Cooper Lovelace breaks down Kansas offer, upcoming visits

When Kansas offensive line coach Scott Fuchs visited Butler County to evaluate the offensive line, he left extended two scholarship offers last night.

One of those offers went to Cooper Lovelace, who has visited Kansas several times.

Lovelace is an interesting story after only playing one year of high school football at Shawnee Mission East. He went to Butler County where he developed into a division one lineman. During that time, he has studied a lot about the game and treats it as a business.

“I live for football,” Lovelace said. “I mean I don't party. I don't go out much. I try to get in six hours of NFL game pass a week, especially in the off season. That's normally what my weekend is. I don't really do much besides football. I guess the reason why I can do it and especially being in JUCO, if you don't love it you won't last, I promise you that.”

Since his high school days, he has put an emphasis on his body, staying in shape, and getting stronger.

“I think it was just my drive to be successful is really what's done it now,” Lovelace said. “I've made a full body transformation since high school. I’ve grown a couple inches, gained 20, 30 pounds but look thinner. So, it has been good weight and I move a lot better.”

Lovelace recalled a recent visit to Rice when they were scheduled to go to Top Golf. Instead, he wanted to learn more about the football program.

“I skipped that,” he said. “I told them to cancel it so I can go talk to the strength coach for 90 minutes and obviously they were fully supportive. I wanted to hear more about their program instead of going to Top Golf.”

In January there was a buzz going around social media where Lovelace showed how flexible he was for a player 6-foot-5, 300 pounds.

Part of keeping his body in shape involves off-season workouts at Top Speed LLC, where several athletes in the Kansas City area train. That is where he met Kansas players Devin Neal, Will Huggins and Luke Grimm.

He has heard about the inner workings of the Kansas program from their perspective.

“I am friends with Devin Neal and those guys,” Lovelace said. “They work out at the same place I go. I got an inside ear inside the building too because players will never lie to you. And so that part has been really cool.”

Lovelace talked with Fuchs after practice when he found out about the Jayhawks offer.

“It's awesome,” he said. “I mean a Kansas guy growing up and being in state because it's close to home. I'm from Kansas City. Half of my high school goes to KU or K-State. I mean, that is all how it is. So just the hometown effect is really cool.

“I really like what the coaching staff is doing. I've been up there three times now to go over film, watch practices and stuff and talk about their new culture.”

Lovelace has a good feel for the Kansas program. He has visited several times and picked up a lot of information from the players and Fuchs. He has watched practice observing how Fuchs works his linemen.

“Fuchs, man he is one smart cat,” Lovelace said. “It is not his first rodeo. He's coached at pretty much every level of ball. The stuff that he's teaching on a technical side, like the technique side, just breaking it down on film and showing is really impressive.”

The Jayhawks also offered Flavio Gonzalez who is a close friend, and they play on the line together.

“I don't think there's a guy in the portal that can honestly play better than either of us,” Lovelace said. “The portal is overrated, and those guys cannot go snap for snap with us. And I speak for most of junior college, especially Kansas Junior Colleges.”

Now the recruiting will start to get to move into a different phase for Lovelace. He has an official visit set with Iowa State on May 6. He is also talking with Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida about possible visits.

Everything is going to move quick. He said he would not take a visit to Kansas because he has enough information about the program from his previous trips and talking with the current players.

“I do want to be done around my graduation which is May 14,” he said. “I’ve got about two full weeks. I'm going to visit Iowa State next weekend. I'm talking to Florida right now. It's a little fluid. I have limited time so if you want to make something shake, we got to talk, and I got to evaluate you.

“If I don't feel comfortable with you as a coach, I mean, that's my whole life. That's my livelihood and my future. For me it's not a three-year decision, it is a 30-year decision.”