Hunter Higgins has had a busy fall, and it won’t get any slower. The highly recruited defensive end from Maize South is getting a lot of recruiting attention from college recruiters.
He is managing his high school season with several unofficial visits on the weekends. One of his recent trips was to Kansas City to watch Kansas play TCU.
“It was really cool when I walked in I got about five different coaches ready to chop it up and talk football,” Higgins said. “One of them being Coach O who I talk to a lot.”
Coach O is Kansas defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu, who has been recruiting Hunter for the last year. Higgins has been on campus to meet the staff in the past.
“He’s super real and genuine and I would say that’s his best trait besides being a great football coach,” Higgins said about Onatolu. “It’s pretty easy to talk to him from the first time I met him until now he’s the same person.”
Higgins has followed the team, and all the close losses have mounted, where Kansas had chances to win late in the game.
“I think just like everyone else it’s been tough seeing a team that really could be undefeated losing the close games,” he said.
Kansas was one of the first schools to offer Higgins and liked his film coming out of his sophomore season. The Maize South prospect racked up 11 sacks through the regular season and has the size at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds.
“They really like my attention to details and how hard I play,” he said. “One thing I’ve really improved on is my get off that was a week point in the past couple years.”
Offers have come from schools in different conferences including the Big 12, SEC, and the Big 10. Higgins has taken several visits and plans to see multiple campuses this fall. Kansas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Purdue, Missouri, and Michigan are schools he plans to visit.
Getting a chance to visit with coaches face-to-face is an important aspect and you get to learn a lot about the programs. This season the Jayhawks are playing games off campus while they go through a $450 million renovation.
“You get to see the coaches before the game and how they feel,” he said. “Coach O for example is a confident guy I would say. He seems very ready for what’s ahead and when the games are on campus, for the schools. You usually get to see the campus life and how the fans react to games and traditions.”
