Four-star DE Xavier Porter plans visit to Kansas

The Jayhawks are expected to get a visit from one of the top defensive ends in the country. Xavier Porter, a four-star prospect from Tampa, said he plans to make it to Lawrence for spring football.

Porter has been talking with Kansas defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos and built a good relationship with him.

“He's a real dude,” Porter said of Panagos. “He's one of the realest coaches I've talked to. Coach Panagos has coached a lot of guys in the league. He's coached a lot of guys around the league, like high level college football players. He's a guy that knows just a little bit about the game. So, I feel like me playing for him would be beneficial for me.”

Panagos has recruited Tampa for years and has several connections to the area. When he started recruiting Porter his first film evaluation was watching every snap of one of his game’s last season.

“The first thing he told me was he watched the whole game of our last one,” Porter said. “He told me that just the little things I did he liked was how I tried on field goals because like 70% of the high school players don't do that. And he said he likes that about me. He liked that I showed effort on special teams. He likes that I'm twitchy, explosive, and strong. He likes how I am a smart player and know a lot about the game.”

Last season Porter took notice of the changes in the Kansas program. The Jayhawks qualified for a bowl game in Lance Leipold’s second season.

“I see just the little change in the coaching staff,” he said. “Kansas went from 2-11 to 6-7 and were 5-0 at the start of the season. There are some good changes going out there in Lawrence, Kansas.”

Porter is currently ranked among the top 25 defensive ends in the country and has received a lot of interest from college coaches. He holds over 30 offers from division one programs and things have been moving at a fast pace with recruiting.

“I'm not going to lie, there have been a lot of coaches in my phone every day trying to get me to get out and see their colleges,” he said. “It's crazy. I won't say I have nailed it down, but there's some coaches that I keep in contact with a lot more than those other coaches.”

He said Panagos is one of the coaches that he stays in contact with a lot.

Porter plans to study Journalism and he has been doing research how each school recruiting him stacks up in his future major.

“I think good football can be anywhere,” he said. “So, it's not the football part that I look for first. It's number one, if I could start a life there. Number two, if I could get a good degree there. And then number three is football. I want to study broadcasting and communication. We did some research and I think Kansas is top 20 in the country in that field.”