Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Lands Another Class of 2024 Top-500 Ranked CB in Jalen Todd

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

The Kansas Jayhawks Football program added yet another class of 2024 commit with recruit Jalen Todd, a nationally ranked top 500 cornerback from the Michigan area. Lance Leipold, Chris Simpson, Jordan Peterson continue to clean up in recruiting recently with their 5th commit since Sunday. What the addition means for the CB room in 2023 and beyond, and why it might be the most loaded moving forward of any KU position room. Plus, overall thoughts on the well-built class of 2024 and how it compares to the past 15 years of Kansas classes coming to Lawrence.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedoncollege and they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every 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 did it again. They got another top-tier recruit, top 500 kid in cornerback, Jalen Todd. We'll discuss what it means for the future of the cornerback room, his addition, what he's bringing to the table, and more on the amazing class of 20 Kansas is putting together. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Johnson, you can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 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. You can also find us, like and subscribe to the show on YouTube. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be talking Jalen Todd, KU's newest commit. They had yet another one this week.

I think it gives them five, giving them a handful. Brings them up to ten for the class 2024. We will break down now where things are at in the class 2024. And also we're going to talk the future of the cornerback room because it looks really good for now and moving ahead. First though, this episode of Locked

On Jayhawk brought to you by BirdDogs. Go to BirdDogs.com slash LockedOnCollege. And when you enter promo code LockedOnCollege, they'll throw in a free custom BirdDogs Yeti style tumbler with every order. Go to birddogs.com slash locked on college. And when you enter promo code locked on college, they'll throw in a free custom bird dogs, Yeti style Tumblr with every order. Okay. So Kansas is officially addicted to getting football commits for the class of

2024, five of them over the past week since that mega visit over the weekend. We've talked plenty about it on the past couple episodes and now some updated numbers and who the latest kid is here with Jalen Todd this is believed to be one of the biggest commits in the class of 2024 for KU he is a six foot 165 pound although some sites have him at six foot one 170 pounds as a cornerback I believe he also sometimes plays safety and wide receiver at the high school level I think the college projection is for him to play corner obviously he becomes the third corner Um, I believe he also sometimes plays safety and wide receiver at the high school level. I think the college projection is for him to play corner.

Obviously he becomes the third corner in KU's class of 2024. So I guess long-term, if you have enough corner competition, like could somebody move to safety out of that group? I guess I wouldn't rule it out, but you can never have enough corners. And Todd is one of your more talented guys coming in. So you're going to expect him to play the position that he was recruited for. He's from Southfield, Michigan, where he goes to Southfield high school and Michigan is becoming arguably KU's biggest pipeline. That is a very good pipeline to have. There are a lot of good players in the Michigan area that have made up good teams at Michigan, at Michigan state and other teams in the big 10. You look to Iowa and

other schools that have recruited there. Obviously, you want to consistently have a big presence in your home state in Kansas, and I think Kansas is continually trying to do that, whether it's from bringing on kids via scholarship or bolstering your walk-on program in state. Those are things that are very important, and Kansas is trying to and is putting an emphasis on that. You see them last year bring on jayden ham and calvin clements they just made an offer to like a 2025 or 2026 whatever it'd be kid offensive tackle from in-state like uh they're making efforts in that regard but you still have to have pipelines in other areas too and having one in michigan which you've developed with chris simpson what he's

doing is of vital importance and now you have some really good players that are coming in from the area. Todd is a three-star on 24-7 sports grades. He's also a three-star on the 24-7 composite, but he has got to be darn close to being a four-star. He ranks as the 43rd overall cornerback on the 24-7 composite and the number 451st recruit overall. So repeating my spiel about top 1,000 recruits are a big deal for Kansas. Top 500 recruits are an even bigger deal for Kansas.

This is a huge get for KU. He becomes their second best recruit by recruiting ranking on the composite on 24-7 sports to join the team. It is him and Alexander, both corners coming into the program right now that are number one and number two. I mean, as far as the offer sheet, it is a who's who. You pretty much have all these Big Ten schools, some SEC schools, Iowa, West Virginia, Auburn, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Louisville,

Michigan State, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Purdue, Pittsburgh. I could go on and on and on with all the offers this kid had. You get the point. Power five heavy, really good school heavy. This is a very big get, as you'd imagine, with the top 500 recruit for Kansas. He's a good athlete. He runs track in high school, ran an 11-5-8-100, competed on the team's 4x1, 4x2, and 4x4 in track. Obviously had good football tape, good football numbers, good football athleticism. Did all that stuff as a junior in high school. He'll be a senior in high school

this upcoming year. Very high potential for what you're bringing in. And it's funny, you look at the corner, the body types, I guess, of players that KU brings in. We talked about this with Alexander. The case for Todd also, you know, only 165, only 170 pounds, but that's not necessarily going to preclude you from getting on the field. It would, the weight thing, if you're on the offensive or defensive line, or maybe if you're a linebacker, a tight end, you gotta take time to add the weight. We saw Kobe Bryant, we saw Mello Dotson play last year at lower weights. We saw Kobe Bryant get in very early as a freshman coming in at a lower weight of 160 to 170 pounds. So even despite that, like this is not a kid, even though they're going to try to add weight to him,

that it's going to preclude him from playing because at that position, it does allow you to get on the field a little bit sooner, even if that is the case. But it might be hard to get on the field right away because KU does have a lot of good corners currently in tow. And this is one of their position groups that might be the best, both in terms of this year upcoming, it's one of their best. It might be the best on the defensive side of the ball, and it now might be the best in terms of long-term and what they're set up to have moving forward, which is really, really exciting. Let's get into that position group now with how loaded it is for now and beyond and also the overall thoughts on the class of 2024.

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That's birddogs.com slash locked on college for a free Yeti style Tumblr. You don't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you that. All right, move what this means what this means for KU. I think if you're looking at position groups for this year's team on KU, like obviously just having Jalen Daniels makes the quarterback position arguably number one, and then you add to it, you do have Jason Bean. Even though you don't feel like you have maybe a ton of as much depth

if you would have had Ethan Vasco, you could argue the quarterback position is number one for KU. You could argue receivers up there. Tight ends really good. Offensive line is good and deep. Running backs really good this year. Cornerback, like those would be your top position groups for this year. But what about for this year and beyond?

If you're just talking about the foreseeable future of a position group for the current and the future, cornerback might be number one. Honestly, running back would be up there too. We talked a little bit about Harry Stewart coming into the program and how right now running back, you have Devin Neal, you have Daniel Hyshaw, two proven guys as your one-two. Savion Morrison, a former four-star guy

who we saw flashes have a couple runs that he ripped off that were 20, 30-yard runs this past season. You had Dylan McDuffie, a transfer who had really good production at Buffalo, then kind of played sparingly at Georgia Tech, right? You have good guys at the running back position, Johnny Thompson coming in, and now you have the future with Harry Stewart, Red Martel coming along, where the running back position is looking really good for the now and the future. Whereas maybe some of these other positions, it's like, well, quarterback looks really good now.

You have Isaiah Marshall coming in the future. That would certainly be up there, but you never know how quarterbacks are going to come in for. And what about the future depth behind that? Because Jason Bean could be gone after, or will be gone after this year. Jalen Daniels could be gone after this year, right? There may be some more questions there at the, you know, offensive line, like what's going to happen when Novitski and Poonie

and some of these guys graduate, right? To where I think you could argue your cornerback is your best position for this and the future. Right now, KU has a really good roster. And I think when you look at what they'd be adding in the class of 2024, I don't think they'll be looking to add any more corners. You have three in tow now. Again, do all three end up playing corners?

Does anybody move to safety? Does that change things up? But with Gibson, with Alexander, with Todd all aboard, I think you're set at corner for what you're bringing in. So I'm not expecting them to bring anybody else in, but that's going to be more than enough. This year, you have Kobe Bryant, who was an all-Big 12 first-team performer. He's back as a junior now on your two-deep.

Mello Dotson was a full-time starter for you last year as a sophomore. He's back as a junior. Kalen Girvin, former transfer from Michigan State, he was kind of your nickelback and would fill in if guys got hurt. He's back for his final year, redshirt senior this year. So your three starters are already back this year. You already feel good about that position. It's your best position on the defensive side of the ball.

You also added Demarius McGee, who was a transfer from LSU, former top 150 recruit. He's a redshirt sophomore. Brian Dilworth, who was one of your top high school commits in the class of um 2022 redshirted last year he'll be i'd imagine on the too deep this year quentin lassiter the younger brother of kwame lassiter uh he's a senior and i've heard good things about what he did during spring ball so that's probably your too deep you feel very good about those six guys being kind of in that group and in that core for you and then you look at 2024 now at that point so you feel good about this year what about for next year

well Kalen Girvin Quentin Lassiter would both both be gone for for Girvin he for sure would would exhaust his eligibility Lassiter might be able to have another year I don't know possibly with you know COVID year and stuff like that but let's say both of them are gone you still have possibly Kobe Bryant back as a senior now maybebe has a good enough year first team all big 12 last year where he improves on that this year does the same thing and then he goes off to the nfl and you know ends up being a draft pick um so he would be kind of a maybe but then you have mellow dotson back for senior year demarius mcgee as a redshirt junior who you expect him to continue to trend same with brian dillworth at that point would be a redshirt sophomore. So you're either going to have Bryant, Dotson, McGee, and Dilworth as four

corners you feel really good about with the talent level, in addition to the three corners that you're bringing on in the class of 2024. You feel like the talent group would be there. And even if Kobe is gone, yes, that would be a big hit for next year's team. But you'd still have Dotson, McGee, Dilworth as returning guys those three guys you're bringing in this year and again because that is a position like I feel like corner is one of the positions where you can get on the field a little bit earlier corner running back there are certain positions where that becomes a little bit easier there that you feel good about where you're going to be at that position group next year and then come 2025 and beyond okay come

2025 Colby Bryant's gone Mello Dodson's gone Kalen Gervin's gone Quentin Lassiter's gone but you still have possibly a redshirt senior Demarius McGee in 2025 you still have a redshirt junior Brian Dilworth you still have at that point what would be year two for Austin Alexander year two for Jalen Todd year two for Andre Gibson whether any of those guys are red shirt freshmen or true sophomores that you have three top 1,000 quarterback recruits coming in as year two that you feel pretty good about 2026 or 2025 and then 2026 you go another year possibly redshirt senior Brian Dilworth third year players in all those three quarters you feel like you have

real good coverage no pun intended there at the corner position in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. And that's what the addition of three dudes at this position is going to give you in addition to what you already have in the program, to where you give a bunch of credit here to Jordan Peterson, what he's been able to do in Arizona, what he's been able to do with DBs. You give credit to Chris Simpson for what he's been able to do in Arizona, what he's been able to do with DBs. You give credit to Chris Simpson for what he's been able to do in the Detroit pipeline area. You give credit to all the staff because everybody really does have a piece in it, whether it's evaluating, whether it's helping out with recruiting visits like Brian Borland's

obviously still involved as a defense coordinator. Lance Leipold is the head coach. This is a staff wide thing for what they've been able to do, but really give a lot of credit to Chris Simpson and Jordan Peterson for really being able to establish some of these guys. And that was the case with Jalen Todd. In the case of Jalen Todd, Chris Simpson and Jordan Peterson were the top two, the primary recruiters for KU, and they continue to kind of clean up in this offseason

in what has been a really impressive June so far for KU. And you had that mega visit last week. You're seeing a handful of these guys commit to the program. Who knows if there's even more that are going to end up committing or that have KU as their favorite right now, or that, you know, now we're warranting a second look at what their thoughts of Lawrence and KU and everything were that that visit ended up being what, you know, we, we might look back in three, four years from now and look back at this specific, that last weekend's visit as being one of the

more monumental weekend visits, um, that, that we've had in quite some time here at a KU and pretty impressive stuff with the coaching staff is doing to clean it up. All right. I want to finish up another look at what this means for the overall class of 2024. Cause it is a pretty impressive and I've got some numbers that, uh, I want to share as far as that goes first though. look at what this means for the overall class of 2024 because it is pretty impressive. I've got some numbers that I want to share as far as that goes. First, though, this episode of the show is brought to you by Bird Dogs. All right, this is Locked on Jayhawks, and we are back for another look at what this means for the class of 2024. So I have a interesting little statistic page here.

If you're listening, I'll go through these numbers for you. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm posting up this little, I guess, graphic, I guess you could say, poorly done graphic at that. Just kind of going over some of the numbers here for what this class of 2024. By the way, Jonathan Kamara, your linebacker, got his grade. He's just outside the top 1,000 for what it's worth. But KU now has 10 commits with the latest addition Jalen Todd Utley just dropped out of the top 1000 with some of the new players hopping over

him so he would have accounted for this now he's no longer there you're still waiting on Jacory Stewart's grade which if you only go off his 24-7 sports grade as they await other sites he would be either in or right around the top 1000 mark but from what we know of the 10 commits right now for ku that means they have seven top 1000 recruits i have uh kind of already gone over in some of the past episodes this meaning the significance of that but here gives you the visual look which again i will talk about for you if you're just listening on the audio side right now ku has the 34th ranked class in the class of 2024. Will that hold? How many of these kids will stay committed?

How important is having a good season to keep those kids committed and keep your momentum going forward? We will see. But if it ended today, this would be KU's best recruiting rank of a class since the 24-7 sports launch, which was 2010, to give you an idea of the composite. So that gives us about 15 different classes to look into here. 34th would be the best. And I maintain that the difference between like the 50th and the 80th or whatever best class is really not that much. It's very close together in where a lot of those kids end up being ranked. And sometimes it's more about volume. Sometimes it's just about, you know, a few spots here or there that really,

if you're in those class ranks, it's all about development. Development is still key, regardless whether you're the number two class, number 20 class, number 50. That's right. But at the end of the day, the 50 through 80, I never really cared about the rankings in that regard. But if you start inching close to the top 25, you're in the top 40. That's when it starts to matter in a positive light.

If you start inching closer to being, you know, in the top 40. That's when it starts to matter in a positive light. If you start inching closer to being, you know, in the 100 range or the 90 range, that's when it might start mattering in a negative light. And they are doing things that are in a positive light here recruiting. When you add on to what they should be as a staff developing, and we have seen already with a lot of different players, it's very impressive. But I think the most impressive number among looking of what they've done is the just quality of player. So there's a chance that they don't get, you know, the most 500 top 500 or top 1000 commits they've ever had. They had 13 top 1000 commits in 2011.

But part of that could just be number wise. This this staff is only going to take 12 to 16 or so high school commits in a given year, and they're going to fill out the rest of their class with the transfer portal. So they're not going to have the same numbers as 2011 when you brought in 32 commits or 2013 when you brought in 37 commits. You're not going to be able to match the pure volume possibly. Like 2011, you brought in 32. 13 of them were top 1,000, which that's the most you've had. Right now you have seven. It's going to be tough to catch that. But when you look at it as a percentage, when you look at it as the number of players you are bringing in how quality the number of players are bringing in it does not match what they have done this year if you're watching on our youtube feed um if it's highlighted blue that means the most if it's highlighted red that means second most if it's highlighted yellow that means third most

and so what this class has done of their commits right now are top 1000 commits the second best number is in the 40s and coincidentally enough that was actually the 2023 class so now you continue to stack even if it's only 24 commits between last year and this year so far the number of really good players that are part of those are very exceedingly high. And then you're balancing out with the transfer portal. Whereas you go back to 2011, that was the third best. And you had about a little over 40% of your commits were top 1000. Right now you're pacing at 70%. You look at the top 800 commits, four of them. That's 40%. So basically this class right now for KU has about the same percentage of top 800 commits as the 2011 class had top 1000 commits, which had 13 of them in

tow. You have two top 500 commits, which is already tied for the third most you've ever brought into a class since that 24, seven sports launch in 2010. You have three top 600 commits. Again, that is a third of the most you've ever been able to bring in since that era of recruiting and everything. This is going to pay big dividends, man, down the road. And it is just absolutely, utterly impressive of what Lance Leipold and his staff have been able to do. And again, they're probably not going to match some of these other things.

They're only going to bring on a couple more high school commits right but the pure quality of the player they're bringing in when you continue to mash those classes together as they did with last year and then you add to it all the transfers that they brought in that have been key contributors from your Craig Young's to your Lonnie Phelps to your Rich Miller's to you know upcoming guys you're looking to have a big impact like your JBb browns um your dylan mcduffies your jason beans i guess technically like when you're supplanting those two things together and bringing them in at this high of a level you're going to have a lot of success especially when you're a staff that does as much development and has as much consistency

in the coaching staffs and it does as well as they do with game management and all that sort of stuff that the kansas staff is having, that this is a really impressive time and a really exciting time. I think to be a KU football fan, that's going to do it for this episode of the show. We'll be back at you next week to maybe break down some basketball stuff. Again, if the football,

I said to open up the show, KU football is addicted to getting commits for the class of 2024. If that continues to roll in, then we'll continue to bring you shows about that. Otherwise we'll transition to some other stuff about that. Otherwise, we'll transition to some other stuff. But this has been Locked on Jayhawks. You can find us anywhere you get your podcasts. You can subscribe

to us, like us, and watch us on our YouTube show as well. That'll do it, and we'll see you next time with Locked on Jayhawks. Later.