Jayhawks making strong push at talented defensive end

Najee Stevens-McKenzie has been a hot target on the recruiting trail for college coaches looking for a junior college defensive end.

One of the schools near the top of his list is Kansas and he has a couple connections to the program. Stevens-McKenzie is currently at ASA College in New York but before that he attended Fort Scott Community College.

“I was at fort Scott so it was probably just an hour and some change outside of Lawrence,” Stevens-McKenzie said. “Whenever I had free time and a couple of guys were going to KU we would go up there. When I first stepped on campus it was beautiful and amazing. I never got a close look at the football aspect of things when I went there but I liked what I experience when I was there.”

When McKenzie-Stevens was in high school he was recruited by current Kansas defensive line coach Jesse Williams to Ohio. Between Williams and Jayhawks linebackers coach Todd Bradford the Kansas staff has shown him a lot of interest. Head coach David Beaty has also joined the group to recruit the defensive end.

“Coach Beaty has been recruiting me,” he said. “Coach Williams recruited me out of high school to play for him at Ohio. He called me and I found out that he is now at Kansas. I know he is a really good coach. It is cool to know that I could reunite with him.”

McKenzie-Stevens has several offers but said his top four in no order consist of Kansas, Missouri, Central Florida, and Maryland. He said he plans to set an official visit with Kansas soon.