Five-Star guard Quentin Grimes talks about his decision to sign with Kansas
For Quentin Grimes, the 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard from College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas, his recruitment finally came to an end on the final day of the early signing period.
With scholarship offers on the tables from the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Texas, Arizona, Baylor, DePaul, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Miami (FL), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Utah State, Virginia, Wake Forest and others, Grimes, the No. 11 ranked player in the 2018 class, ultimately decided to narrow his list of schools down to a select group.
Grimes, when the dust had finally settled, felt most comfortable with Kansas, Texas, Kentucky and Marquette. Throughout the process, Grimes, one of the nation’s top prospects in the 2018 class, officially visited each school and also welcomed each coaching staff into his home for in-home visits.
With the weeklong early signing period set to expire later tonight, Grimes signed a National Letter-of-Intent with Kansas on Wednesday evening. According to the elite guard, his final decision came down to Kansas and Texas.
Shortly after signing with Kansas, Grimes talked about his decision to join Bill Self’s program.
“Yea, it was great to just have all of my teammates here and all of my friends and family,” said Quentin Grimes on Wednesday night. “Everybody that wanted to come was able to come, so it was great to do it the way that I did it. It was a tough decision. It really came down to Kansas and Texas.
“Kansas stood out because of how they wanted to play, just playing for a Hall-of-Fame Coach and just the winning tradition at KU,” he added. “Yea, I feel like we should be really deep (at the guard position) next year and I feel like we should have the best guards in the country. I’m more of a scoring guard and he (Devon Dotson) is more of a true point guard, so he’ll be able to get me the ball in certain situations to let me score and I’m very unselfish, so if he’s open, I know how to make the right pass and get him the open shot.”
Throughout much of his recruitment, Kansas was viewed as the team to beat for Grimes. Early on in the process, Self made it clear that he absolutely wanted Grimes at Kansas. Self, along with Coach Jerrance Howard, followed the elite combo guard this past spring and summer on the AAU Circuit.
Recently, Self and Howard traveled to Texas on numerous occasions to check in on Grimes as he inched closer to a final decision. Each school is allowed to visit a prospect in his home state seven times, and by the time Grimes had reached a final decision on Wednesday, Self and his staff had already used all allotted visits.
Self, throughout the entire process, made it clear to Grimes how much he was wanted in Lawrence. Both Self and Howard put the full court press on Grimes and, at the end of the day, they were rewarded for their efforts.
“Coach Self just let me know how much responsibility I would have as a freshman,” said Grimes. “I can go in there and help lead the team to another Big 12 Championship and hopefully a National Championship. I think every player notices whenever the head coach is at every game. He brought the whole staff in a couple of times during the start of the school year.
“He just really let me know that I had to get him and I was a top priority for them regardless, so it was just good to see how much they really prioritized me,” he added.
According to Tonja Stelly, the mother of Quentin Grimes, it was easy to see that her son was, without question, a major priority for Self and his staff. Stelly, who also attended the University of Kansas, talked about KU’s recruitment of her son on Wednesday night.
It some ways, Self was going to do whatever it took to make sure Grimes signed with Kansas. He simply wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Absolutely, they definitely stood out,” she said when talking about KU’s recruitment of her son. “Coach Self was at so many of his (Quentin) games and coming down to see him, using all seven of their visits before he even verbally committed to them, so we definitely recognized the priority.
“Well, we’re just over the moon (with his decision), because Quentin is very happy and very comfortable and very confident with his decision, so that was important for both (mom and dad) of us, that we not influence him in any way, but just direct him with the tools that he needed in-order to make such a big decision at such a young age,” she added.
“Coach Self just let me know how much responsibility I would have as a freshman,” said Grimes. “I can go in there and help lead the team to another Big 12 Championship and hopefully a National Championship. I think every player notices whenever the head coach is at every game. He brought the whole staff in a couple of times during the start of the school year.
“He just really let me know that I had to get him and I was a top priority for them regardless, so it was just good to see how much they really prioritized me,” he added.
According to Tonja Stelly, the mother of Quentin Grimes, it was easy to see that her son was, without question, a major priority for Self and his staff. Stelly, who also attended the University of Kansas, talked about KU’s recruitment of her son on Wednesday night.
It some ways, Self was going to do whatever it took to make sure Grimes signed with Kansas. He simply wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Absolutely, they definitely stood out,” she said when talking about KU’s recruitment of her son. “Coach Self was at so many of his (Quentin) games and coming down to see him, using all seven of their visits before he even verbally committed to them, so we definitely recognized the priority.
“Well, we’re just over the moon (with his decision), because Quentin is very happy and very comfortable and very confident with his decision, so that was important for both (mom and dad) of us, that we not influence him in any way, but just direct him with the tools that he needed in-order to make such a big decision at such a young age,” she added.