This past week, we have received a commitment from a cornerback from Dallas named Lubbock. All of those Texas connections and he goes to Kansas.
Lubbock was recruited by plenty of schools, big-time programs too. Tennessee, Okie State and Arkansas all had serious interest, and he still chose the Kansas Jayhawks. This is yet another symbol of the turning-of-the-corner of this football program. We are getting recruits over the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on a kid from Texas. He will most likely play safety at KU, a possible redshirt candidate to learn while Patrick Resby plays his senior season. Then, Lubbock becomes a possibility to replace him, providing depth if he loses.
But while depth is always important, especially in the secondary, a position that has haunted us in the recent past, there is much more to this signing. Lubbock Smith is a childhood friend of Cyrus Gray. If you don't know who Cyrus Gray is, here we go...
Cyrus Gray is the 5th rated running back in the Class of 2008. The entire freakin' class of 2008. On the Rivals page, instead of a commitment, it has a link to his 'list'. He has yet to decide where to go to college, instead having limited it to 7 real contenders. Here they are:
* California
* Florida
* Louisville
* Notre Dame
* Oklahoma State
* Texas A&M
* Kansas
How do we fit in with that club? In the past, we don't, especially with recruits. However, one 11-1 season and a trip to the Orange Bowl later, and here we sit. In a decent position to land one of the top available prospects in the entire Class of 2008.
Cyrus was at the Kansas-DePaul demolition a couple weeks ago, and virtue of personal accounts he seemed to have a good time. And now, we have what could quite possibly be the biggest recruiting chip of all. Never underestimate the power of going to school (and playing college football) with a childhood friend, and that could be just the thing to turn the tide in our favor.
In any case, just to be mentioned along the same lines as those other schools, traditional football powerhouses, is nice. Even if we don't land Cyrus Gray, we will start to be mentioned more and more with these kind of recruits, the big names everyone knows about.
I'll take the Lubbock Smith commit any day, but just the mere possibility of a Cyrus Gray signing is freaking me out right now...
ROCK CHALK!