The way it looks right now the Kansas coaches are trying to fill one, final spot on the defensive line. One of the players they are making a hard push for is Jerrell Boykins.

Boykins recently went did a virtual visit with the Kansas staff along with members of his family.

“It was very informative,” Boykins said. “It really confirmed a lot of what I have told over time. I learned that the major that I'm in, chemical engineering, will have more hours than the average student. I will have 127 hours when the normal student has about 120. It's only seven hours. It may not sound like that big of a difference, but it's a major thing.”

When it comes to academics Boykins said that will play a major part. Playing football and studying chemical engineering isn’t an easy job.

“In case football doesn’t work out, I've got to make sure I'm going to be good as well for my family,” he said.

Boykins said his biological parents passed away and he was on the virtual visit with his mother Danica Williams and his cousin, Jesse Smith.

He learned a lot from the visit but also was familiar with a lot of things that Kansas defensive line coach Kwahn Drake already shared with him.

“I've been talking to Coach Drake since my sophomore year,” Boykins said. “Over time he told me almost everything that they told me, but they went to greater detail with it. My family, they enjoyed it. It made them feel better about the academics and everything. They knew football-wise it was already there, but the academics made them feel really good.”

Boykins said he also communicates a lot with assistant coach AC Carter, who like Drake, is from Louisiana.

He grew up watching LSU and Les Miles roaming the sidelines since he was young. Now, he’s been paying close attention to Miles at Kansas.

“Growing up, all I knew was the LSU Tigers,” Boykins said. “I didn't know there was any other college, but LSU. And when he left, I was sad. Now I see that he's prospering at another college and they're doing great.”

Boykins holds offers from 14 schools and said he would like to continue being patient with recruiting. The fact he can’t take any visits has made him take things slows. All he can do for now, is go off the virtual visits and online meetings.

“I'm really trying to be patient and weigh my options,” he said. “I don’t want to rush into a decision. With everything going on there are a lot of unknowns. I can't really get to a college and see the community myself, and the environment.

“I can really only go off the Zoom calls. I want to have that time to process that and weigh the pros and cons of each school before I decide what decision is best.”