The first five-star prospect to ever commit to the University of Kansas football program, New Orleans prep receiver Devonta Jason has heard the murmurs and seen the skepticism floating around the recruiting world in response to the non-binding pledge he made back in February.
That much was clear in Jason’s comments to Bleacher Report, for a feature titled: [Do You Believe 5-star WR Devonta Jason is Kansas-bound? LSU and Alabama don’t][1].
> “People were asking me if they gave me
> something,” Jason told Bleacher
> Report’s Adam Kramer. “Everybody was
> going crazy. They wanted to know what
> I was thinking. I’m just going to be
> me.”
A 6-foot-3 rising senior at New Orleans’ Landry-Walker High, [Jason, of course, is the marquee prospect in third-year KU head coach David Beaty’s Louisiana-heavy 2018 recruiting class][2]. Rivals ranks Jason as the 22nd-best player in the country, and considering KU’s current seven-year streak of winning three games or fewer, many outsiders scratch their heads or scoff at the idea of Jason officially signing with the Jayhawks months from now.
According to Jason, a coach from another program texted him “really?” upon hearing of his verbal commitment to Beaty, associate head coach and Louisiana native Tony Hull and Kansas.
> “It really didn’t get to me,” Jason
> told Bleacher Report. “I know they
> went 2-10 and 0-12 the year before.
> It’s really not about what school you
> go to or being a big fish in a big
> pond. It’s about your future and
> making an impact on your life. It’s
> about being known and recognized.”
Given that most prospects of Jason’s caliber typically sign with the likes of Alabama, Florida State, Clemson, Ohio State or some other renowned program, Rivals’ national recruiting director Mike Farrell characterized Jason as a “unicorn.”
> Farrell explained: “I’ve never seen
> one in person, and I don’t know if
> they exist. If this sticks, it will
> prove that they do.”
Hull, who also helped lure commitments from Jason’s current Landry-Walker teammates, four-star cornerback Corione Harris and three-star defensive end Josh Smith, as well as former L-W standout Mike Lee, gets credit for making this unique recruiting situation possible. Jason said he connected with Hull when he visited Lawrence.
> “Being as far away as I was,” he told
> Bleacher Report, “it still felt like
> home.”
As Jason had stated previously, he intends to graduate from Landry-Walker early and enroll in college for the spring semester of 2018, ahead of his freshman year of college football.
*- [Read the full feature on Devonta Jason at Bleacher Report][3]*
[1]: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2714291-do-you-believe-5-star-wr-devonta-jason-is-kansas-bound-lsu-and-alabama-dont
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/smithology/2017/may/30/recruiting-upgrade-ku-commit-devonta-jas/
[3]: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2714291-do-you-believe-5-star-wr-devonta-jason-is-kansas-bound-lsu-and-alabama-dont
