Christian Thatcher talks about his visit to KU, top schools

Christian Thatcher made a trip to the area at the end of April to visit Kansas and Missouri. The four-star linebacker is familiar with the area since his mother used to live in Kansas City.

Thatcher visited Kansas on Saturday after spring football started and took in a practice. He drove around campus and saw the construction for the renovations at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

“I can say that Kansas is probably the prettiest campus that we've been on,” Thatcher said. “Just the architecture and everything of that nature. I know that the stadium and all the new facilities are going to be top notch.”

He has been talking with linebackers coach Chris Simpson and building a good relationship with him.

“Coach Simpson is fun to be around,” he said. “He’s a person that I'd like to be coached by. I feel like after looking at the linebacker room, it's a place I could probably come in, and I feel like I could compete pretty early.

“I talk to him on a regular basis. He and I have a really good relationship, so we talk to each other three to four times a week on the phone or through text. We talk frequently.”

Thatcher credited Greg Svarczkopf, the Director of Recruiting, for showing him around the area and the program.

“He did a great job of just giving us the tours and doing everything, and everybody was friendly, and Lawrence was a really pretty town,” Thatcher said.

He has official visits set to Kansas and Missouri and stopped by Columbia to see the Tigers coaches.

“Their facilities are done, and they are established,” he said of Missouri. “It's impressive to say the least on what kind of athletes and what kind of program they run. It's the SEC and they were 11-2. There's a lot of similarities. They're friendly, they recruit me really hard, and they all know that I've got family back there and that it's a strong possibility that we would like to move back there.”

Thatcher said he has six schools at the top of his list that include Kansas, Missouri, USC, Utah, Colorado, and Washington. The list is not set in stone as college recruiters continue to flow into Arbor View High School to visit him.

He said there have been schools at the top, but he had to make changes after coaches left and other circumstances. Thatcher wants to keep an open mind with recruiting but does have a group of schools that have emerged to the top of his list.

“This is the time when college coaches come around in our spring and more offers happen,” Thatcher said. “I'm sure there'll be a couple more that could pop up for me, but I've narrowed it down to six. And those are the six that I'm going to visit in the spring, and these are my top six.

He continued: “And so that's kind of where our spring is at, is just going around to the campuses, seeing how practices are, how they're treated, and things like that. And then we'll take the officials because we know the officials are going to be good no matter what.”