Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Adds to Strong Class of 2024 with Hybrid Linebacker Commit Jonathan Kamara

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

The Kansas Jayhawks football program landed a commitment over the weekend from class of 2024 linebacker/Hawk/safety hybrid Jonathan Kamara from Arizona. What to know about Kamara, his future fit and position at linebacker or the Hawk position with versatility and how he adds to an already very strong class of 2024 for Lance Leipold and KU.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas football has a new commit for the class of 2024, Jonathan Kamara. Let's talk about him. Let's talk about his future fit with the team and what it means overall for the class of 2024. Now for the Jayhawks on today's edition of LOJ. 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 hear me as well, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk.

Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be talking about KU football's newest commit in Jonathan Kamara for the class of 2024. We'll be going maybe a little bit more deep into that class of 2024 as well. Starting things off here with what KU is getting with Kamara. So the surface level info here, he is a six foot four, 210 pound linebacker from Desert

Edge, California in Goodyear, Arizona. He lived in Orlando, Florida last year where he went to high school, moving out here to Desert Edge edge which i believe is a very good uh football school at the high school level and um you're not going to find a ton of like scouting reports or anything digging around online on him uh kind of a a somebody who was a bit of a late bloomer and you know there's still certain sites that have to put up his rating now that he committed to ku um so you're not going to find a ton of info in terms of where this kid, at least right now, that stuff is going to come. And it's interesting because no matter where you look, you were going to get different stuff.

What is his position? Now, you noticed I said linebacker, but in 24-7 sports, he was previously listed as being a cornerback. He's listed as a safety with on three and espn he could even fill an edge role hypothetically if you were to add more weight like that would not be crazy if uh what if you were to do the kyron johnson thing like go from linebacker to edge eventually at ku i don't know he could play linebacker like mike or will if you add a little bit more weight to him maybe not as much as the defensive line he's listed as an outside linebacker on rivals.

So there's another site that has something different. Or he could fit into the Hawk role that we've seen, like Craig Young, Occupy, Jason Gilliam is your backup there, where it's a kind of linebacker safety hybrid role. So basically, I just view it as this. This is basically when you recruit a player who's listed as athlete. It's just like this is a defensive athlete. I think he even plays some receiver at his high school level, I guess, but I don't think obviously that's the plan. So basically this is, yeah, it's a guy that you view as, well,

I mean, it would be the idea where he plays, but realistically, would it shock you if he had a position change at some point in college? Like, no, that wouldn't either, but a very versatile kid. He's a long, lengthy prospect. As I mentioned, 6'4", looking to add weight to his body, just 210 pounds. That's something that I would imagine he can add a little bit of this offseason, headed into his senior year of high school. Maybe he can get up to 215, maybe he can get up to 220,

and then you bring him into your first year at KU, and whether he's a redshirt candidate or somebody who is looking to work into the mix that first year in school, you try to use that first year to add even more to him, get another 10, 15 pounds on him, maybe get him up to 225, 200 pounds, and that would be, I think, ideal for you with what you want to do. But also that weight adding depends what position you want him to play. Do you want him as a micro wheel linebacker?

Do you want him as a defensive lineman? Do you want him as a safety? Do you want him as a hawk position, right? That's going to kind of depend whether you want him in that 220, 230, whatever it is type of range that he's going to be at. He's got good burst, not someone who's like a freak athlete, but, you know, solid enough athlete. And versatility is kind of the

key word that he gives you the ability to play these different positions you bring him in and you just feel like well we'll find a home for him eventually ideally maybe we do want him to come in for that hawk position but we feel like he can impact different positions worst case scenario and has a lot of different things he can do well it's on us to hone those skills and figure out what he's going to do best and now for Kansas you're kind of developing this pipeline in Arizona and kind of in in Goodyear High School a little bit too and kind of the west coast in general like we've seen Kansas bring in uh some players from the west coast in California or Arizona here where they've been able to establish really good connections.

And I think it's Jordan Peterson who's been handling this kind of area. I could be wrong with that. I do believe Peterson had a big hand in them bringing on Andre Gibson, who is a three star corner in the class of 2024. Gibson also goes to Goody arizona or desert edge high school in uh arizona and um he's someone who i guess is now a teammate of kamara so now you're gonna have a couple high school teammates coming in um and there's also another desert edge player who is, I guess, KU finalists. If you continue to develop this kind of pipeline, three-star edge Deshaun Warner, he's choosing between Kansas, Oregon state, Texas, and Washington.

And so if you land this kid too, now you've been talking about three kids from the same school there in desert edge to really establish that pipeline in Arizonarizona where there are a lot of good high school prospects and this was something that that warner said to on three back on may 20th i feel like i've built a great relationship with coach uh taiwo onatolu and coach peterson obviously jordan peterson there my friend is committed there and they do a really good job at developing people at my position. So you continue this kind of seemingly pipeline that you're trying to establish there. You're in Gibson. Now you land Kamara. You add more pillars and pieces to that defense, which is constantly looking to add more. And you're trying to find that identity and shape it into being a solid enough defense under Brian Borland. Those are still steps they're trying to

take, right? The offense has been kind of ahead of where the defense is trying to get to at this point in time for KU. So you continue to add talented guys to that defensive side of things. And maybe you can get another one with Deshaun Warner as you continue to build momentum in that Arizona area and specifically just at that one school, which is a good school. Obviously, like I said, Arizona tends to be a good spot that a lot of good players come out of over the course of the collegiate ranks. We're going to get on to where exactly Kamara fits in to the future roster at specific positions. Then we'll finish up with an overarching look at the class of 2024 now for KU with another commitment in tow. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Built Bar.

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where i think kyron johnson came in and he played some safety he played some linebacker he finished up as an edge could that eventually be what it ends up being for Kamara? I don't know. It might be. Who knows? But I think ideally what the staff wants him to come in is to be a linebacker. And I think specifically it's to play the Hawk position. If you're just talking about linebacker in general, I believe this is Rich Miller's last year.

So you can see spot opening up there. But if you're just talking about the Hawk role role it's craig young's last season too and ku next year when kamara could come on and be a true freshman could have taiwan barry hill jason gilliam who's more of that backup hawk right now jb brown cornell wheeler as kind of your your top linebackers in the rotation plus the hawk position assuming miller and young are gone at that point which again i believe that is the case i think young might be able to have another year if he wants but i think he told media uh earlier this summer that this would be his last year so you look at it and those could be your guys in addition to other players you have brought on

other depth players other players you might bring on like i wouldn't be surprised if KU isn't done bringing on linebackers. I could see them bringing on another linebacker here in the class of 2024. Think about it. If with Kamara, he is kind of a versatile piece that you could use different positions, or even if he's a Hawk player, you would still be looking to bring in somebody who's maybe more of a Mike or a Will. So it wouldn't shock me if they brought on a linebacker who's more of like your traditional linebacker.

Also keep in mind, though, you just on logan brantley in this past class for the class of 2023 and brantley is someone i think with a ton of potential he'll be a true freshman here this season which means by the time that kamara arrives he'll be a true sophomore but i think brantley more profiles into what they're looking at either the mic or the will position we've heard you know uh lance leipold talk about with Brantley that he is someone who he could see being a future captain I mean those are those are high words for a player coming in who hasn't played snap of football to talk about the leadership ability of a player like that so obviously they have very high hopes for Logan Brantley he was at a good school in the Colorado area and he needs to add a little bit

of weight to him, but he's someone with a very high potential that you come in. And I think ideally what you'd like to say is that, yeah, okay. You know, by the time we get to, I don't know, because I don't think the idea here, Kamara 210 pounds, even if he comes into KU and he gets to 15 to 20, is that he's going to be playing right away as a true freshman, right? This isn't a four or five star prospect.

A lot of times it's best for players to use that year of development, to getting another playbook, to working on their body, whatever things they need to add to get better. So realistically, maybe Kamara can be a rotation linebacker by the time he's a sophomore, which would put you in 2025. And then maybe you're talking about Logan Brantley as a junior at that point, being a starter. Maybe you're talking about Kamara being a rotational guy as a sophomore, being a backup or working into the two deep at that Hawk position.

Because I think next year you look at Jason Gilliam being the guy who would start if Craig Young departs. But then it maybe becomes a little bit more open moving forward from there. Do they move other guys from safety to that position? We don't totally know, but I think realistically what you're looking at here, the hope for Kamara, I think would be to, can you make a big impact by the time you're a junior in the program? And then you'd be looking at a linebacker core in 2026, where you would have a senior Logan Brantley, or who knows if they redshirted him this year, right, you could still get him in those four games and give him a redshirt, and maybe at that point you're looking at a redshirt junior Logan Brantley.

Maybe you're even looking at a redshirt sophomore with Jonathan Kamara in 2026, where that can kind of be your linebacking core of the future, even if Kamara is at that Hawk position. And as far as what KU is looking for at that Hawk position, there are a lot of similarities you can probably look for between what like Craig Young provides and Kamara. Now with Craig Young, he is this like freak athlete that it's hard to replicate that, but you're talking about like a six foot four lengthy linebacker with good speed, who is kind of a safety linebacker role. Even if Kamara is not as good of an athlete as Craig

Young, he provides a lot of those things that allow you to basically feel like you're in a base type of four three defense with the three true linebackers but also have that hybrid linebacker that makes you feel a bit like you are kind of in a nickel type of uh formation where you do kind of have a fifth db so it's like it's like you have kind a four, two and a half where you have like two and a half linebackers, or you have four and a half DBs out there. Right. And that's so important for what KU wants to be on the defensive end of the ball. Obviously we've seen the big 12 has not been as, I don't know, air ratey or as quarterback or wide open spread as it was maybe a decade ago, but it still does rely on a lot of that where you want to have that type of personnel that

can play both ways and i think that's what you're looking for and how he fits into the specific position and the specific roster moving forward but i think what's really interesting is that he he maybe becomes the first high school recruit with kamara to be recruited specifically into this position like obviously craig young was brought over and he was recruited in as a transfer though, to fit this specific position. Right. Or maybe that was just, Hey, Craig Young's a good player. Who's available. Let's bring him in. And then let's figure out what we're going to do with him with Jason

Gilliam. He came in, he was a safety and is like, okay, we think you can fit, you know, playing the Hawk position, being the backup right now to Craig Young and maybe being the future of that position. It seems like, and maybe somebody who's in the class of 2023 is going to come in and he'll eventually be, you know, into that Hawk role. Or maybe they did recruit somebody in the class of 2023 to be that type of guy. But it feels like to me, Kamara becomes at least, if not the first, one of the first first for ku to specifically be recruited into that to where ku is now able to where they're not just recruiting you know for diamonds in the rough or because we like this skill about you because we think you can turn into this player for us

but specifically recruiting to a scheme which can help you because it can help you narrow things down of like what exactly are you looking for or what is going to fit this scheme to best maximize this scheme we're running and i think that's kind of cool and interesting that you have a player that does seem to prototype into a hawk position which is it's not an overly unique like there are a lot of other schools that have their version of the hawking but not every school some teams run a 3-4 some teams run a 3-3-5 right it's kind of different depending what every school does and so now you're exactly what you want at that position which is the case here with jonathan kamara at least that's what i believe okay let's

finish things up here with the overall class of 2024 now where does it stand after the addition to kamara for next year's class of high school football recruits for ku that next with locked on jayhawks finishing things up with locked on jayhawks the overall class of 2024 for ku following the commitment of kamara so you're looking at uh five commits in tow for ku and um it's been a really successful class so far for the Jayhawks uh this becomes your first linebacker commit obviously like I said if you know the idea for Kamara is to play the Hawk position and you could be looking at losing you know Rich Miller and Craig Young this season pretty soon you're going to lose Taiwan Barry Hill JB Brown has this year and I believe just one more right like you want to continue to build

your depth you want to continue to build your future at the linebacker position that it would not surprise me or it would not be crazy if KU went out and got another linebacker in the class but maybe somebody who was more of the Mike or will type of linebacker, but he does become your first linebacker to this point of the five. He also becomes your second defender commit. The other defender commit Andre Gibson, who we mentioned will now be his high school teammate in Arizona. Um, but previously before they got the commitment here from Kamara, the four other commits for KU in the class of 2024 were all top 1000 commits. And, you know, it's, it's funny because, um, in basketball for KU, like if you get a kid, who's not a top 100 recruit, it's like, what's going on here, right? Like, do they see something?

Is he a diamond in the rough? Is he a late riser? Like, is he ever going to play here? And obviously we know there have been a lot of those success stories at KU. I don't mean to turn this into a basketball thing, but the difference with football, I mean, there's, you know, every team has 85 scholarship guys. There's so many more that impact, right? You have 22 starters on the field versus in basketball, you have five. So my thing has always been, if you're a top 1000 recruit,

that's a big deal to come to Kansas, right? As many of those you can get the better. And in the same way that probably for KU basketball, it's like, well, are they a top 50 recruit? Well, in football for KU, based on what crop of players they typically are going to be able to get, right? They're not going to compete with Alabama for the five-star recruits, right? Can you get top 1,000 guys? Can you get a handful of them per class? They already have four of them in the class of 2024. And who knows, maybe Kamara, because he is someone who did have kind of a

blowing, so to speak, like a late bloomer, KU was just his second power five offer but since then in the spring after ku offered him he got offers from like arizona state kansas state texas washington and others that this is a late bloomer who knows maybe he can even rise up the rankings if he has a great senior year and be another one of those top 1000 guys um but this is already the most top 1000 guys that ku would have in a class since the class of 2021. So you're talking about a three-year span from 2024 class to 2021. That 2021 class had four top 1,000 guys. You already have four of your five commits in tow.

And like I said, who knows what's going to happen with Kamara? And that 2021 class ended up being pretty solid for you. This isn't just the guys who were top 1000 recruits, but that class ended up featuring Devin Neal, OJ Burrows, DJ Withers, who could have breakout year this year, Jason Gilliam, Tommy Dunn, same thing with him and Withers, Tanaka Scott, and a few others looking to make their mark this year. That ended up being a really good class for you. Again, it's not just about the top 1000 guys, but the more top 1000 guys you have, it's going to kind of carry the weight up top and give you a better chance at some of those

turning out to be really good players like a devon neal right and then for what it's worth if ku can land another top 1000 recruit for the class of 2024 and then sign them all right that's part of this too uh how many top tier recruits have we seen commit to KU but not sign? Obviously, it does feel different in this era with Lance Leipold because there is more stability, and they just did have success with the bowl game and everything. But, right, what happens if KU comes out this year and you're 4-8 instead of making a bowl game and you felt like you took a step back?

Do any of these kids decommit? I don't know. Now, ideally, that doesn't happen, and you like to think that ku should have the player personnel and the coaching to you know be even better than they were last year and you'd hope that that shouldn't even be a problem but realistically if you do sign all those four guys and if you're able to add one more which again at this point in time i feel pretty good about it'd be the first time since 2020 they have 1,000 recruits on their roster. And that 2020 class, again, not all these guys were top 1,000 recruits,

but that ended up being a pretty special class for what KU is trying to do right now. Kobe Bryant, first team All-Big 12 last year. LJ Arnold had a heck of a season last year, I think could break out even more this year. Tywon Berryhill, starting linebacker for you. Karan Pronte, who had an unbelievable freshman season for you before transferring away. Mello Dotson, starting corner. Luke Grimm, really good receiver for you. Daniel Hyshaw, really good running back. Bryce Cabledew, starting tackle for you. And how about this guy, Jalen Daniels, 2020 class, ended up being pretty good for KU. So it's interesting because, especially with KU, some of those past

classes, they were taking on 20, 25 guys in a class. Now with the transfer portal and how Leipold and his staff are operating, they're only taking on 12, 15 guys in a high school class and using their other scholarships to bring in transfer portal players that can be ready-made and be your Craig Youngs of the world. And so you have less to work with, but they're getting more, you know, it's, it's less quantity, but it's more quality seemingly with the top 1000 recruits that they're getting. And that's amazing to me that you've already matched that with four already through five commits and a chance to get up to what that 2020 class was moving forward. And we'll see what Kamara comes in as. I don't think he'll be a top 1000 commit, but like I said, he's the type of player that has been rising in the spring. What if he has a breakout senior year and could crack into that top 1,000?

That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back tomorrow, switch back to some basketball. We're going to do a Grant Nelson deep dive. At least that's the plan. Obviously, breaking news and stuff that happens can change stuff up, but that is the plan for right now with Locked on Jayhay hawks you can find us anywhere you get any of your podcasts you can find us on youtube as well like and subscribe to the show we'll see you next time with loj