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Jaylin Richardson said picking Kansas was a "no-brainer"

Jaylin Richardson always had his eye on the Kansas program. He took a visit to Lawrence for junior day in February and stayed in contact with the staff.

A couple weeks ago Richardson was performing at the Lindenwood mega camp while the Kansas coaches were watching. He had a solid outing and landed an offer right after the camp ended. Several other division one schools also offered after the camp and Richardson started to think about his future.

Over the weekend he sat down with family and narrowed down his choices.

“I was evaluating all my schools and all my options,” Richardson said. “My mom got back home, and we finally got to sit down, talk about it and deeply evaluate it. At the end of the day, nothing is better than home. KU stood out so much more than any other school recruiting me. It was a just a no-brainer to stay home.”

Richardson finalized his commitment to Kansas after speaking to Miles on Wednesday
Richardson finalized his commitment to Kansas after speaking to Miles on Wednesday

Richardson took to Twitter on Tuesday night and announced he was committing to Kansas. On Wednesday the Schlagle standout finally had a chance to finalize his commitment with Les Miles, who spent Tuesday night in Salina meeting with Kansas alums.

“Coach Miles has been very busy and it was great talking to him,” Richardson said. “He was excited to have me and my family as Jayhawks. He got to know my family after they came up on a visit.”

Originally the Kansas staff looked at Richardson on defense. After seeing him perform at the camp offense also came into the picture. In the end they are taking his commitment as an athlete who is talented enough to play several positions on both sides of the ball.

“Coach Miles said they will use me all over,” he said. “He said I could play offense or defense and they just want to get me on the field somewhere. He said I will be an athlete. That meant a lot coming from him that he thinks I can do that.”

After the Lindenwood camp Richardson picked up five, division one offers. He was receiving a lot of interest before the camp, and it was a lot to absorb in such fast amount of time.

“It was crazy to be honest,” he said. “To not have any offers and then you got coaches knocking down your door. So, it's really a humbling experience. It's humbling, it's fun, and it's a roller coaster. It's stressful, but at the end of the day I get another opportunity to do what I love and play football.”

Richardson said safeties coach Clint Bowen recruited him in the beginning and invited to him the junior day. Then special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler joined to team up with Bowen.

Although Richardson had to make a decision after receiving several offers following camp the choice to stay close to home was an easy one.

“Staying home was the number one thing,” Richardson said. “Number two, and also important was the education. You can't beat that when you go to KU. It's 40 minutes down the road. It was a no-brainer decision, but at the same time, when I went on my visit up there, it just felt like home. Nothing's better than home. “I just loved the atmosphere of KU. Everything about it just screams home. Mom loves it. My girlfriend loves it. It is a family atmosphere.”

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