Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Adds Five Commits for 2025: Martin, Holley, Rivera, Hammond & Schmelzle

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks 5 for 2025, KU lands a handful of commits over the weekend. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. And you can find the show here with Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of LOJ, Kansas landed five commits for the class of 2025 on the football team over this past weekend.

Starting point is 00:00:41 We're going to break them down. We're going to break down their games a little bit, and we're going to get into what it means for the class of 2025, what it means for each of those positions, the future of those positions on this episode of the show, which is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small

Starting point is 00:00:59 business. That's why LinkedIn jobs helps you find the right people for your job faster and for free post faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollegetermsandconditions. Apply. We're going to start up with just basic information on the five commits, what happened over the weekend. Then we'll get into a little bit of the scouting report on the guys and then what it means for the class of 2025 and each specific position that they recruited on this episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:01:25 Let's start right here. Adrian Hawley was the first commit over the weekend, at least the first that was publicly known. There were certain guys that I think they said they basically had silently committed before coming and then just kind of announced it over the weekend. But anyway, Adrian Hawley, I believe, was the first one that became public. He is a six foot six, 225 pound edge from Michigan City, Indiana. So already you're talking about a kid who six foot six. I mean, you're talking about a lengthy defensive end that has plenty of potential and how you can kind of fill out that body. I would imagine you probably looking into turning that into that wide defensive end spot, which is kind of your pass rushing defensive end. Think what guys like Dean Miller, Dylan Brooks, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:02:07 possibly some of the freshmen are going to do on this year's team. I guess on last year's team, Austin Booker, right? If you can fill out the frame, Booker, another tall lengthy defensive end that you had. Dorrance Armstrong was, I think he was closer to like 6'4", but kind of a tall lengthy defensive end. Hawley is a three star on 24-7 sports. He's an 86 grade and top 65 at his position.

Starting point is 00:02:26 I mentioned this on the other show last week that if you're getting 86s and above, there have been some classes, if you go back 10 years, if you go back five years, where an 86 would have been a number three player, a top five player in a class for KU that featured 15, 20, 25 guys. And so KU is getting a lot of those here. So that's where he's rated there with on three he's rated as an 86 if you prefer that uh he's in 77 on ESPN he's a 5.5 on rivals again all different grading scales but he's three star on each and that rivals one he was actually recently bumped up so he's kind of trending in the right direction 24-7 has him as a top 65 player his position and he's top 1,300 overall.

Starting point is 00:03:06 But based on the way he's kind of blowing up and that length and athleticism would not shock me if he's somebody who's a late riser and continues to rise in those recruiting rankings. Ended up choosing KU over Cincinnati, Minnesota, a bunch of Mac schools and more. But again, I could see this kid kind of blowing up a little bit in those recruiting rankings. The next one they got, Kenyon Rivera.

Starting point is 00:03:30 So they got a defensive end a lot of defense added uh today or uh over this past weekend uh your rivera is a linebacker six foot one and a half 195 pounds from buford georgia apparently the high school he plays for in georgia is one of the powerhouses really good schools in the state of georgia which is obviously a very good recruiting area. He is a three-star as well, 86th grade on 24-7 sports, top 100 at his position. And he's a three-star on the other three main recruiting sites too. He's an 85th grade with on three. He's a 78th grade on ESPN, and he is a 5.6th grade on rivals. He is top 800 on the 24-7 composite.

Starting point is 00:04:03 On the composite, he is the highest-rated recruit of the five that KU brought in. Chose Kansas over Louisville, Arizona State, Appalachian State, Maryland, and some others. This is a linebacker that is a very intriguing prospect in both terms of what he is and where is exactly he going to play. Obviously, plenty of time to figure that out for KU, but we'll get more into that scouting report in a moment here. Garrett Martin was another recruit for KU. He's somebody who was being recruited by TCU, some other schools. I think TCU took defensive end or two, and the wonder was, okay, is now he going to end up in the laps of Kansas? Well, that, I guess, turned out to

Starting point is 00:04:40 be the case. Six-foot-four, 24 245 pound edge from Scottsdale, Arizona. Now, I mean, Austin Booker last year played around, what, 245 pounds. And I think with Martin, maybe the idea is to make him more of a strong side defensive end. Booker was, you know, the kind of weak side defensive end for KU last season. So you're still looking to add weight. But he is more weight ready for college than maybe some of these other kids where it's like, hey, we got to add 20, 30 pounds to him. But he is a three star as well. He's an 87 grade on 24-7 sports.

Starting point is 00:05:10 Top 55 at his position and top 10 in the state of Arizona, which being from Scottsdale, being from Arizona, apparently he knows Deshaun Warner, who helped host him on the recruiting visit, apparently. And obviously KU continues that Arizona pipeline, which is certainly not a bad thing because there's a lot of good players in the state of Arizona. And especially now with the two Arizona schools in the Big 12, you can pitch to them, hey, you're going to get to play, you know, like Kansas plays at Arizona State here in 2024. You're going to have other games over the course of your future years, whether it's at Arizona State, at Arizona, where you're going to get to play in front of your hometown friends and family and everything. He's also a three-star on three, where he's an 85, three-star on ESPN, where he's a 74, and a three-star on Rivals, where he's a 5.6.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Top 1,000 on the 24-7 composite, chose Kansas over Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, Colorado, I guess you could say TCU. Again, you don't totally know how many scholarships and what offer is contingent on something else, but those were some of the other offers that were out there. Next one is Brandon Schmelzle. I don't know if that's the proper way to pronounce that, but he is a local kid, 6'2", 195-pound athlete from Axtell, Kansas.

Starting point is 00:06:21 That was a Mark Mangino special, right? Bring in guys who are athletes and turn them into whatever position you needed, whatever position you, you know, when you brought them into the building, figured out what was best for them. And Axtell is, I mean, it's not just that he is an athlete because maybe, I mean, he was playing eight-man football, so you're trying to figure out what position he's going to play at the collegiate level.

Starting point is 00:06:39 But this dude is an athlete, very good athlete. Again, we'll get into that in the scouting report. Unrated right now on the 24-7 sports page and 24-7 composite. I'll be interested to see where he kind of comes in on all this. He chose KU over North Dakota State and South Dakota State, which I don't believe there was another like Power 5 offer in there, but North Dakota State and South Dakota State was the dynasty in FCS football. South Dakota State has kind of supplanted them.

Starting point is 00:07:04 They've won back-to-back national championships. If you're getting, I mean, we've seen a bunch of kids go pro from those two schools, right? Those two schools beat power five schools all the time. So if you're getting offers from both of those, I kind of view that similarly to if you got an offer from,

Starting point is 00:07:18 I don't know, West Virginia or something like that. And then the last one here that they got over this past weekend was Josiah Hammond. I guess he goes by, this is his Twitter profile, Cheese, which that is a great nickname. It's an even greater nickname knowing that he's a defensive lineman. 6'3", 250-pound defensive lineman from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Starting point is 00:07:38 And he's somebody who they play him at defensive end, play him at D-tackle in high school. I think the idea when he gets to college adds more weight to him and eventually be a defensive tackle. But who knows? Maybe you stick him at strong side defensive end, play him at D-tackle in high school. I think the idea when he gets to college adds more weight to him and eventually be a defensive tackle. But who knows? Maybe you stick him at strong side defensive end. He's a three-star as well, 86th grade on 24-7 sports, 136 at his position. He's also a three-star with on three who really likes him, an 88 grade there.

Starting point is 00:07:59 5.5 on rivals as a three-star, and he's unrated on ASPN. But he is top 1,00 nationally on the composite chose KU over Utah, Arizona, Minnesota, Cal Houston. I think he had an upcoming schedule visit or visit scheduled to Washington upcoming. So this time is a big time get when you talk about some of those schools, especially with like Utah and Arizona being in the big 12 that I guess that is a in-conference recruiting battle and what's interesting here five commits coming in for the class for KU we'll get into

Starting point is 00:08:30 more about the class and what it means and everything like that but I do find this very interesting that so if we go back to like just picking a random year here I on a previous episode I mentioned that I went back and looked at five years ago, 10 years ago, and the number of 86 or 85 or below and what they were rated was much different. What if I go back to 2021? So if I go back and look at the class of 2021, which is a good class, you've got Devin Neal out of that class, DJ Withers and Tommy Dunn, who are both possible starters, defense tackle, Jason Gilliam. You got OJ Burrows, your starter at safety for you, among others. Kansas had six players in that class of 2021 among 21 commits who were rated at 86 or higher. You just got five who were rated as an 86 or higher just over this past weekend.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Pretty incredible stuff by Lance Leipold and the staff. Let's get more into the scouting reports of what they added and what this means overall for the class and at each position and the future of each position for KU football in this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. When you're hiring for small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role.

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Starting point is 00:10:24 On to the scouting reports of KU's new five players joining their class of 2025. They now have 11 total commits. Let's start with Holly. Some of the film I watched on him seemed like good pursuer of the football, which I know that seems like a silly thing in some sense. It's like, oh,

Starting point is 00:10:40 of course, go after the guy with the ball, but just had a good knack for it. It seemed like somebody who just likes to hit people, i mean especially for a defensive end that's obviously you're a defensive player in general uh something good there were you just liked hitting guys he had 41 tackles last year 15 and a half tackles for lost seven sacks really good production he's just a long lengthy player who you're gonna look to fill out a little bit more and it's tough to find that length and if you can add that weight and he has a little bit of that athleticism and if you can improve on that even more boom you end up with somebody that you know could turn into a really

Starting point is 00:11:14 long-term guy like you don't see six foot six defensive ends at schools like Kansas that often that's why like Austin Booker used a transfer from Minnesota you know what I mean Like most often the schools like Kansas are ended up with the guys who are undersized and you have to kind of coach them up or they maybe have the intangible stuff. Like you have that opportunity here. What about Kenyon Rivera, the linebacker? So he is somebody who I'll be interested to see where they play him at KU. He was a multi-sport athlete, I guess, played basketball, ran track. And his junior season, he had 36 tackles, three sacks. He had two quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, two tackles for loss. He kind of played all over the field for them. There were some times where it seemed like they were playing him as like a 3-4 outside linebacker.

Starting point is 00:11:57 It seemed like other times where he was just playing as like an off-ball linebacker, seemed like sometimes he was even playing as like kind of a slot safety type. I don't know what his exact role would be defined as, but maybe that makes him perfect for that like Cinco Hawk role for KU that we saw Craig Young play. I don't know. Then again, I don't know, like, is the awareness on coverage and spatial awareness, is the athleticism enough there for him to do that? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I don't totally know. And if that's the case, maybe he becomes more of a thumping linebacker because I'll say this, he was a really good blitzer. And a lot of the highlights I saw were showing him as a blitzer. He seemed to find the right hole. He loved hitting guys

Starting point is 00:12:38 off the run. So I don't know if it's using him as more of a thumping linebacker. I don't know if it's using him in more of that Hawk role. I don't know if it's using him as more of a thumping linebacker. I don't know if it's using him in more of that Hawk role. I don't know if it's, you know, using him as, I don't know, getting him to bulk up and using him as, as eventually like Kyron Johnson turned into a defensive end, but I'll say this. I think he only measured at 195 pounds on his recruiting profile, very physical player for his size overall.

Starting point is 00:12:58 And another player who I think maybe this is a bit of a theme here, guy who likes to hit. And again, that little bit seems like, yeah, if you're playing defense and football, you should like to hit, but like really likes to hit. Like there's kind of another level there. And it seems like that's something that I found commonality between some of these guys. Next one is Garrett Martin, the defensive end. And Martin is actually KU's number five commit in the class on 24-7 sports.

Starting point is 00:13:26 He, from the film I watched, I mean, at 245 pounds, I was honestly really impressed with how well he got off the line of scrimmage given the weight at 245. I thought he had a really good first step for that. Now, the film that I was watching was from 2022. I guess he's had some injury stuff. So is he the same level of explosive athlete?'ll be kind of the question here and can he stay healthy but I think the potential is really there I mean again yeah you're getting a guy that comes

Starting point is 00:13:52 in at I mean the 245 before your senior year of high school who knows what he's going to be after senior year if you can play that strong side defensive end spot where at KU it seems like guys are between 255 260 265 somewhere5, somewhere in that range, maybe add 10, 15 pounds to him. And he can be somebody who I think could end up being, I mean, a lot of it's going to depend on the health and how you can overcome some of the injuries, I guess he's had to deal with and how's that can affect everything. But I mean, that 2022 season, he had 66 tackles, 13 for loss, three and a half sacks, four quarterback hits, and a forced fumble. And I think that he could end up being someone who ends up really underrated if he can stay healthy,

Starting point is 00:14:31 because I really like the mix of that first step with that size. Okay, Schmelzle, the local kid from Axtell. Apparently, he's somebody who his family had a lot of K-State love and everything like that. And for KU to land him, I mean, that obviously speaks very highly of, His family had a lot of K-State love and everything like that. And for KU to land him, I mean, that obviously speaks very highly of – we hear it all the time about the respect that Lance Leipold and his coaching staff kind of gets for how they go through this process. So he played eight-man football, and he was, I guess, a quarterback and a safety. Obviously, you're playing both ends on a smaller team like that.

Starting point is 00:15:06 Maybe the idea is for him to be a safety. Maybe it's for him to be linebacker. Maybe it is that Hawk Cinco role for KU. But this is a really good athlete. So according to Kevin Flaherty, he ran a 10.9 second 100-meter dash as a high school sophomore. That's really good. And then nearly hit a 23-foot long jump in the spring.

Starting point is 00:15:30 So, I mean, very good athlete overall. Plays football on both sides of the ball. I mean, sky's kind of the limit on what this could turn into. Maybe it's more of a developmental guy. Maybe it's somebody who comes in right away and surprises you you and ends up hitting the field in in year two or something after taking a red shirt i i don't know it's it's hard to say because the the level of football that you're playing against you don't know how you're going to make that jump but the athleticism kind of tells you that he should be able to make that jump so i think that's going to be really exciting

Starting point is 00:15:58 for ku and it never hurts to bring in local kids uh that's for sure and then hammond on the defensive line i thought he had really good speed and athleticism for what I would imagine a KU is going to be a defensive tackle now the question at 250 what happens if you gain 30 pounds what happens if you gain 40 pounds are you still going to have that level of quickness speed and athleticism if that happens but I'll say this because of the speed and athleticism and he finished his junior year, 44 tackles, nine TFLs, two sacks. If he can maintain that level of athleticism as he adds more weight, assuming KU does move him to defensive tackle when he gets into college, I think this is the type of kid that could turn into like a all big 12 level player.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I think he has that level athleticism. If he can keep that level of speed and quickness with what the kind of weight demands. But I mean, the list of teams that were interested in him and offering, it was pretty incredible for KU. All right, let's finish up what this means for the class of 2025 and each position of the future on this episode of LOJ. First, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Summertime means baseball, the NBA Finals, and more. And you can bet it all on FanDuel. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That is $200 you can use to bet on everything from the Finals MVP

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Starting point is 00:17:39 and official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. Finishing things up on this episode of the show, and thank you to the everydayers out there. Thank you for tuning in to the show, and plenty more to come at you throughout the weeks and week here with Locked On Jayhawks. So this is now 11 commits for KU, which is crazy. They got half their commits in one weekend.

Starting point is 00:18:03 I would imagine probably because KU is losing a lot of seniors. I mean, I don't know how many of them they're going to plan on replenishing with the transfer portal versus high school. I don't know how much it's dependent on do you target a certain amount of kids, and it's dependent on all the ones you like, how many say no. If you have a bunch that end up saying yes, do you take a high school class of 22 kids? If not, do you take a class of 15 kids?

Starting point is 00:18:25 I don't know. Let's just say it's between 15 to 20. I feel like that's probably a good estimate of what you can expect for the high school class here. Right now it is top 45 nationally. It's tough to read into that with incomplete classes, I should say. Like KU is going to add more people. Teams from all over the country are going to add more people.

Starting point is 00:18:43 So tough to read into that. But as I was talking about earlier, that 86 grade or higher on 24-7 sports, it's just kind of a random cutoff that I'm giving here, but I do think it's interesting. Ten of Kansas' commits are graded an 86 or higher on 24-7 sports right now, 10 of the 11. And the only one that's not is a kid who's unrated who will get a grade at some point, and who knows what that's going to be. Last year's class for KU was stellar, obviously.

Starting point is 00:19:09 And that one had, I think, more star talent at the top with guys like Deshaun Warner, Dak Brinkley than currently this one has. But in terms of depth as well, that one had 14 players who were graded an 86 or higher. So you're approaching to where you were with that one. That's pretty incredible that now between the class of 2024 and 2025, that's 24 players with an 86 grade or higher. I mentioned, go back to 2021, which was a good class. Devin Neal and company and a bunch of players who are either starters or contributors on this team that had six players among 86 or higher with 21

Starting point is 00:19:40 commits. You have now quadrupled that over the last two classes. The infusion of talent that Lance Leipold is bringing in is just incredible now as far as what it means at each position I think you look at the defensive end spot with uh Hawley and Martin I think probably different defensive ends like Hawley maybe profiles to be more of the weak side defensive end whereas Martin more of the strong side defensive end after this season Jeremy, Jeremy Robinson, Dylan Woodkey, for Ron McGee, I don't know if he's going to be playing

Starting point is 00:20:07 D-tackle or defensive end, but all those guys end up graduating from the strong side. And then at the weak side, you probably are going to have a lot of guys back. So maybe that works out to your benefit because Holly maybe is a bit more of a raw player. You can redshirt him. Whereas Martin being more close to college ready weight,

Starting point is 00:20:24 maybe it is okay if he ends up being the third string on a team or something like that, that he can rotate in in year one, at least a little bit. I don't know. But then you start looking ahead and that's a good opportunity for Hawley to learn from guys at that point who could be really talented in by job, Dak Brinkley, Deshaunun Warner who will be in year two or year three or something like that probably an easier path to playing time though early on for Martin but seems like that strong defensive end spot would probably make sense if that was one that KU hit hard in the transfer portal as far as linebacker Kenyon Rivera again becomes a little bit difficult because it's like okay are you going to play middle linebacker you're going to play

Starting point is 00:21:03 outside linebacker are you going to play more of that linebacker safety role that we saw Craig Young? Are you going to play more of a Hawk role or Cinco role or whatever? So it kind of depends where he's going to be playing. But with the linebackers like Taiwan, Barry Hill's a senior. Cornell Wheeler's a senior right now. Then you have Alex Reich is a senior. Then you're looking at coming into his his freshman year let's say he red shirts his freshman year by the time he'd be a red shirt freshman come 2026 on top of the guys i just mentioned you're also losing jason gilliam you're losing jb brown tristan fletcher right there's a lot of loss there and ku has some good linebackers i think awaiting in the wings right now which are

Starting point is 00:21:40 cory stewart logan brantley john john kamara that are going to turn into this, but he just joins that competition to be like, okay, can you find at least a couple starters out of this group of players? With Schmelzle, we know KU is looking good at the safety spot, but yeah, OJ Burrows, Marvin Grant are going to graduate. And then following 2025, Devin Dye, Jalen Dye, they're going to graduate. So if you can have a good first impression come 2025 when maybe you're redshirting, maybe you do get on the field as soon as 2026. And then the last one here with Hammond, if you're playing defensive tackle, well, Withers and Dunn and Caleb Taylor and Keenan Caldwell, those are all redshirt juniors, meaning they'll play this year in 2024

Starting point is 00:22:21 and then they'd have 2025. So by the time 2026, when you're a second-year player, redshirt freshman, maybe you can crack into the two deep, right? Like that'll be a position where KU's continuing to develop guys, Blake Harreld and Marks Calvin, Tony Terry, Graydon Grimes, whoever they add in the transfer portal and stuff like that. But the opening is there for the future at some of these positions. That's for sure.

Starting point is 00:22:43 To hit the field maybe as soon as 2026 for some of these guys. But at the very least, you know, most of recruiting is about the future. So I guess come 2027, 2028. But KU added a lot of talent over this past weekend and have so far in the class of 2025. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page.

Starting point is 00:23:04 See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Adds Five Commits for 2025: Martin, Holley, Rivera, Hammond & Schmelzle

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