DeKedrick Sterns has arrived at KU, ready to compete
DeKedrick Sterns has touched down in Lawrence and is ready to start his career as a Jayhawk. The offensive lineman left Texas and is enrolling early.
If there is any indication how excited he is to get in the Kansas program the fact he started packing a while ago might be a clue.
“I'm super excited,” Sterns said. “I've been packed for about three weeks. I've been ready to go. I'm ready to get out of Texas and see something new. I've been in Texas all my life, so I feel like there's nothing to do down here anymore. I don’t what there will be in Kansas either, but it's just a different environment, different culture. Just something new.”
Sterns is part of the 2021 signing class where most recruits never got a chance to visit the school they signed with. Due to the pandemic, the NCAA suspended all official recruiting visits and didn’t allow face-to-face contact with coaches on campus.
That means several recruits signed without having visited their future home.
“If you think about it that is really scary,” Sterns said. “I mean, I've seen all the videos and virtual tours that I can see, but it's like I've still never been down there and got my own set of eyeballs on it. What happens if a recruit gets to campus and realizes they don’t like it?”
Sterns said he feels good about Kansas and the people associated in the program. He committed last April so he had a good relationship with the coaches. He has known everyone inside the building for a long time and know what to expect.
He also knows he needed to report in shape, so he’s been focusing on his workouts.
“I've been doing a lot of conditioning,” he said. “In my job I push carts, so that's a leg workout, and I've been doing a lot of conditioning, and running a lot of bleachers. My friend has this weighted vest, and we've been doing some running with that.
“I feel like I've gotten a lot faster running with that. I've been doing pushups and some arm workouts, like bands and stuff like that. I think I've been staying in pretty good shape.”
His current weight is 280 pounds, and he doesn’t know what to expect in terms of gaining more. He will start workouts soon and that’s one reason he wanted to report so he can get a head start.
“Really it is whatever my body can handle,” he said. “If I can handle 300 pounds and still move the way I can move now, then, I mean, I'm fine with that. But I just want to be able to move and have the same athleticism that I have now with any amount of weight. If I can be 320 and still move like this, or better than this, I mean, then 320 is fine. I would say probably not more than 300.”
Sterns has started all his life and wants to a shot to play. Arriving early will help those chances because he’s arriving with the mindset to be a starter.
“I'm going to go in and work hard,” he said. “I'm trying to be the hardest working offensive lineman that KU has. I want to get there and start early. I've never really been a backup, and I don't plan on being a backup.”