Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - TWO MORE Kansas Football Commits: LB Josh Galbreath & OL Malachi Mills Pick the Jayhawks

Starting point is 00:00:00 When it's Leipold and KU football strike again in the class of 2026, Josh Galbraith and Malachi Mills commit to KU football. 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 LockedOn Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching all of our shows wherever you get them, whether it's on our YouTube page or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:00:35 And on today's edition of LockedOn Jayhawks, we're going to be breaking down KU football's two newest commits, Josh Galbraith, a local kid, linebacker, three-star, and Malachi Mills, a non-local kid, three-star offensive lineman. What is interesting about their games, what it means for the overall class, as well as what is the future of each of those positions with both linebacker and offensive line for KU. We'll discuss those on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. First, we're brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. It is Super Bowl 59 time, and there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5, and if you win, you'll score $200 in bonus bets. Download the app or head to FanDuel.com to get started today.

Starting point is 00:01:20 So we're going to get into both players here with Galbraith and Mills. We'll get into what it means in the class of 2026. Then we'll get into a little bit about each of their games. And then we'll finish up with what it means at each specific position. basketball against Houston there was at least one you know a nice little positive that came out of Saturday night and that was that Josh Galbraith decided to commit to the University of Kansas he is a class of 2026 defensive player I say defensive player because I think one side has him listed as athlete probably going to be a linebacker but does have some safety play at the high school level nearby Lawrence High School right School, right? So this is another, you know, it's not just local kid. I use that term if it's an in-state kid, which is the case for like Hunter Higgins and Jalen Mason and J.J. Dunnigan, right? But very local, right?

Starting point is 00:02:15 When you're talking about Lawrence High and obviously Devin Neal just graduated being a Lawrence High kid. I think Cole Mondy still on the roster as a walk-on. So anyway, he is a three-star recruit from Lawrence High and committed to KU football and Lance Leipold. And a really good list of offers for Josh Galbraith. He had offers from Michigan, which like that was obviously the big one. Sharone Moore, who's the head coach at Michigan, has some Kansas ties. And so I think he's from Kansas originally. So that was big to pick down.

Starting point is 00:02:41 I mean, obviously Michigan powerhouse, Nebraska, Ole Miss. You're getting an SEC ball here. Kansas State, Illinois, among other schools like the offer list. Very, very good here for Josh Galbraith. And then the other recruit that you bring on, Malachi Mills, offensive lineman, also in the class of 2026. He is from Westfield, Indiana. So, you know, in the Midwest, near the area, but not quite local kid. And his offer list isn't as extensive as Josh Galbraith, but you're looking at a lot of Mac schools for him. He had Akron, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Toledo, some other Mac schools on there. He did have Colorado State as well, Florida Atlantic. And so you end up with two commits over the weekend out of this. I think they just had like a big junior day that they were hosting with Lance Eipold and you come away with it. And so Galbraith, when he committed on Saturday night, he became the sixth commit in the class

Starting point is 00:03:34 of 2026 for KU. Um, and then obviously when Mills ended up committing, he became the seventh commit for KU football in the class of 2026. So you're already rolling with seven commits. And I mentioned this on their last episode we talked about where they had another commit. Usually they get a good amount of work done ahead in the recruiting class during the spring, during the summer, a little bit right now to where a lot of times KU football is getting a majority, if not all, of their high school commits for that given class before the season even starts. And I think that is both intentional from a standpoint of, you know, you want to have all your time focused on the game plan that week, right? And so every hour you have to spend,

Starting point is 00:04:23 you know, scouting a different high school player or something that takes away possibly from time you could be game planning for that week. Beyond that, it is easier to have to be like, all right, if you have all your commits in tow for the class, it's easier to talk to 15, 20 kids. And because you still have to keep recruiting the players you already have committed, right? There are other schools that could come in and post them away. It's much easier to keep recruiting the 15 to 20 kids that you already have committed in theory than it is to, you know, say, hey, you only have five commits. You need to add 15 more, which means realistically you're looking at a player base of a hundred kids or whatever it ends up being. I don't know what the number would be, right? It makes it a little bit easier so um i i think that um it's very smart for ku to do that

Starting point is 00:05:08 and they've done it well in the landslide pool they were but it feels like they are even ahead of the schedule in this go-around for ku was seven already uh and we're not even to the the turn of the calendar to february so far then you look at the recruits you bring in here. So you look at Mills, he becomes the first offensive lineman in the class. Offensive line is a position where you want to recruit each and every recruiting class. You want to probably bring in multiple offensive linemen each and every class, right? You start five, you have a two deep with 10 players. There's a lot of guys you need to bring in. I mean, realistically, maybe you're bringing in three or four every year on the offensive line in the high school class. So this is a good start to get your first offensive

Starting point is 00:05:47 lineman there and a guy in Mills who I think could play multiple positions for you. Then you look at Galbraith. He becomes one of four defensive commits that you have among the seven. And he also becomes the tied second highest recruit in the class of 2026 for KU. So Hunter Higgins, who was your defensive end commit from the Wichita area, he is your highest-rated recruit on 24-7 sports. Your second-highest-rated recruit is a tie between J.J. Dunnigan, the defensive back from the Manhattan area, and Josh Galbraith, the linebacker-slash-safety from Lawrence High.

Starting point is 00:06:19 So you're also getting a very high-level recruit in Galbraith, who is a heck of an athlete and figures to add even more to this defense. But let's get more into the games of what Galbraith, what Mills are bringing to the table for KU, as well as what they bring to each of their specific position rooms down the future, what that could look like for both players when they could get on the field, all that on this episode upcoming of Locked on Jayhawks. And today's episode of the show is brought to you by TurboTax.

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Starting point is 00:07:47 and I did mention on the postgame, which check that out if you missed it already, with the KU-Houston game, that we'd be doing a lineup projection stuff for the next season, 2025-26. I decided with KU football getting two commits, we'd bump that show, do that maybe in a week or so. Also, I didn't want it to come across as like oh well they lost the houston game and now the season's over because i don't think it is um from the basketball standpoint it was just i had already scheduled to do that show today but instead we're

Starting point is 00:08:16 doing this ku football one we will have more ku basketball content tomorrow's show we'll be previewing the ku ucf game and then we will have a KU UCF recap after the game okay so KU lands two commits Josh Galbraith and Malachi Mills let's start with the uh game on Josh Galbraith so Galbraith depending where you look like 195 to 205 pounds six foot three six foot four somewhere in that range so I mean very good frame obviously the weight would be more indicative of like safety at the collegiate level the uh height can work with either one but maybe more so a linebacker but you know ku is going to be looking to add poundage to him um so you know you get them up to to 220 225 something like that to

Starting point is 00:08:57 play linebacker but um he plays linebacker safety and some receiver at lawrence high school and i was fortunate enough to broadcast on the local radio some of Galbraith's games when he was a sophomore. So this past year was his junior season. I didn't get to call any of his games that year. And obviously, this upcoming year in the fall of 2025 will be a senior year. But even as a sophomore, he was starting. And Clint Bowen, obviouslyen obviously former ku defensive coordinator was head coach at lawrence high he's since left for a job at oklahoma state but um they were playing a kind of hybrid defense where they really were using just two linebackers and five defensive

Starting point is 00:09:36 backs it's kind of that four to five right and so you kind of have that that safety slash linebacker hybrid role and that is what Galbraith was playing where he could move back and be a third safety on the back end and he could come up and be a linebacker or he could be a safety and come up and hit you and um I was really impressed with him and that was his just the sophomore where it's like I I mean there were some good players on on that team but like I kind of even in watching it when he was a sophomore, you kind of thought, oh, this kid might already be the best player on the team. And he's a sophomore right now, right? And so you have growth as a junior and everything. And from watching some of the highlights and stuff

Starting point is 00:10:13 of his junior season, really impressed. I think the best way that I could describe his game is he's just kind of a big time playmaker who always seems to be around the ball right whether it was when he was in as a safety like he'd always find his nose around the ball on a running play or a passing play or whatever he'd come up with a big interception when the team needed him to i remember there was one play where he had this like kickoff return uh that was like it was i think a squib kick or something it was kind of a drop kickoff return and he had to pick it up and just go and it was like a tie game i think that won them the game or i think it tied the game and sent it over time then they won the game something like that um just a big time playmaker and when you're talking about somebody who is six three six four around 200 pounds who i think on his huddle huddle page it lists him as having a four

Starting point is 00:10:58 four four e which you know again i don't know how verified that is but even if it's close to being verified if it is verified like that's incredible speed to have for that type of size and i know that the name that people want to throw out there all the time with guys like this is craig young and i think you see that in a lot of ways um so he's an 86.7 graded three star at on three he's a 5.7 graded three star at rivals and then he's an 88 graded threestar at 24-7 sports and rivals lists him as the number five player in the state of kansas and then 24-7 sports lists him as the number six player in the state of kansas so pretty much no matter what you look at a top 10 recruit top six recruit in the state and it's because of that ability to have that big frame have really

Starting point is 00:11:44 good athleticism and play a modern style of football. You know, maybe if you went back like 20 years, he'd be a tweener. He'd be like, do we play him a linebacker? Do we play him at safety? And nowadays in today's football, it's like you want guys like this is the premium. You're like, I want guys who are tweeners. You know what I mean? It's like with basketball, too.

Starting point is 00:12:01 You see that all the time. It's like guys who, well, he's a tweener. I don't know if he's a four or five. I don't know if he's a three or four. Nowadays in basketball, it's like, no, you see that all the time it's like guys who uh well he's a tweener i don't know if he's a four or five i don't know if he's a three or four nowadays in basketball it's like no we want those guys right you want that versatility and i think that is such a plus for him and then you look at what this means for for the in-state guys for ku ku now has five of the top 11 commits in the state of kansas on 24-7 sports and they're still on the hot on the tail on a few more. So this is developing quickly into being the best in-state recruiting class

Starting point is 00:12:30 that KU football maybe has ever gotten in the 24-7 sports area, which goes back to 2010. They haven't always won the in-state recruiting over Kansas State and even having schools like Nebraska and some other schools that have been able to come in and pick off those players. So really impressive stuff, and I really like Josh Galbraith's game and uh I'll be excited to see how KU uses him when he arrives in Lawrence and when you look at Mills game he is a six foot six 270 pound offensive lineman from Westfield High School

Starting point is 00:12:59 in Indiana he's an 86 graded three star at 24- sports. He is currently unrated when you're looking at mills on rivals and on three. So kind of awaiting what those end up being for him. But, you know, he has a couple of highlight videos out there. One is as a sophomore season when he was mostly playing left guard. It appears this season he was playing left tackle as a junior in the 2024 season. I thought he showed good growth from his second year to his third year. I thought the first year of highlights I watched as a sophomore, they were good. But I thought he looked even a lot better as a junior.

Starting point is 00:13:35 And it seemed like he had very heavy hands. It seemed like he didn't always have a ton of momentum necessarily going into a guy where you were expecting him to just road grade him because he had all the momentum of the world and he was just going to like spear him down um and yet he would just shove guys over like seemed like he was very strong had heavy hands in that ways i really liked on some of the highlights when he was pulling or when he was moved to kind of block someone in space um that he performed those i thought very well and i thought he really showed like a good tenacity to to keep blocking guys there's a lot of highlights where he keeps blocking his guy make sure until he gets fully into the dirt and kept blocking to the whistle like in a clean way um he would finish

Starting point is 00:14:15 the play and that's what you want to see you want to see that mentality i think from offensive linemen and then you like the fact that yeah he has played left guard he has played left tackle like ku loves to cross train guys. KU loves guys that can play multiple positions because it just makes building your offensive line so much easier. If you have to get into a situation where you're only recruiting players who can play one position on the offensive line, it makes it so much more pivotal that you have to hit on those players.

Starting point is 00:14:41 Because what happens if you're like, okay, we recruited this guy to play left tackle, that guy to play left guard that guy to play center and then one of them just you know doesn't live up to the hype or ends up getting injured or something like that and then you're kind of in a difficult situation whereas if you have guys who can play multiple positions then you get to a point where it's like well you know like you look at this year's team for ku like okay you have kobe b back, but who's going to be the other starting guard for KU? And it becomes a lot easier that you have guys, for instance, like Nolan Gortyka, who can play guard or tackle so that you can say, hey, we can fill that position in a couple different ways. Like we can go a couple different ways, whatever ends up being

Starting point is 00:15:19 the best player for that position. So I think that's certainly something that KU likes and is a plus in his commit. So seven commits overall for for the class 2026 and obviously you know this ranking is going to be built on the fact that ku does have a lot of commits in tow right now a lot of the schools just don't have you know many or any at this point in time but it is cool to look up there and look at 24-7 sports and see that Kansas is a top 20 recruiting class nationally right now, which, again, will that last? Probably not. But it is cool to look at. It is cool for the graphics and the screenshots and to keep that recruiting momentum kind of moving forward right now if you're KU. All right, let's get into what the future of each of those positions,

Starting point is 00:15:57 linebacker safety, offensive line, hawk roll, all those things look like for KU. This is Locked on Jayhawks. And our episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Super Bowl 59 is here. One game, two teams, endless possibilities. And there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. Whether it's predicting the first touchdown,

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Starting point is 00:16:46 you win, you'll score $200 in bonus bets. That's Fanduel.com. Bet with Fanduel, official partner of Super Bowl 59 and partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. Alright, continuing on here with Locked On Jayhawks with the two more commits

Starting point is 00:17:02 for KU, Josh Galbraith and Malachi Mills. And let's talk about that linebacker room for KU coming when he joins the team in 2026. So you look at it right now, Bengali Kamara, Joseph Sipp, Jason Gilliam, and Tristan Fletcher are all seniors on the roster for KU. Now there's a chance that Fletcher could get another year with this whole Juco thing, so we'll see what ends up happening there. But that would probably mean four of your top six linebackers are gone. So is there a chance that Galbraith could get on the field as soon as a true freshman

Starting point is 00:17:33 season? I mean, it's not impossible. I would think Kansas is going to hit the transfer portal for some more talent next year. The linebacker spot, you bring in Trey Lathan from West Virginia. He'll be a senior come 2026 um you would also have some young guys that would you know you would hope be more ready to hit the field and get on the field like logan brantley come 2026 would be a redshirt junior uh jacory stewart and john john kamara come 2026 would be redshirt sophomores malachi curvey would be a second year player whether that's a redshirt freshman or or a true sophomore um and ideally

Starting point is 00:18:05 you know with gall breath you're you're able to to play the slow game there that you can get him up to 220 225 work on the body and then maybe he's on the field by by the time he's in his uh second year third year but you really look at it and this is the way i view it so you have all these these seniors for for ku at the linebacking room in 2025 2026 you'll have a senior trey latham and then i think it'll be probably a mix of maybe a transfer and young talent starting to hit the field. Then when you look at 2027, I think that's when I really look at it and say, okay, which of these young linebackers, Curvey, I guess Brantley at that point, Stewart, Kamara, and then Galbraith is going to profile

Starting point is 00:18:41 the best, which are going to win the competitions the best to get on the field at that point in time. Who are the best? You're getting out there. So that could be as soon as year two for Josh Galbraith. But I think one thing that really helps Galbraith is that he can play any of those linebacker positions in theory. Like there's certain guys that you don't want playing the Hawk role if you're KU, right? That you would just say, we'll just play it another safety.

Starting point is 00:19:02 We'll just play another defensive back because they're not going to be good enough in coverage. They're not going to be good enough in space. But with Galbraith, he doesn't have that worry. So if you end up using him as a mic, you end up using him as a will, or you end up using him as a hawk, I think he can play any of those positions. And if you do get to a point where you end up playing with Josh Galbraith as the mic or the will, now you basically have,

Starting point is 00:19:23 it's almost like a 4-1 one six on the defensive end for KU, where you have basically one run stuffing linebacker. And then you, you might be able to have a linebacker and Josh Galbraith who can stop the run and stop the pass. And you have another safety on there. Like, like that would be the dream.

Starting point is 00:19:38 I think in having versatile defenders and what you could do on the defensive end of the ball, they looked at the offensive line and with Malachi Mills joining joining the program so um i do think with a six foot six frame like that typically is something to look at and go okay you probably are going to profile long term to being more of a tackle but you know sometimes you do see like i mean bryce foster who's your center is like six foot five so you know it doesn't always work that way um but you look come 2026 when mills will arrive gorchika baines foster um uh dk stearns those guys would all be gone for ku at that point in time i think it'd be tough to hit on the field in year one and obviously that's not the goal for

Starting point is 00:20:19 offensive lineman i think the goal for k with offensive lineman is red shirt him in year one and then maybe you get on the two deep you know if you're a situation like calvin clements by the end of year one or by the start of year two something like that but maybe even more ideally you're getting on the two deep by year three and if that's what you're talking about okay come 2027 you would have senior years tavaki tuiko lavatu and uh calvin clements you would have senior years for deandre harper unless he took a red shirt by then jack tanner kind of same thing there um that i think this is a move when you look at offensive line it's a little tougher to say okay i see him hitting the field this early on because it's probably going to be something more where it's like okay red shirts year one year two now he's back up year three maybe he's on the two

Starting point is 00:21:04 deep maybe by year four he's a starter and Year three, maybe he's on the two deep. Maybe by year four, he's a starter. And if you're ahead of schedule there, if you're in offense alignment, great. And that's even better, right? But I don't think that's a position you want to rush. 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 be back tomorrow for a preview of Kansas hosting UCF. We'll see you then on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - TWO MORE Kansas Football Commits: LB Josh Galbreath & OL Malachi Mills Pick the Jayhawks

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