Louisiana WR Keon Coleman picks Kansas over Oklahoma, South Carolina

By Matt Tait     Jul 4, 2020

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Kansas University football recruiting

At an outdoor Fourth of July barbecue on Saturday night in his hometown of Opelousas, Louisiana, Class of 2021 wide receiver Keon Coleman orally committed to play football at Kansas.

The two-sport athlete who also hopes to play basketball in college picked KU over Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Seated in front of a camera in his driveway with his mother to his left, Coleman revealed on Instagram Live that Kansas was his pick by announcing for KU and putting on a cloth face mask that read “Kansas” in white letters against a blue background on one side and had an American flag on the other.

“This is my mask for the rest of quarantine,” Coleman said. “Rock Chalk.”

The feed drew more than 400 viewers in less than five minutes and Coleman said he wanted to wait until it crossed the 500-viewer mark to make his announcement.

Coleman is a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, but it’s his four-star rating at 247 Sports that has caught people’s eye.

Coleman’s 247 Sports composite rating of .9064 makes him the highest rated prospect to commit to the Kansas football program since 2000, passing current KU running back Pooka Williams, who carried a rating of.9055.

In addition, 247 Sports has Coleman ranked as the 116th best overall player in his class and the 14th best wideout in the country.

Coleman joins Lawrence High commitment Devin Neal — a four-star running back — as the two highest rated prospects in the 2021 class to date, and the Jayhawks’ ability to pull him away from perennial powerhouse Oklahoma is an indication of his potential.

“He could show up and sleepwalk and be the best athlete we’ve got by far,” Opelousas head coach Thomas David recently told SI.com.”There is nobody close. But when you watch him work, you see why schools like Oklahoma and Florida State are finding him at a 1A school in Louisiana.”

Listed at 6-foot-4, 188 pounds, Coleman caught 35 passes for 1,200 yards and 22 touchdowns during his junior season. He also averaged 20 points per game for Opelousas Catholic on the basketball court.

According to Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com, Coleman talked to KU basketball coach Bill Self about walking on to the KU hoops squad during his recruitment. 

“Coach Miles said I can make an impact on the football team and coach Self said I could do the same for basketball,” Coleman recently told JayhawkSlant. “It shows that they want me for both sports. I like them a lot. It’s a good opportunity. They are all good people. Coach Miles was telling me he wants to help me get that Heisman (Trophy).”

KU receivers coach Emmett Jones was the lead recruiter for Coleman throughout his recruitment and he is now the 13th player to commit to Kansas in the current football recruiting class.

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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.