THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014
PAGE 9
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I don't know how many touchdowns he scored, but it was about a zillion." — Charlie Weis on his first memory of Traevohn Wrench ESPN
FACT OF THE DAY
Kansas had several four-star players (on a scale of five) in the 2014 class. Rivals.com and scout.com rated Traevohn Wrench a four-star, while espn.com rated Wrench, Kyron Watson, Jacob Bragg and Corey Avery four-stars.
ESPN
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: What was former Kansas defensive back, and current member of the New England Patriots, Aqib Talib ranked by rivals.com coming out of high school?
A: Two stars
ESPN
THE MORNING BREW
Weis grabs more talent late in recruiting season
Things did not look particularly good midway through the 2014 recruiting season for
Kansas football. Three front-line players, running back Traevohn Wrench, linebacker Kyron Watson and center Jacob Bragg, gave reason for optimism with their early verbals, but then the well ran dry for quite a while. By Dec. 1, Kansas had only secured eight of its 25 commitments, for a recruiting class it had been working on for more than nine months. Time was ticking with the numbers well short of the end goal, and coming from a three-win season. Heading into his third year as coach, the pressure began to mount for Charlie Weis to get the ball rolling. Did he ever.
Weis get the start of December until today, Weis and his staff made up ground — fast. In about 60 days, the staff put their noses to the grindstone and rattled off 15 commitments, nine in the month of January and six in the final two weeks.
Weis and recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell might have saved their best for last, reeling in running back Corey Avery on Feb. 3. Kansas beat out the likes of Baylor, Kansas State, LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia, among others, for Avery's talent
"You could pick any position and he could be good at any of them."
Weis said of Avery, inside the Mrkonic Auditorium at the Anderson Family Football Complex, during his news conference Thursday. "He is not just a good athlete, he is a good football player. I'm a big fan."
Including Avery, Kansas dipped into its recruiting hotbed, Texas, the reservoir of talented, overlooked players, with 10 of its 25 signees from the Lone Star State.
"In the state of Texas, the one good thing you have going for you is you're going to have to play several times in the state of Texas every year," Weis added. "So, if they come here, they know they're still playing at home."
The key to getting them to come here, though, is getting them to visit the campus.
"Kansas is a wonderful school." Weis said. "Once we get them here and they see what we have to offer, about 75 percent of the time we end up getting them." Of those athletes who have been
+
able to have visit, Kansas added three from California, two from Arizona, two from Georgia, one from Florida, one from Illinois, one from Missouri, one from Oklahoma, and two Kansans (Wrench and Lawrence-native Joe Dineen). In all, the Jayhawks signed one quarterback, two running backs, six wide-receivers, four offensive linemen, six defensive linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs.
cars and four buildings.
"We had so many holes last year
In the past few classes, Kansas overdosed on junior college players because they needed immediate help, but now Weis has the luxury of recruiting possibly more talented high school athletes and developing them for long-term success in the system.
"We had so many holes last year that we didn't even have a first guy at some positions," Weis said.
"Last year's class was filling a bunch of holes. Going forward, this class is the way we want to recruit," Weis said. The recruiting class was ranked 55th in the nation and ninth in the Big 12
This year, Kansas signed 15 high school athletes, as opposed to just nine in last year's class. The influx of high school players this year may not be immediately, but the added young talent should pay off down the road.
according to recruiting database rivals.com, and 47th in the nation according to espn.com. Kansas also gained a commitment from a player with an offer from every single Big 12 school. Along with the
23 players who signed letters of intent, Kansas added former five-star, tight end and wide receiver Kent Taylor, a transfer from the University of Florida, and T.J. Millweard, a quarterback from UCLA.
If you are looking for a way to identify the 2014 signees, look no further than your Twitter feed. The group has adopted the slogan "#PlayforDre," in honor of the late Andre Maloney, a Kansas commit from Shawnee Mission West High School who passed away after suffering a stroke following a touchdown. Several recruits grew close with Maloney on visits, and look to commemorate him through their four years in Lawrence.
- Edited by Emily Hine $ ^{c} $
This week in athletics
Tuesday
Men's basketball
Texas Tech
7 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas
Wednesday
No events
Thursday
No events
Friday
210 210 210
610 610 610
Softball Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 10 a.m. Jackson, Miss.
Softball Southeastern Louisiana University 12:30 p.m. Jackson, Miss.
Men's golf University of Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate All Day Palm Desert, Calif.
Baseball
Northwestern
9:30 a.m.
Port Charlotte, Fla.
Tennis
Eastern Kentucky
11 a.m.
Richmond, Ky.
Saturday
Men's golf University of Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate All Day Palm Desert, Calif.
Softball
Eastern Illinois
University
10 a.m.
Jackson, Miss.
Tennis
Kentucky
3 p.m.
Lexington, Ky.
Softball Jackson State University 4:15 p.m. Jackson, Miss.
Women's basketball Oklahoma 7 p.m. Norman, Okla.
Sunday
Men's basketball Texas 6:30 p.m. Lawrence
Baseball Wisconsin-Milwaukee 9:30 a.m. Port Charlotte, Fla.
Women's golf Florida State Match Up All Day Tallahassee, Fla.
Softball
DePaul University
8 a.m.
Charleston, S.C.
Tennis UT-Arlington Noon Lawrence
Baseball
St. Bonaventure
10 a.m.
Port Charlotte, Fla
Men's basketball
Oklahoma
8 p.m.
Lawrence
Monday
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