Derek Garcia made his first trip to the Sunflower State and took unofficial visits to Kansas and Kansas State. The quarterback from Ventura, Calif., was offered by Kansas in May after quarterback coach Jim Zebrowski watched him practice.
“Getting the offer from Kansas was really awesome,” Garcia said. “Coach Z came out and watched me throw and I loved his personality from the start. Never can have a bad moment with him. Coach Z has been very good with building our relationship and has put in lots of effort with it along with other coaches.”
One of the things that stood out for Garcia on the visit was meeting with the coaching staff and seeing campus.
“By far my favorite part about the visit was getting to meet the staff,” he said. “They are all solid coaches and great communicators with amazing personalities. I loved the campus of KU as well. The school is beautiful.”
Zebrowski has shared information about the program and the progress they have made under Lance Leipold. Garcia has taken notice to the changes and things going around the program.
“Getting out on the visit helped me learn a lot more as well,” Garcia said. “Some of the main points I have learned about Kansas is how much they have come up the rankings so fast. They are changing the program around to make it a powerhouse.
He continued: “Kansas has also been making great improvements to their facilities and campus for the football team and also the students, rebuilding part of the stadium, one year old locker room, new apartments for the team and new football facilities. Kansas also has great success with their academics with a team average GPA of somewhere around a 3.25.”
After his visit to KU, he traveled west to see Kansas State later that same day.
“The visit to Kansas State went very well,” he said. “It exceeded my expectations. I didn’t know much about what the state of Kansas had to offer before coming out here. Getting to go to K-State was a great experience that I am super glad I got to do. Meeting Coach Wells and working with him was a great time. K-State has an amazing football stadium and facilities that have everything you would ever need.”
After taking recent visits to UNLV, UCLA, San Diego State, Oregon State, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Cal, Kansas and Kansas State, he learned a lot about each program and educated himself with the recruiting process.
“Going through the recruiting process I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I’ve learned that one of the biggest things I am looking for in a school is the relationship with the coaches I would be working with the most. Another thing I am looking for is the culture around the team. How does the team work hard while still having fun? How well does the team bring energy everyday while working hard? Things like that is what I look for.”
Garcia said he is done taking visits this summer and will turn his attention to his high school team. He gets to work with his father, Tim, who is the head coach at Ventura. Garcia has been watching his dad coach since he was young.
“Having my dad as my head coach is great,” Garcia said. “Most people think it is hard on me, but I love it. Especially because he is the OC and I am the quarterback, so we work together at home during game weeks to game plan together. We get to spend lots of time working together, which makes me more comfortable coming into every day and every game.
“I have grown up my whole life at Ventura High football games and have missed maybe two games my whole life. The program has started to mean so much to me as I was at so many practices and I was made felt that I was in the program.”
