With the extended recruiting dead period finally expiring at the end of the month, prospects in both the current recruiting class and the Class of 2022 are starting to line up official visits again.
One such prospect of note for the Kansas basketball program is Nick Smith Jr., a 6-foot-5, 175-pound combo guard from Sylvan Hills High in Sherwood, Ark.
Smith’s summer suddenly looks pretty busy, with visits slated for Auburn the first weekend of June and Georgetown the week after, according to Rivals.com.
Officially, Smith is expected to be in Lawrence June 20-21.
Ranked No. 36 overall in the 2022 class, Smith has the versatility to play on or off the ball.
According to David Sisk, of Rivals site CatsIllustrated, who recently watched Smith at Midwest Mania, the Arkansas guard can score at all three levels — outside, mid-range and down low — and is best from 8 feet and out.
At Midwest Mania, Smith played both on and off the ball and, according to Sisk, showed a calmness when running the show while still being able to score when needed.
He averaged 25 points per game during his junior season and also contributed 5 rebounds and 3 assists per night while shooting 60% from the floor.
Named the MaxPreps 2020-21 Arkansas Player of the Year, Smith received a scholarship offer from KU coach Bill Self in December. In addition to the POY nod, Smith earned all-state honors for the third consecutive season.
His offer list currently includes KU, Baylor, Texas Tech, North Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Georgetown, Texas and others.
In addition to prospects being able to line up official (or unofficial) visits again, coaches again will be able to hit the road to recruit starting June 1. KU’s 2021-22 offseason work is set to begin the week of June 7, with Self expecting players to report back to campus by June 6 after a couple of weeks at home following the end of the school year.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current dead period lasted longer than a year, and that changed the way many programs prioritized their recruiting efforts.
Zoom calls and virtual visits replaced traveling and in-home visits, but the summer figures to be as busy as ever, even if those remote efforts continue.
Add to that the fact the popularity and surge of the transfer portal, which has made proven college prospects available for programs to plug holes, and you’re looking at a shift in recruiting efforts as a whole.
Smith recently told Shay Wildeboor of Rivals site JayhawkSlant.com that his Zoom call with Kansas “was good.”
“It was good talking to the coaching staff and I can’t wait to meet them in person,” he told Wildeboor.
Many of the top 40-50 players in every high school class, like Smith, will continue to be recruited by programs big and small.
But as Self and Kansas already have shown, they’re just as willing to pluck someone out of the portal as they are to fill a spot with a high school prospect that needs to develop.
“It’s just a different deal,” Self recently told me of the current state of recruiting. “It’s going to be more than ever how do you fit an immediate need. A lot of times in recruiting in the past, you may recruit a youngster for two or three years to put in the situation of this is how you fit in our program in general as opposed to no this is how you fit exactly in the next three to four months.”
[KU’s current class features seven newcomers][1] — four prep prospects and three transfers, Division I transfer Joseph Yesufu of Drake, Division II big man Cam Martin and juco center Sydney Curry) — and is likely to grow by one more, with Georgia transfer Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky transfer Nolan Hickman and prep point guard Tyty Washington among the top targets.
The 2022 class, which had included Kyle Cuffe Jr., before he reclassified into the 2021 group, currently features a commitment from [Wichita prospect Gradey Dick][2] and room for more.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/tale-tait/2021/apr/22/breaking-down-the-2021-22-kansas-basketb/
[2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/mar/03/five-star-sunrise-christian-guard-gradey-dick-comm/?templates=desktop
