0 Louisiana (4), Kansas (3), Missouri (2), New York
Kansas State 10 4 Georgia (2), Oklahoma (2), Kansas, Louisiana
Source of verbal pledges: Rivals.com 169 86 Oklahoma (15), Louisiana (13), Kansas (7), Georgia (6), Ohio (6), California (6), Florida (4), Illinois (3), Iowa (3), Pennsylvania (3), Tennessee (3), Kentucky (2), Missouri (2), Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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51216A look at the state of Kansas football recruiting