David Abajian makes switch and picks the Jayhawks

David Abajian always had Kansas near the top of his list. After de-committing from Oregon State, he opened his recruiting and started talks with the Kansas coaching staff again.

He took some time to think about things as he was hearing from other Power Five programs before he made his decision.

On Thursday afternoon he announced his commitment to the Jayhawks. He said the process started late in the summer as conversations with the Kansas coaches.

“When it happened was when I let Coach Ianello know that I'm going to be decommitting from Oregon State and I'm going to be reopening my recruitment,” Abajian said. “That's kind of when it became a reality that I'm eventually going to flip to Kansas.”

“Once I decommitted, he stayed patient with me and he let me know if I ever want to make it official and commit, he can put me on a phone call with Coach Leipold and Coach Fuchs and we could make it happen.”

Abajian said some things came to his attention making him have second thoughts about Oregon State.

“I thought at the time it was just best for me to step away from my commitment there,” he said. “And Kansas at the time was reaching out to me and letting me know that I still have a spot there and if I ever want to become a Jayhawk.”

He said several conversations continued for weeks with Leipold, Fuchs and Ianello as he continued to think about his recruitment.

“It was in sometime in mid-August Coach Ianello reached out to me and just wanted to check up on me and just ask if we could keep open communications and I was up for it,” Abajian said. “He would get Coach Leipold and Coach Fuchs, and they would hop on FaceTime calls with me and talk to me all the time. Just checking up on me and let me know how much the school wants me to become a Jayhawk.”

Abajian earned offers from Kansas, Oregon State, Washington State, Cal, Nebraska and several other schools. The Jayhawks were always one of his top schools after taking two visits to Lawrence. The first was in April when he made an unofficial visit flying from California. Then he returned for an official visit in June.

He learned about the program in his two visits including more about his major.

“My intended major is going to be business,” he said. “So, just them taking me into the business building and having a meeting with the people there and talking me through there, and also showing me all their floor plans for the new football facilities. And being able to spend time with the coaches and talking with them and talking about ball and how I could fit in their system.”

When he was ready to commit Abajian said he spoke with Leipold and Fuchs and gave them the news.

“I let them know that this is what I want, and this is like my 100% solid decision,” he said. “It feels great, especially being a part of a football program that's on the uprise. There's definitely a little extra bit of motivation and extra bit of drive as a player to want to be a part of something like that. It's definitely a good getting this weight off my shoulder and just knowing that this is what I want.”