Football Recruiting Spotlight: 3-Star ATH Marquis Smith

The Kansas Jayhawks picked up a solid (verbal) commitment a week ago in the form of the do-it-all athlete Marquis Smith. A three star recruit (via rivals.com) from Ypsilanti, Michigan (Ypsilanti High School), he currently weighs in at 170 lbs and measures in at 6'0''. Marquis is the 27th-ranked prospect in the state of Michigan and was highly recruited as a cornerback, but his athleticism and size makes him a very "shifty" player in the open field on offense.

Marquis is a fast athlete posting a 4.62 forty-yard dash and a 4.46 shuttle to go along with his 27 inch vertical. Smith turned heads at the Rivals Combine Series: Detroit, running an electronically timed 4.60 forty yard-dash which was slightly faster than his official time posted on Rivals.com. Marquis is getting a lot of attention recently from Big Ten schools, mainly Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa. However, the biggest threats to Kansas landing the three-star playmaker were Ball State, Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan who Smith committed to back in February of this year but shortly after decided to open his recruitment back up.

Reggie Mitchell, running backs coach and Recruiting Coordinator, was Marquis' recruiter and did a good job of getting his fellow Michigan native of committing. Though we do not know at what position Marquis will see the most action, running back could be a possibility but corner is more likely.  Receiver and quarterback remain possibilities as well.

According to Maxpreps.com, Marquis is quite the "stat sheet stuffer" for his Ypsilanti Grizzlies. His stats from junior year are posted below.

PASSING:

RUSHING:

Receiving:

Defensive:

This pickup helps the Jayhawks within the current conference recruiting rankings for 2016, bumping them above the Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones. Ranking 8th in the conference isn't all that bad seeing how the 2016 recruiting class still hasn't hit full stride for most of the Big 12 teams. If Kansas is in the thick of things when recruits really start to pour in, the Jayhawks could be looking at a top 5 or 6 class ranking in the conference which, let's face it, is a big improvement in recent years.