Ben Easters felt at home right away with Kansas
In late July Ben Easters made the trip from Indiana to Lawrence to attend the Les Miles Elite Football Camp. The quarterback from Indiana spent two days at Kansas getting the know the coaches and take a close look at the program.
And he knew right away when he got there it felt like home.
“When I stepped on campus and got to the facilities, the second I was there, the coaches and players and the recruits all made me and my family feel like we were part of their family already,” Easters said. “It felt like home when I was there.”
Easters said he spent most of his time around Jeff Hecklinski, Brent Dearmon, Les Koenning, and Les Miles.
“They were all extremely influential in my decision,” Easters said. “They made me feel like family right away and that really stuck. Talk about having a good first impression, well, they hit it out of the park. Those guys were a big deciding factor.”
On Tuesday night Easters announced he committed to the Jayhawks.
He had a unique opportunity to go through camp and work with the coaches he will play for. There are a lot of times in recruiting that doesn’t happen. In this case it helped him get a better feel for the staff.
“I loved it,” he said. “Being able to be coached by Coach K, Coach Dearmon, Coach Heck, and have Coach Miles watch me. Coach Miles was standing right behind me. Having him be able to watch me is a special experience. It gave me insight how they would coach their own players. If that's how they coach their own players, then that's what I want to be a part of.”
Easters was very familiar with Miles past at LSU. His father is an Alabama football fan, so they watched several of the clashes between LSU and the Crimson Tide.
“If I went back in the past and told myself that the Les Miles was telling me, in his office, that he wanted me to play for him, I would've never believed myself,” Easters said. “It was absolutely incredible being able to talk with him and be around him.”
Hecklinski was the lead recruiter and handles the Indiana area. He came from Indiana State so he had a head start and knew who Easters was.
Hecklinski has recruited Brownsburg High in the past and knows the head coach John Hart.
“He was the first coach who followed me on Twitter,” Easters said if Hecklinski. “Him and my high school coach are really close from Coach Heck's years at Indiana State. He recruited guys at Brownsburg while he was at Indiana State, so he had seen me play before.”
As a sophomore Easters threw for over 1800 yards and helped Brownsburg to the state playoffs. The Kansas coaches watched him on film and got a better look at him in camp making several throws.
“They said that they liked how I spin the ball,” Easters said. “They said they like how I can make a variety of throws and my arm strength. At camp they saw me throw a 60-yard post and a bullet on a curl. They like the variety of throws I'm able to make and my abilities as a pocket passer.”
After receiving interest from Purdue, Boston College, Vanderbilt, and Michigan State, Easters feels a lot less stressed with the recruiting process after making his decision to commit to Kansas.
His team is starting practice and he wants to make another run in the playoffs. Now, he can turn his focus to his junior year.
“It's a burden lifted off me,” he said. “I’m extremely excited. The recruiting process been so strenuous and frustrating that I'm so happy I finally found a place I love and that I want to be, with incredible coaches, and incredible people. Now I don't have to worry about what coaches I'm going to send my first four games (of film) to this season. I can just play, have fun and go and try to win a state championship with my team.”
Easters can relax and put all of his attention to his team and won’t have to worry about the added work that comes with recruiting. But while he’s doing that, he will also be keeping his eye on the Jayhawks this season.
“I'm also extremely excited to be a part of building the legacy of Kansas,” he said. “When a lot of people hear Kansas football, they don't really think much of it. I want to be a part of it when people are like, oh, Kansas is a top 10 team this year, or they're a top five team. I want to be the quarterback on the team when they're talking about that. I'm really excited to see what Coach Miles is going to do with the team.”