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First thing is first we will take a look at the Linebackers. It is a slim list, but a list nonetheless and with less than two weeks left until National Signing Day it is vital that KU lands a few of these prospects.
INSIDE LINEBACKER:
- Claudio Martin, 2 Star ILB from Kansas City, Missouri lists Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri.
BEST PROSPECT:
Uhmm......well.... I guess ill have to go with Claudio Martin. No but really, a quick bio on the Kansas City prospect: Martin stands at 6'3'' and 245 lbs. None of these teams have offered Martin, including Kansas, but with his interest growing don't be surprised to see KU offer soon.
OUTSIDE LINEBACKER:
- Maciah Long, 3 Star OLB from Galena Park, Texas is committed to KANSAS
- Danzell Sims, 2 Star OLB from Dallas, Texas lists Baylor, Kansas, Missouri, SMU and Washington as his top five.
- Lee Johnson Jr., 2 Star OLB is a JUCO prospect and lists BYU, Central Arkansas, Hampton, and Kansas as his final four.
- Isaiah Bean, 2 Star OLB from Houston, Texas lists Fresno State, Kansas, Louisiana Lafayette, Tulsa and Iowa State as his final five.
- Dee Walker, 2 Star OLB from Moultrie, Georgia lists Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisville as his final five.
- Christopher Schilling, 2 Star OLB from Overland Park, Kansas lists Kansas, Kansas State and Stanford as his final three.
BEST PROSPECT:
Maciah Long gets the nod from me as the best prospect on this list. Ranked as the 36th best OLB and standing 6'2'' and 220 lbs, Long has the length and size to be a difficult defender to push around. It helps that he is already committed to Kansas with him being possibly the best prospect on KU's recruiting list (now that Amani Bledsoe has committed to OU). I know the Big 12 is an offense happy league, but Kansas is quietly putting together a pretty decent defensive class this year.
Last week I broke the news to many reader's that the Kansas Jayhawks were in last place in the conference as far as recruiting rankings are concerned. This news angered many fans not believing they were behind Iowa State and Kansas State. Well as of January 20, 2016 the Kansas Jayhawks are now in ninth place by leap frogging the Kansas State Wildcats, according to scout.com
| Rank | School | Commits | Conf | Points | Top 100 | 5* | 4* | 3* | Off | Def | SpT | HS | JC | Avg |
| 15 | Baylor | 20 | Big 12 | 2594 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 3.3 |
| 20 | TCU | 19 | Big 12 | 2298 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 5 | 3.37 |
| 22 | Texas Tech | 26 | Big 12 | 2216 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 2.88 |
| 29 | Texas | 14 | Big 12 | 1972 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 3.43 |
| 33 | Oklahoma | 15 | Big 12 | 1883 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 3.33 |
| 38 | West Virginia | 20 | Big 12 | 1703 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 3 |
| 47 | Oklahoma State | 18 | Big 12 | 1366 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 2.89 |
| 55 | Iowa State | 20 | Big 12 | 1150 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 2.65 |
| 76 | Kansas | 13 | Big 12 | 641 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 2.46 |
| 84 | Kansas State | 12 | Big 12 | 547 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 2.42 |
The main reason for the Kansas Jayhawks leap frogging K-State is due to the Texas Longhorns flipping a three star OL commit. Zack Shackelford, who was committed to Kansas State entering this past weekend, took an Official Visit to Texas and was convinced to join the Longhorns. And don't worry my Jayhawk supporters, Shackelford is already enrolled and on campus in Austin so Kansas shouldn't look back.
It will be interesting to see if Kansas maintain or build this "lead" on K-State, and if the Jayhawks can get closer to or even beat out Iowa State in the recruiting rankings - a task made much more difficult by losing out on Bledsoe.