Blake Herold was a camp standout, commits to KU

The Jayhawks picked up a commitment from one of the top summer camp performers. Blake Herold gave his commitment to the Kansas coaches on Wednesday after taking an unofficial visit and picking up an offer.

Herold was one of the standouts from the Jayhawks Friday Night Lights camp in late June. The dead period started after his camp performance and this week recruits were allowed to take unofficial visits.

“It was great,” Herold said. “We just toured the facilities and all the places where I would be going to school, and where administrators would be and where I'd be living at, and just got to see everything and talk to coaches.”

Several recruits have commented about the accommodations the players have for living area and that was one thing that caught his attention.

“It's really nice,” he said. “It's four people to one apartment and each person gets your own bathroom. All you have to do is share a kitchen and a washer and dryer. I mean, that's really good compared to a lot of these other schools that I've been to. That kind of stood out a little bit.”

Herold took the visit with his parents and younger brother. They finished the visit on Tuesday, and he went back to think about his future after receiving the offer.

On Wednesday morning he called Jim Panagos to commit and spoke with head coach Lance Leipold.

“He was hyped,” Herold said. “It was a good call, and he was ready to go.”

Panagos handled the recruiting for Herold and picked up the interest after coaching him in camp. He liked the opportunity to go through camp and be coached by Panagos.

“He's not going to yell at you whenever he's coaching, which is something I kind of learned and he talked about it,” Herold said. “He really just believes you’ve got to do it. That's how I like it, hands-on learning and things like that.”

During his visit to campus yesterday he spent more time with Panagos.

“We were with him a lot of the time, because he'll be my coach when I'm there,” Herold said. “We were talking with him a lot, and we talked with the head coach, and then a lot of the defensive staff was there when we were taking pictures, so I got to talk with them too.”

Herold is an interesting prospect because he has been playing linebacker but will move to defensive end. At 6-foot-4, 244 pounds he has speed to play linebacker and tight end. The Kansas coaches believe he will be big enough and keep his athleticism to move inside.

He did not attend many camps, so his name has stayed off the radar for a lot of division one programs. After earning the offer from Kansas, he did not need long to make his decision.

“My head was a spinning yesterday after the offer,” he said. “I knew I wanted to commit, but I mean, I was just waiting the next day to calm down and think about it. I knew I could see myself there. The next day I knew I can definitely see myself there.”