Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Robert Reddick & Na’Kwane Carter COMMIT, Landen Anderson DECOMMITS | Jayhawks Football at 18 Commits

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Kansas Jayhawks football recruiting hits new heights with game-changing commits. Is this the dawn of a new era for KU on the gridiron with now 18 commits.Host Derek Johnson breaks down the Jayhawks' impressive 2026 recruiting class, featuring standout defensive tackle Na'kwane Carter and versatile defensive back Robert Reddick. The analysis covers KU's recruiting strategy under Lance Leipold, scouting reports on the new commits, and their potential impact on the team's future. Key topics include Carter's explosive first step, Reddick's positional flexibility, and how these additions could reshape Kansas' defensive schemes in the coming years.Tune in for an in-depth look at how these recruits could transform the Jayhawks' fortunes on the field. Will KU's bold recruiting moves pay off in the Big 12?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGEfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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)

Even more commits, no, not for KU basketball, KU football, McQuaign Carter, as well as Robert Redick add to the class of 2026 for KU, which is up to 18 commits now. And it is the best you could argue since at least 2010. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here.

This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get podcasts podcast including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of the show, we're talking a little KU football who's now up to 18 commits. And I'm going to tell you why you can make the argument this is the best class the KU football has ever had since they've been tracking that sort of thing. Nick Quade and Carter and Robert Reddick are the two commits we're gonna break down their games as well

into their scouting reports in the future position rooms for both of them on the defensive side of the football for KU. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money take control of your finances with Monarch Money use code locked on college at MonarchMoney.com for half off 50% off your first year with Monarch Money. All right, we're gonna start right here

where we have the breaking news, KU's two newest commits. They also lost the commit, but the class still overall looking very good for KU. Now, the first commit that happened that we touched on a little bit yesterday, breaking down more today, this was on June 15th, Nick Wayne Carter, who posted on social media saying a thousand percent committed.

I want to say I'm so blessed. And I want to give a huge shout out to everyone who has stuck with me through everything. I'm proud to say I'm a Jayhawk. Isaiah 43, 19 rock chalk with a fancy schmancy graphic on his social media page about committing to KU. The other one, Robert Reddick, he just commits today this afternoon. graphic on his social media page about committing to KU. The other one, Robert Reddick, he just commits today,

this afternoon, so that one fresh hot off the presses to give KU their second commit in just a few day span. Another commit they lost was Landon Anderson, who was a 6'3", 275 pound defensive lineman, and that is a big loss for KU. So specifically with Carter Carter is a six foot one 270 pound defensive tackle

He picked Kansas from Moore, Oklahoma Southmore High School three-star recruit over Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, North Texas and More he joins the class on the 24-7 composite as a top 700 recruit overall. And the only recruits rated ahead of him in the 24-7 sports composite in this class for KU are Hunter Higgins, Kaden Snyder, Cory Amokhry, and JJ Dunnigan. So he becomes the fifth highest rated player

by the 24-7 composite in the class for KU. Pretty impressive stuff for what he is bringing to the table. The next commit that you got today was again, Robert Reddick. And Reddick is a six foot to 170 pound safety from Indianapolis, Indiana. Went to Benday or I guess goes to he sells another high school, Ben Davis High School. He's three stars. Well, his offer list more would indicate the kids thinks they found a diamond in the rough. I went to Benday or I guess goes to he sells another high school, Ben Davis High School. He's three stars. Well, his offer list more would indicate the kids thinks they

found a diamond in the rough here. His offers are Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio. So some of the better Mac schools and then Illinois. There is one there from the power five level three star recruit and he joins the class as the lowest ranked player in the class. But again, Kansas, if they feel like they found a diamond in the rough and they feel like somebody that they can develop

and fits an archetype, then I think you just kind of trust Lance Leipold and the staff to do just that. Now, the bad news again is that Landon Anderson has gone from the class and he's probably the best player among the three here. You know, sometimes there's only so much you can control. Anderson, six foot three, so much you can control Anderson. 6 foot 3, 275 pound defensive lineman.

He was an 88 rated three star by 24 seven. He was a point 8828 on the 24 seven sports composite which put him in the same. He put him at the time 5th for the KU class, which is where Carter is now, but he was rated higher than Carter. So the distance was a little bit more there and he was rated 532 on the composite.

Carter, for instance, is just inside the top 700. But Anderson is also one of those guys who was like, when you watch him and you see the kind of freaky athleticism he had for the size, you could have seen him jumping a lot higher in recruiting rankings at some point in time. So it is unfortunate you lose him. But it is nice that you have quarter to come in and kind of

backfill that spot that you lost. And it just seemed like in the case of Anderson, he was interested in taking visits to other schools. And that's something that, you know, with Lance Lightpole, they're like, hey, listen, you don't have to commit. But if you do commit, like mean it, like commit to our school commit to our program. And so with Anderson, the fact that, okay, he committed, and then maybe you're visiting other schools,

like that's gonna kind of be a no-no. I appreciate like Lance Lightpole having, you know, set boundaries for that sort of thing, and to where, you know, if you're laying in Anderson, maybe you wanna kind of shop yourself around. Well, if that was always going to be the case, then would Anderson have come into KU, read Jertedier and then be like, I'm gone.

I'm going to go to the highest bidder. I don't know. So it probably works out long-term for both parties. In the end, like maybe he can find the better suiting party at that point for Kansas. Again, they found a very suitable replacement in the class. I don't know. Maybe they would have taken Carter and Anderson,

but at the very least it was nice that you do end up with Carter in the class, as well as kind of a defensive tackle. Whereas reddit is more of a cornerback safety DB type of hybrid that I guess you would mention there. But now overall, you look at the class of 2026 for KU and it is rocking for Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks here in Lawrence because, as I mentioned, at least since they've been tracking this stuff, you could make the argument this is the best class that Kansas football has ever had. Now you got to finish it out, you got to keep it together, you got to hope that you know certain guys maintain their recruiting ranking, meaning they have

good senior years of high school, that you know other players actually get better and rise in their their rankings, and obviously there are still players that KU is still trying to vie for their services and trying to get more commits in the class, right? So it's just based on right now, it doesn't guarantee it's going to finish this way. But you go back and take a look at the 24-7 sports recruiting era, which goes back to 2010. This class right now is 18 commits, which would be the most signees of any high school class of the lands like hold era. But as of right now in the 24 seven sports composite, Kansas has four commits who are ranked in the top 500

of the 24 seven sports composite. The most ever that Kansas has had in the class before this year was when they got four in 2010 with Turner Gill, and that was when they brought in 24 commits. So you're bringing in four of 18. That's even was when they brought in 24 commits. So you're bringing in four of 18. That's even tougher to do than four of 24. The most they've previously done

in the Lance Leipold era is three. That was in the class of 2024. They did zero in 22, zero in 23, one in 25. So they've done four in the previous, whatever four classes combined. Four right now in this class. That is how good of a class this is right now for Lance Leipold and company if we stretch it a little further and we say top 800 in the 24-7

sports composite they have nine commits right now in the top 800 so basically half their commits are top 800 on the 24-7 sports composite the most the Kansas ever had in the top 800 in class, previously, right now would be the nine, was eight, also in 2010 with Turner-Gill. Again, that's eight of 24. This year they have even more with six less commits in total. Second most was seven, 2011 with Turner-Gill,

tied by the class of 2024 with Lance Lightbulb when they got seven. That's another cool thing though about this. It's not just that how good this class is, it's that you're compounding, you're stacking classes, right? So if you combine the nine they have committed this year with the five top 800 commits from 2025, again, according to the 24 seven composite

and the seven they had in 2024. And again, some of these guys end up transferring away like a DJ Warner, but that gives you 21 players who were top 800 over these last three cycles for KU in the 24 seven composite era. Like if I just take a random three year stretch, let's look at a random, I don't know, Charlie Weiss to David Baby 2014 to 2016. So one year of Weiss and two years of David Baby. That's eight total players in that situation. So like you can see the talent pool going

up in an immense way, in a severe way. And again, if we expand it out, top 1000 commits, 12 of the 18 commits are top 1000 in the 24 seven sports composite. The most they've ever gotten was 13, 2011 with Turner-Gill. That had 32 commits. So if you're looking at it as a percentage of how many of your commits, not just the quantity,

you're looking at the quality of commits, the percentage of commits the KU has right now in the class of 2026 that are top 1000 commits, it's two in every three, it's 67%. The previous high for a class by KU before Lance Lightpole took over, you have to go back to the Turner Guild days when they brought in 40% of the class

were top 1000 commits in 2011. Prior to that, it would have been the 33% of Turner Guild in 2010. If you're looking at non Turner Guild numbers, it would be Charlie Weiss in 2014 when they brought in 27%. In the length light bulb there, 2020 class of 2023, 43% of their commits were top 1,000. 2024, 52.9% were top 1,000. 2025, 53.3% were top 1,000. And right now this year, 67%. This is an unbelievable job by Lance Lightpool and staff to recruit in what they are building here in Lawrence. And they still have room and more area

that they could probably add some other big time commits to make this class even better, which would be pretty cool. But they're in a pretty good spot right now as long as they can keep this retained and move forward into the fall and keep everybody happy. All right, let's get to the scouting reports of the specific players that they brought in with Carter and Rettick in the future looks at the position groups for both those players.

This is locked on J-Hawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where'd all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in. Your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app.

It's a complete financial command center. You track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. You stop just managing your money and you start building wealth. They've easy collaboration to managing money with your partner, right? That can sometimes be cause a conflict in a marriage. Well, this is smoother than ever. You can track shared and personal accounts, set goals and say on the same page without the stress. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money Use code LOCKEDONCOLLege at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's MonarchMoney.com code LOCKEDONCOLLege for half off your first year with Monarch Money. Thanks again for joining us on this episode of

Locked on J-Hawks and making the show your first listen every day. Don't forget you check out Locked on College Football or Locked on College Basketball for your first listen every day. Don't forget you check out Locked On College Football or Locked On College Basketball for your second listen every day. All right, let's get into the scouting reports. Nick Quain Carter and Robert Reddick. Let's start with Carter. So 24-7 Sports lists him at 6'1", 270 pounds. Rivals has him at 6'3", 260.

That seems like a big difference. Not as much in the weight, but certainly in the height, right? Like being a 6'1 defensive lineman versus six three, that's a very different like, I don't know, outcome for where you should be rated, which is funny because you would think, okay, if rivals thinks he's six three and 24 seven thinks he's six

one, you would think rivals, he would be rated super high and maybe higher. He's a 5.73 star rivals. So it's like kind of a middle tier three star, which is the same for on three, but 24 seven likes him even more. 87 graded three star over at 24 seven. So overall the composite point eight seven five nine mentioned. He is the number five player now in the class of commits for KU. He's a top 15 player in Oklahoma. He's top 80 defensive lineman in the country and top 700 overall in the composite for the class of 2026.

He also wrestles in high school, which is not the BLN doll and everything, but I always like guys who are like almost like cross trained in different sports. I think you can learn a lot from playing other sports and it keeps you from burning out and maybe overdoing something in specific sport. But also there, yeah, those skills you can learn. I love it when you see linemen or like linebackers who were wrestlers in high school. And I think that teaches you just a lot of different ways of maybe maneuvering out of blocks or getting into favorable or getting out of unfavorable situations and positions.

So I kind of just like to see that. I don't know. But when watching the highlights on quarter, really quick jump off the line of scrimmage. That's what immediately stood out to me, like really good at just shooting straight into gaps, especially in the running game, shed blocks really quickly, just looked like he was a menace in the backfield in terms of, you know, stopping the run, getting tackles for loss. Really good at kind of like, I don't know, side swiping off the blocker, like whatever

you would call that. I don't know if it was like a swim move or if it't know side swiping off the blocker like whatever you know call that I don't know if it was like a swim move or if it's just side swiping off or just jumping the The gap like that quick that you're kind of just getting in there and then scraping to where the running back is Just seemed to be overall like a really good run defender And and he's not you know, he is a defense line He's not as fast as a safety or a linebacker but he certainly like pursues like a linebacker when he's going for that running back.

Like he has a really good, I don't know. I don't know if it's like the angles that he takes or just the want to, the pursuant that he has is really good. Seemed to have a good motor, seemed to hustle to the ball. I will say you didn't really see any pass rush stuff on the highlights, which maybe it's in there and more of a game setting. But, you know, typically, if you're having a

good pass rush, that's going to be on your highlights. So maybe he's more of a run defender than a pass rusher, but that can be okay. If you're defensive tackle, we know, you know, your bigger impact is going to be on the run, whereas your edge rushers are going to be more of the rusher. And I also find it interesting because of the fact that, again, six, one or six, three, whatever, 260 270, I think he profiles to be more of the rusher. And I also find it interesting because of the fact that again, 6-1 or 6-3, whatever, 2-60, 2-70. I think he profiles to be in a D-tackle in a 4-3 scheme,

but let's say Kansas did want to play a 3-down lineman scheme in the future, which is something Iowa State sometimes plays where, you know, they've gone, which I bring it up because DK McDonald obviously was previously at Iowa State where at times Iowa State might play a 3-3-5 or a 3-2-6, right? And if you do end up eventually down the road, like this year you don't want to because of the current personnel, but if you're recruiting for the future to eventually move to a three down linemen situation,

you could use him as a defensive end and a three man front. So you kind of have versatility with how you want to use him. As far as Robert Reddick goes, versatility could be the name of the game here too, because on three and rivals actually lists him as a corner, while 24 seven sports lists him as a safety. And he's listed at six foot two on all three main sites, which is good size for a DB between 165 to 170 pounds, which KU has obviously, you know, breaded their butter with like corners who were a little more undersized weight

wise with like Kobe Bryant and Melo Dotson and they've been very, very productive good players for KU. So maybe you just view him in the position group of defensive back. If we're just, you know, being less specific, I tend to when I see a guy six to like I usually lean toward the side that he's going to be a safety but you know maybe you give him a try at both and just see whatever works out for you in one way or another. He is a 5.5 rated three star rivals

84 rated three star 24 seven. So again, this is somebody who are based on the offers and the ratings. This is somebody more that makes me think KU either really like the archetype and or think he's a diamond in the rough, which I'm not betting against this staff if that's kind of what they're thinking on someone. And so you're kind of taking a chance in that way, especially when you know you already have, you know, 17, 18 commits. Maybe you can take a bigger swing on a player that you think is underrated, right? Like maybe this is KU playing their flag saying, no, those recruiting sides are wrong. We think he's way better than that.

And again, I would trust, you know, how the staff has done with developing players and finding diamonds in the rough for that specific thing. What I find is, again, going back to D.K. McDonald, his roots with Iowa State and some of the stuff they've done. You look at a lot of the Iowa State DBs, they're taller players, right? Like they're lengthy players. And that comes in either way. Like they've had that at the corner position, but they've really had that at the safety position, especially when they're playing three safeties, right? And so if you're playing that third safety, it really behooves you if that, I mean, you think about Reddick being possibly like that third safety who's got a six foot two frame where he doesn't mind to come up and hit ya,

but he can also play a little bit like a corner in coverage. That could be the idea of what they're going for that they're saying, yeah, this guy would be a perfect scheme fit. I think in watching the tape, sometimes gets a little handsy as a corner, maybe a little inconsistent at times at the line of scrimmage. But like he shows really good closing skills, which is an excellent skill for a corner to have. And

I would almost view that I'm sure Kansas use it this way. Like if you do think, okay, maybe he's a little handsy here, like, I don't know, Kobe and Melo at times were a little handsy. And it's almost just like, you know, you're gonna be like, okay, maybe they'll call one pass interference against me in a game. But like for the most part, like I'm going to win. Like we saw the Jerry Snead be awesome with the Chiefs. And like he was one of the leaders in the NFL and pass interferences.

But it was like they're not going to call like five of them on him a game. Like it's actually OK strategy. And I'm sure Kansas use it as like, like I said, they can teach up the line of scrimmage stuff. You can't teach the good closing skills. You can't teach the good ball skills. You can't teach the good ball skills. He also plays receiver. You can't teach the six foot tooth frame.

And again, like I said, like he seemed to be a willing tackler, seemed to be a solid tackler. That I think you're gonna have versatile options of what you can do with him. So I do see the vision here for Lance Light Holden Company of why they brought on Robert Reddick and what he could potentially be

down the road for KU. So let's talk about those positions. Corner safety defensive line where they could possibly fit in down the road. This is locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the show. Again, don't forget, you can make a lock on college football, locked on college basketball, your second listen every day. Let's start with the defensive line, looking at the future

position rooms for both these players. Obviously, you have all the commits that are coming in in the class of 20 and 26 for KU that are joining them. If we just stick with the idea that KU would be playing a four-man front moving forward as far as Carter goes, then you're looking at him, yeah, being a defensive tackle at that point in time. And so in 2025, I really like this defensive tackle group

for KU, but there's a lot of players that are gonna be graduating. DJ Withers, Tommy Dunn, Gage Keys, Keenan Caldwell, they're all seniors. Now I do think there's a possibility Keys could get another year. I thought I saw that somewhere. Maybe that ends up happening.

But you know, let's say it doesn't. You're talking about losing three or four players. Let's just say four from the defensive line. I like what Blake Harrold brings to the table. He'd be a redshirt junior. I mean, I think he'll be good this year as a redshirt sophomore. He was good last year as a redshirt freshman. So you go into 2026 and you say, okay, Harrold, incumbent starter.

And then at that point, it's like, okay, did Marcus Calvin make enough steps forward this year as a redshirt junior that you could pencil him in? What about Josiah Hammond? Is he gonna redshirt this year? Where would he fit in? Do you add any transfers into the program? But I think you look at the ideal path of what I think Kansas wants to do

is redshirt an incoming lineman, just in general, offensive or defensive, because you wanna add weight. You wanna get the right weight. You wanna get them muscular. Well, you wanna get them ready for big 12 football. And that's what we saw with Lake Harold, where it was like he redshirted his first year. And Harold wasn't the highest rated recruit

in the world either. You know, redshirted him his first year and he was ready to go last year as a retro freshman. And again, like there were certain games where he was KU's best defensive tackle. So if you're looking at it from that perspective, you could say the sky's the limit for a good defensive tackle.

You come in, you redshirt your first year, you could be playing, especially knowing that KU and Jim Panagos, they will rotate. If they have seven good ones, they'll play seven. If they have five good ones, they'll play five. To where Carter has the opportunity, you probably redshirt in year one, and then you could get on the field

as soon as redshirt freshman or redshirt sophomore year. Like you could get on the field that early if you are Carter, even at a position where sometimes it does take some time around the country. So that's got to be encouraging for a young player to kind of look up to. And then as far as when you're looking at Redick, I mean, the corner room has a lot of young players right now for KU, but by the time he arrives on campus, a lot of those young players will be in their third or fourth year at KU. And so that next kind of wave of players right now, Austin Alexander, Andre Gibson, both registered freshmen at KU, further down the depth chart, but trying to make their way

up this year. Chris McCorkle is an incoming true freshman. I do think though he's going to profile more to being a safety. And you look at the safety position and Devon Dye and Jalen Dye, both guys that could graduate at the end of this year. And then you would have like Lyric Rawls, Laquan Robinson are both would be seniors in 2026. I think they're juniors this year.

Taylor Davis is a sophomore this upcoming season. You'd have Damani Maxson, Darian Jones, Brandon Schmelzli as like freshmen. There's a lot of competition in that safety room. But going to the idea of you could be moving forward playing three safety lineups, you're going to need to add more bodies, more depth, more players into that specific position, which I think,

you know, Reddit gives you the opportunity to, because that's just going to be another spot on the too deep right if you're starting three safeties that means you have two extra safeties on the two deep as opposed to the two you were at so now all the sudden depth gets tested a little bit more and you know from that standpoint we've seen KU play defensive backs when they're young right I mean if you want to just go back to last year, like Jalen Todd was getting in there at the end of the season, right? When he was a true freshman, Taylor Davis was playing a lot last year as a red shirt freshman.

You go back to like Kobe Bryant was playing a lot in his second year, Kance Melodatsson was playing a lot in the early part of his career at Kansas. So if you're good enough, you'll get on the field early as a defensive back because yeah, you still want to add the weight and you still want to add the muscle. Those things are still important. But if you can cover, if you have good closing speed, if you're causing problems for the opposing quarterback, like, you know, it's maybe more physical the position at safety than it is corner, but like you can get on the field in a real way early on as well. Now I would expect with Rettick knowing all of those young safeties and safety competition you have, maybe that's one that takes a little bit longer.

With Carter, maybe you can hit the field early. Again, if you have that Blake Herald type, I guess, rise early on in your career, but you never know how players are gonna come into college, how they're gonna adjust, how they're gonna adjust to being away from home, how they're gonna take the coaching, or is everything gonna click right away,

or is it gonna take three, four years? Everybody's different, everybody's running their own race. But I think they got two good additions here in Carter and Reddick. And as we talked about earlier, hell of a class right now for Lance Light Holding Company. All right, 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. We'll see you next time for Locked on Jayhawks.