Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Highly Ranked JaMarquis Hudson COMMITS to Kansas + Jayhawks Lose Pledge from 3-Star Nazir Pitchford

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks shake up their recruiting outlook as promising linebacker JaMarquis Hudson commits and cornerback Nazir Pitchford exits under dramatic circumstances. Can Hudson’s dynamic impact—fresh off a fierce recruiting battle with Houston and Texas Tech—transform the linebacker corps for Lance Leipold’s program? Derek Johnson breaks down Hudson’s standout high school stats, physical profile, and coverage skills, analyzing how his arrival, alongside Elliot Neff, bolsters KU football’s 2027 class. The episode also unpacks the implications of Kansas’ strict no-visit policy after Pitchford’s decommitment and explores how these moves affect the Jayhawks’ national recruiting ranking and future linebacker room competition. Will this class set a new standard for Kansas Football’s trajectory? Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.  RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kansas got themselves an absolute stud at the linebacker spot in the class of 27. And some recruiting drama leads to a decommitment for KU. 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 up, Derek Johnson? This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for tuning in to the show. We're going to be breaking down Nazir Pitchford out for KU and a dramatic

decommitment. We'll also get to, though, Jamarcus Hudson, his scouting port, what he brings to the future KU football in their linebacker room, really good linebacker commit being brought in by Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks. Let's start right there where the news of the day on Sunday evening, Jamarcus Hudson commits to Kansas after having a visit this past weekend to Lawrence. So, DeMarcus Hudson, the Algerian national team, all having wonderful times in Lawrence of late here. 89 rated three star is Hudson, which means he is one notch away on 24-7 sports from being a four-star recruit. So, you know, nearly a four-star recruit, right? If you look at the composite on three a little bit lower on him, so he drops to like an 8800, which is still really good. That's still top

650 nationally. He's nearly a top 50 linebacker in the class. This is a kid from Port Arthur Memorial High School in Texas, ends up choosing Kansas over a good other list of power. schools. You're talking Houston. There's a team that, you know, you're competing with in the Big 12, Purdue, Kentucky, Texas Tech, and more schools. So obviously a big deal to land a kid like this. And to get a kid out of the state of Texas over Houston and Texas Tech, I think makes it even better for KU. But he has tied the highest rated accrued by 24-7's base rankings on the KU class of 27 with Mason Oglesby and then C.J. Johnson, the defensive end. If you look at the 24-7 sports composite, he becomes a top five commit in the KU class of 2027 at number five.

And overall, you look at it now, there's 16 commits for KU and you might be thinking, hey, I thought KU had 16 commits already. Well, that's where Nizier-Pitchford, which we'll get to later in the show. He's out, Hudson ends. You stay at 16, but actually some of your rankings move up overall. I think right now as of recording, they're like number 34 on 24-7 sports high school rankings. Now that won't totally last because there will be. classes that have 25 kids and they'll move in front and yada yada yada but we actually earlier this

week if if then thank you the everydayers that you know already caught this stuff but um we kind of went over some of the different recruiting rankings comparatively for you know the the past classes for lance lippold compared to where ku has been historically in the 24-7 sports era and you know now because pitchford was you know i i do think pitchford was under race but he was not a top 1,000 recruit. Whereas if you look at Hudson, he's the top 700 recruit. And so now it makes it so that if you go back to classes 2010 and forward in KU football history, this class is only 16th in the total number of commits they have right now,

yet they're fourth in top 500 commits, their fourth and top 800 commits, their fourth and top 1,000 commits, and the percentage of their players that are top 1,000 commits on the composite, is the second best that we've ever seen in the 24-7 recruiting database going back to 2010. It's also the third best if we judge it by the composite score of the number of players that are 0.860-0 better. And it is also the second best if we judge it by the percentage of players, 8 of the 16. So 50% are 0.870-0 better.

The only class better was the class of 2026. So again, they're stacking classes together, which is a good thing to see. And I do really like this class right now for KU. As far as the linebacker room, specifically, he joins Elliott Neff as a commit in this class who has officially been rated an 85 rated three star. And I don't know if they'll be done there at the linebacker spot, but super exciting future pieces, man. Whether you're looking at, you know, the guy like Hudson coming in here or. Sorry. Or you're looking at, you know, I don't know, like some of the.

recent classes, you'll get like Josh Galbraith, coming into the program, you look at, you know, Malachi Curveh, coming into the program a few years before, like, there's a lot of good talent being brought in to the linebacker room at this point for KU, you know, and it feels like they have gone from, they really struggled at this position. Last year, I think they took steps forward. There were still some, some issues and errors. This year, I'm expecting them to be better with Trey Lathenback and adding Bam Crouch and Quincy Davis and some of these other players you added. And now you got that future, that next wave coming in between kind of the classes of 25, 26 and now 27 to kind of come together and let the best man win and get the playing time and make this a linebacker room that's improved from internally and guys that you kind of brought up together. But let's get more into Hudson's game and then we'll get into the Pitchford situation.

This is locked on Jayhawks. We're brought to you today by Indeed Workplace, K.R. can show up fast. And the problem is that finding the right candidate, it can take a lot more time than most businesses can afford. That's where Indeed sponsor jobs comes in. Indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the candidates who actually fit where you're looking for based on skills, experience, and location. And finding the right person, it can make all the difference, whether it's building a business or building a winning team. You know, think about what Lance Leipold is trying to do here, right? You're mixing together, bringing in some high school recruits and

some transfer portal guys, but I sure bet you that they wish they had something like Indeed sponsored jobs where you could just, you know, set this thing up and then it's going to clear out like who's the qualified candidates and who's close by and who's interested in this amount of playing time and NIL and whatever you want to do. That would make things a lot easier for the coaches. Well, you have that in front of you with Indeed sponsor jobs to spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates to check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs.

And listeners have locked on Jayhawks get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job the premium status that deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast now. Support our show by saying you heard about it on LOJ. Indeed.com slash podcast. Charmercing conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Thanks you for joining us here on the show.

and Jamarcus Hudson joins the fold for KU. So what is KU getting here? He is, well, depending where you look, six foot two or six foot three on the two sides, somewhere in that range. So good height. One has them 180 pounds. One has him 186.

Now, either way, you're going to have to add some real weight here. Like, this isn't just a situation where, okay, like 15, 20 pounds. Like, you're going to probably have to add like 35, 40 pounds to the weight here if the idea is to play him at linebacker. Now, I don't know. with that size, like could you just be a big safety, especially if KU is going to play with three safeties more often where one of them is kind of a box safety, then maybe that's the,

the determined role there, right? But we do know that KU has really good strength and conditioning programs with Matt Gildersleeve. So that hasn't been an issue before adding weight to guys. And I don't think it would be an issue here either, right? But great stats this past year as a junior playing varsity football, 105 tackles, 17 tackles for loss. So really disruptive player, 12 sacks. and five pass breakups. And I think you can see on some of the highlights, like really strong coverage abilities as a linebacker, seems like a solid athlete.

Again, the key is going to be as you add more weight, can you maintain the speed? Can you maintain the athleticism to still be that type of guy with more weight on you, right? But I think it just has a good all-around game, right? Like you see plays where he's shooting through a gap and making a tackle for loss on defense. You see other plays where he's pass rushing

and is beating a tackle and getting to the quarterback and making, you know, a backside sack, right? Plays where he's blitzing, like he knows where to go and knows what alley to kind of hit. Plays where he's in coverage, he's able to get back and he's able to, you know, have good eyes on the quarterback, and he shows good athleticism and knocking down passes. Just a very good all-around game, and that's a good thing to be for a linebacker where you are doing a little bit of everything, right? And I think the best compliment that I can give here for Hudson is this. I think some of the highlights that you see, you'll see him come up with different turnover plays. Some will be, you know, maybe a fumble that he was in the right place, right time.

And I think that in general, like, that's where I want to go with this. There are a good amount of plays where he's at the right place at the right time. And that is a huge compliment for a linebacker. Here's why. The best linebackers are always around the ball, right? And so the more you're around the ball, the more good things are going to happen. When that fumble comes out, when that ball gets tipped up in the air, you can't make the interception. You can't scoop up the fumble if you're not around the ball.

So the fact that he's always around the ball, it seems like, allows him to make some of these plays. That's a really good trait to have for a linebacker. All right, let's finish up a little bit as one comes in for KU, one goes out as your pitchford decommits in a bit of a dramatic situation. We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Ruggietz. Throughout the NHL finals, every shift matters. Every moment's intense and everything comes down to execution when the pressure is at its highest. And just like athletes must be ready to perform when the puck drops, a lot of guys want that same

sense of readiness and confidence in their own lives too. That's where Rougiette comes in. Rougiette offers modern performance focused treatments designed to help you be ready when it matters. Their top option, Rougiet ready. It's a fast acting clinically formulated treatment that comes in with a simple mint, dissolves under your tongue. It's assigned for convenience, fast absorption, effects can begin in about 15 minutes. it may last up to 36 hours.

They also offer Go Long, which is formulated through support both performance and control for longer lasting needs. It's all about helping guys feel prepared, confident, and in control. And in the playoffs, readiness is not optional. Imagine like going to your team, teammate or your captain and be like, hey, I'm not ready today. No, that's not optional, right?

It's everything. And for a lot of guys, that idea of being ready at the right moment, it carries over into everyday life, too. That's exactly what Ruggiette is built around. So head to rouguet.com slash locked on NHL and get 15% off your ED treatment. That is rougiette.com, RUG, IET, dot com slash locked on NHL for 15% off Rougiette performance medicine for men.

You can join the everyday air club at locked on jhawks.com to get the ad-free version of the show. And so good news with Jarmouthi's Hudson joining the fold. Not good news with Nazir Pitchford leaving the fold. but I don't know how much this is, I mean, this almost feels like a legit mutual decision because, so this was tweeted out by Michael Swain, who does great work over at fog.net. KU has a no visit policy for committed recruits. I'm hearing Pitchford was no longer considered a member of KU's 2027 class when he officially took the North Carolina visit this weekend.

So basically this, you know, per what Michael's talking about there. And to be clear, like this is not a situation where like, I think KU's in the right here. you're more than obligated to do this. And if you don't like this as a crude, if you're like, hey, I want to still go to my other visits, but I want to commit here, then just don't commit there. Just go on your other visit and then decide what you want to do. And here's the other thing. KU is very, very, very respectful from everything I've heard with players that they have

commit. Like, they're not going to be, there are some schools that are going to play. They do everything we possibly can to win game, which is, hey, we might have a kid to commit, but then, you know, we get a better kid who wants to commit. And so we pull that kid's scholarship and say, no, you can't commit here any longer and we'll give it to this kid. Or, you know, hey, we didn't like your performance this year. We're going to pull your scholarship. You weren't as good as we hoped you were going to be in your senior your varsity.

KU doesn't do that. You commit to KU. They are committed to you. And it's a very respectful way of kind of going about this, I think, for Kansas. The flip side to that is you have a policy like this, which I think is only fair. And so obviously it was not, you know, Pitchford went elsewhere. And by making that decision, he decommitted himself, whether that's him decommitting or KU decommitting, kind of a mutual decision there, right?

And it obviously becomes hilarious because you get the, he was 100% committed to Kansas State graphic. Then a few weeks later, he decommits or however long it was. Then he commits to Kansas, and he's a thousand percent committed. And then he decommits from Kansas. And I haven't seen any sort of graphic. I don't know if he'll be 10,000 percent committed to North Carolina. I honestly hope he keeps doing this. I hope he keeps decommitting.

and eventually he's like a million percent committed to a school. Here's the thing. And this is going to sound like Sauer Graves. And to be clear, I thought Nizier Pitchford is better than an 86 rated three star. Like I watched his film and I was like, oh, this guy can really play me in coverage. He's got long arms. He's a lengthy corner. He would have been a nice addition for KU.

So I don't want to make it sound like I'm like happy about. Like I would have rather KU just landed in Izir Pitchford, right? But if this is what we're going to do here, if this is what we're going to do, the 100% of committed to a thousand percent committed to not committed to go into another school, what are the chances that like let's be real here what are the chances does your pitchford would have stayed on kansas after his freshman year or not just hit the transfer portal probably pretty low right so like realistically i guess better to just rip the band-aid off now so to speak right so uh we'll see what happens there but um yeah i think in the end for k u you you end up with with hudson out of this i know it's not a trade and you

could have just had both but like still a good day for k u football recruiting all right i don't know for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks, you can find our show anywhere, you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time.