Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BREAKDOWN: Kansas Nabs Christian Pritchett—What His COMMITMENT Means for Defense & Special Teams

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU's got their second DB from the Peach State Christian Pritchett coming over from Georgia Tech joins the Jayhawks DB room. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's going on, Derek Johnson here? This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen to every day. day. And thank you the everydayers catching each and every show. Thank you for making locked on the

Starting point is 00:00:33 number one sports podcast network on today's edition. We're breaking down Christian Pritchett, the latest commit for KU via the transfer portal. Pritchett ADB from Georgia Tech. We'll get into the news. We'll get into the scouting report on Pritchett and we'll get into the position room breakdown and what his potential role could be for the Jayhawks in 2026 and beyond. Let's start right here with the news on Wednesday night. Christian Pritchett announced his commitment. And I think Jayhawks Slant reported that he committed after leaving his visit and shut down the other visits that were ahead. So clearly went well enough that he was like, yeah, this is home for me. And that's always a good sign there, right?

Starting point is 00:01:14 So he transfers from Georgia Tech. He spent two seasons with the yellow jackets. And he's going to be a true junior, which means you either get two years of playing him or if the goal is to try to, you know, limit him to four games this year. And then you can Red Sherman and have them two more seasons. But, you know, that'll just be kind of dependent on how well he plays for KU, right? So this is now two ACC safeties. The KU is brought on Pritchett is a safety. And you also brought in technically the other.

Starting point is 00:01:45 I mean, there's two ways of looking at this, right? Like you either brought in two safeties who were playing college ball most recently in the Peach State with bringing in one from Georgia Tech here and one from Georgia in Jaden Harris or you can view it as you're bringing into ACC safeties because, again, Pritchett. And then even though Jaden Harris was just at Georgia, before that, he was at Miami and the ACC. So I guess there's the common theme for KU adding to the DB room and the secondary and the safety room. And obviously KU needs to continue filling out their safety rooms because they're still missing some scholarship guys there. But it's also KU's second player that didn't necessarily play a ton on defense.

Starting point is 00:02:25 and this one, I guess you could include Jayden Harris if you wanted to there because he didn't play a ton of Georgia, but he didn't play a ton at Miami before that. I'm more so mean to make this comparison with Geron Willis. Geron Willis was the linebacker, and thank you that every day, or if you already caught that episode of his commitment

Starting point is 00:02:40 from South Carolina who didn't have a ton of snaps on defense, but he had a lot of snaps and some impactful plays on special teams. And you look at Christian Pritchett, hasn't played a ton on defense, but at least in 2024, specifically made a big impact on special teams, there for a Power 4 team where you're kind of viewing these as potentially, hey, if you get anything on the defensive end from Pritchard or Willis, guys who are looking to play a

Starting point is 00:03:07 bigger role from their previous stomping grounds of a Power 4 school and you're able to hit it with one of them, then great. But if not, you're filling out your depth and you're getting players that are proven special teamers at the Power 4 level and you have to fill out your roster somehow. And again, maybe one or two of them will end up hitting, and it'll be even bigger than that. But let's get into what Pritcher brings to the table and then how it looks at the position right now for KU at the back end next. This episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. The Wild Card Round is here, and Fandual is officially in playoff mode.

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Starting point is 00:04:48 So Christian Pritchett is the newest Jayhawk. He is a 6'2-195-pound safety for the Jayhawks. And we've been talking a lot about the players KU has been bringing on in the portal and having kind of a theme of being bigger players. I don't know if I would totally count this one in the same way. I don't know that necessarily, like, but it also isn't not one, I guess. Like, that's a weird way of putting it. But like, you didn't bring in a safety who's 5'10.

Starting point is 00:05:13 Like 6'2 is good height for a safety. And you look at a couple of the corners. they've been linked to as like either trying to set up visits or, you know, have interest in or whatever. And they've been like six two or six three corners. So it does kind of continue the theme. You know, some of the other themes is bringing on big players, not just in terms of height, but in terms of weight. That maybe doesn't fit the theme there because they're DBs. So you're not going to bring on a 270 pound TB. But they are continuing to value size and length. And I do find that interesting. I think that's a good thing. Football, yes.

Starting point is 00:05:48 smaller players can be good. But football is still a contact sport, and size still does matter to some degree, right? So he's originally from Louisiana, came to Georgia Tech as an 86 rated three-star prospect. He played in 11 games as a true freshman in 2024. Most of that was on special teams where he had well over 100 snaps on special teams his freshman year. Then in 2025, five games played in total. Little annoying that wasn't four, so he could have preserved the red shirt and been you know, a redshirt sophomore for KU in 226.

Starting point is 00:06:22 But in total, that means 16 games played over two seasons, eight career tackles over the two years, just 46 defensive snaps over the two years, and 185 snaps on special teams. Now, it's interesting because 2024, he gets over 100 snaps on special teams and very limited defensive snaps. His past year also limited defensive snaps,

Starting point is 00:06:42 but it's closer to like 30. And the special teams numbers go way down. So maybe he was of closer proximity to the two deep and they didn't want to get him hurt on special teams or something. I don't know what exactly went down there. But again, you now know that you have somebody who has played special teams and he graded out well on the special team snaps in 2024. So let's get into what his projected role could be and what the safety room now looks like for KU, where else they have more work to do in the back end. This episode of the show is brought to you by Ruggiette. and with Ruggiet, you know, men don't always bring up something that they probably should,

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Starting point is 00:08:12 Ruggiet ready, feel present, feel confident. it, feel ready. Thanks for joining us here on the show. Check out our Everyday Air Club where you can get ad-free version of the podcast here. Locked on Jayhawks and join our fun Discord server where you can join, you know, you want to join Locked on Jayhawks Discord channel. You can check out the Transfer Portal Discord channel and interact with other listeners and hosts and myself and, yeah, a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:08:39 Okay, position room for KU now in the secondary Pritchett Safety. So KU is a three safety team now, basically, right? Like there are times where they'll use instead of a third safety and nickel back, basically an extra corner, which we saw Saeed Gibbs at times last year. There's times where instead of a third safety, they could use a third linebacker, right? But for the most part, they want to be a three safety team. And that's where D.K. McDonald's roots with Iowa State kind of comes in. So you have Mason Ellis, you have Taylor Davis and Jaden Harris, who you add it on.

Starting point is 00:09:09 I think those three guys right now, profile is meaning the starters. We'll see what else happens in the portal for KU. From there, it's really, you know, a lot of open spaces to fill out the two deep, right? You have Robert Reddick who comes in as a freshman, but he's probably going to take some developmental time. Darien Jones redshirted, Brandon Schmelsley, redshirted. Maybe one of those two guys, if you're playing the numbers game, can end up on the two deep. But even then, do you really want to count on getting a red shirt freshman on there? Would you rather, you know, have to, okay, if they earn it, because they play some,

Starting point is 00:09:42 well in the offseason, great. But if not, we don't want to have to rely on them until, you know, 2027, potentially, right, when they're in their third year with the program. And so that's where Pritchett comes in is somebody who, I mean, right now, obviously, he'd be on the too deep for KU. We'll wait and see if he ends up on the too deep or if he's just on the outside. I do think right now it would be easy to say he's there. And you look at like losing Jalen die and Devon die. You look at losing Lake Juan Robinson. They need to add more depth to the safety room. And so KU will play some of the back. backup safeties. They'll rotate in. I think Pritchett is probably going to get the most

Starting point is 00:10:16 snaps he's ever gotten on defense in a season, which, you know, the bar is like 30. So it's not a super high bar. But I do think that's probably some of the appeal for him that he'll probably get rotated in a little bit and get a chance to prove himself on the defensive end. But also he's somebody who provides Kansas with an older power for developed player that we know can play special teams. And, you know, that is part of it. Like some of these players you've lost, like you If you're like Logan Brantley, sure, Logan Brantley probably wasn't going to be on the two deep for the linebackers. Or if he was, he probably wasn't going to be a starter. But he was a key special teams player for you.

Starting point is 00:10:48 And you need to replace as much as you need more depth and you need to replace those scholarships and the bodies you have. You need guys who are willing and able and good at playing special teams if you want to be a good team on that unit. So I think it's a good swing for KU with Pritchett. And who knows, maybe he even ends up being more than just, you know, safety depth. and a special teamer. And that's part of this, too, with him being a junior, like, there's a change. Okay, what if he's the backup safety this year? Because I mentioned the Jalen Dye, like losing Jailen Dye.

Starting point is 00:11:18 If we remember Jalen Dye came in via the trans, or via the Juko ranks. And I think Jalen Dye, like, redshirted his first year, and then he worked his way under the two deep, and then he's, you know, playing more and more as he gets older. Like, what if Christian Pritchett comes on this year and he's a backup on the two deep and, you know, does well in practice and on special teams and when he rotates in, And then all of a sudden come 2027 when he's a senior, well, hey, Mason Ellis graduates. Jaden Harris graduates. And KU is like, okay, we feel comfortable giving you one of the starting safety spots and we won't have to go in the portal to get anything.

Starting point is 00:11:51 Or if it doesn't work out, then you just bring in another potential Jaden Harris, so to speak, right? So I think that's where KU is at in the safety room where they probably need even a couple more bodies to come in there as well. I've got it over for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. Check out all of our commitment episodes. KU up to what, 10 commits so far now in the portal with plenty more coming for the Jayhawks. They probably got another 15 or so that are coming from here. So it is going to continue to be crazy. Make sure you're subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:12:21 So you're battling the chaos, so to speak. And don't forget to check out tomorrow's full episode where we're going to be breaking down. What is going on with KU and Darren Peterson in terms of the stats say they've been better when he's off the court? That's weird because the stats. he's putting up are huge. So make sure to check that episode tomorrow on Lockdown Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BREAKDOWN: Kansas Nabs Christian Pritchett—What His COMMITMENT Means for Defense & Special Teams

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