Cameron Brooks talks about visit to Kansas, upcoming trips in June
Cameron Brooks learned a lot about the Kansas football program on his unofficial visit and will get a closer looks when he returns in June.
Brooks visited campus with his family and will be back in Lawrence on the weekend of June 14.
The defensive lineman from Homewood Flossmoor (Illinois) said he had a good visit in the spring and got a lot of attention from the staff.
“It was just an amazing feeling and amazing place to be,” Brooks said. “The minute I stepped on campus, I was greeted with a lot of love and support from the players, the coaches, and the staff members. I had questions that needed to be answered. They answered them thoroughly.”
He saw practice and watched how defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos works with his group.
“We got to see the guys in action,” he said. “The practice was amazing. Very fast paced, and up-tempo. The guys were getting after it. But another thing that stood out to me was even the freshman, the walk-ons, everyone was getting reps. So that just speaks to the development piece how everyone's really getting developed there.”
Brooks said they also met with academic people, and he called that an important piece of the visit. Panagos is working as the lead recruiter and has built a good relationship with him.
“The guy is a real guru,” Brooks said. “He knows the ins and outs of the game. So just speaking to someone with that amount of knowledge that I can bounce ideas off is just amazing. He's always constantly texting me and just letting me know how much of a key piece I am to this Kansas recruiting class.”
He met with the strength and conditioning staff led by Matt Gildersleeve. He exchanged ideas with the coaches and shared some of the things he does at his school.
“I learned a lot about how they train their guys and what kind of lifts they do for explosiveness and making sure the guys are in shape,” he said. “They also talked about how they prevent injuries. I talked about some of the stuff I do at my high school. We have a lot of cool technology and stuff to track our lifts at high school that a lot of schools don't have. It was just an interesting conversation to just talk with them.”
The Jayhawks will get a visit on June 14. Brooks will visit Illinois on June 7th and follow his KU trip with a final visit to Kansas State. Indiana is his most recent offer and Iowa is showing interest.
“I’m looking for a place where I can feel like I can grow around a great group of people, from fans to family, because that's going to be my family wherever I go,” Brooks said. “I want a great group of people, teammates, coaches, and somewhere that could push me.
“I want a place where I can improve and get better. Somewhere I can graduate and get my degree. Even if I make it to the NFL, I can have something to fall back on. Somewhere where I can feel like I can come out better than I came in, as a football player and a person.”