With an elite point guard and two Top 40 big men already signed, sealed and delivered, the Kansas men’s basketball program’s 2018 recruiting class added another gem on Wednesday, when five-star shooting guard Quentin Grimes orally committed to KU during a ceremony at College Park High in The Woodlands, Texas.
Grimes, 6-foot-5, 190 pounds, picked KU over finalists Kentucky, Marquette and Texas and said simply that it was his relationship with the KU coaching staff that inspired him to become a Jayhawk.
After thanking his friends, family, teammates, coaches and all of the schools that recruited him, “especially my final four,” Grimes said simply, “I’d like to announce that next year I’ll be attending the University of Kansas.”
With that, and with his parents Tonja and Marshall sitting on each side of him, Grimes stood up, flashed a huge smile and held up a white No. 5 KU jersey.
His parents then joined the fun and removed their top layers to reveal their crimson and blue KU clothing. Several members of the audience then broke into the Rock Chalk chant to thunderous applause from the rest of the gym.
Grimes’ commitment comes on the final day of the early signing period and ends a recruitment that had strong Kansas flavor from start to finish.
“They were real straight up and straightforward with me that I’m the best guard in the country,” Grimes told Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi after a visit with Kansas during the recruiting process. “They basically told me that I have to sign with them…. They said have to get me, they were very clear on that.”
Ranked No. 11 in the class by Rivals.com and No. 16 overall in 247 Sports’ composite rankings, Grimes is a gifted athlete known for his versatility and unselfish style, which makes him a terrific fit to play alongside true point guard Devon Dotson, who signed his letter of intent with Kansas last week.
The addition of Grimes adds symmetry to KU’s current recruiting class, with two elite perimeter players and two physically imposing big men on their way to becoming Jayhawks.
The good news for Kansas, which is playing the current season with an open scholarship, — although that could change next month if five-star big man Silvio De Sousa is cleared to come to college early and allowed to play during the second semester — is that there’s still time and room to add more to an already stellar class.
With senior guards Devonte’ Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk graduating and underclassmen Malik Newman, Billy Preston, Lagerald Vick and Udoka Azbuike all potentially NBA-bound after this season, the Jayhawks not only would need to fill the spots vacated by those departures but also would have the scholarships available to do so.
That gives Self and company room to continue pursuing Top 10 talents Zion Williamson and Romeo Langford in the 2018 recruiting class.
While landing Dotson (6-1, 180, No. 17 per Rivals.com), De Sousa (6-9, 245, No. 25) and David McCormack (6-10, 280, No. 33) put the Jayhawks in the No. 2 or No. 3 spots in many recruiting sites’ team rankings for the Class of 2018, the addition of Grimes is expected to be enough of a splash to move Kansas into the No. 1 position.
According to 247 Sports analyst Jerry Meyer, Grimes “is the most physical player of all the top lead guards in the class and has the versatility to play the two and the three. He gets where he wants on the court, is a three-level scorer, has great court vision and is a solid defender and rebounder.”
