Jayhawks land Daniel Hishaw after visit

Daniel Hishaw already had that feeling he knew what school he wanted to be at. He visited Kansas earlier in the year and made the trip back to Lawrence on Saturday for a recruiting event.

Before the talented athlete left campus, he told Kansas head coach Les Miles he was ready to be a Jayhawk.

“He (Miles) was happy,” Hishaw said. “He was in his office and they called me up to go talk with him. He told me he really wanted me to play for him and I told him I wanted to play for him. He got up immediately and shook my hand.”

Hishaw had an idea the Jayhawks were his leader going into the weekend. A lot of it stems from the relationship he built with Kansas defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot and what he learned about the program on his first visit.

“I already liked the school because I came in for a visit for junior day,” he said. “I loved it and I wanted to come back down for the barbecue. I wanted to see everything again and talk to the coaches more. It felt like it was my place to be.

“I like how much they’re trying to change the culture around. Something that stood out to me is they have a program with all the team leaders to get everybody together. It reminded me a lot of my high school. It just felt right to go to Kansas.”

At Moore High, Hishaw does a lot of things on the field. He plays quarterback and defensive back. Several college recruiters were looking at him as an athlete.

He is a good athlete that could project to several positions on the field. His knowledge of the game after playing quarterback will make him a quick learner.

"They told me they like how explosive I am," he said. "Being a quarterback they know that I know the game."

Another connection Hishaw had with Kansas is Eliot. For starters Eliot is from Oklahoma so he knows a lot about the area. And maybe more importantly once the recruiting process started, they realized there is also a past connection.

“He came down to my school for spring football,” Hishaw said of Eliot. “He watched me practice and a couple weeks later they offered. It turns out he and my mom went to school together. That was really cool, and we all connected even more. So that helped that my parents were already friends with him.”

Hishaw was being recruited by Kansas, Oklahoma State, North Texas, Nevada, Southern Miss, Tulsa, and Eastern Michigan. He admitted it feels good to have the recruiting process behind him with the start of his senior season only days away.

“It feels great,” he said. “I already felt like this was going to be the school for me after the first junior day visit. I’m happy and my family is happy. I had some friends come in with me to the visit and that made it even better.

“There isn’t anything to worry about with recruiting. Now I can just focus on helping get my team ready for the season.”