Kai Wallin will visit Kansas, planning other trips
When Kai Wallin was coming out of high school, he did not have a lot of options with recruiting. He decided his best path was to go the junior college route.
Wallin signed with American River College and reported to the team this summer.
“I came in planning to grayshirt just because age-wise I was so young,” Wallin said. “And then I got through summer ball and the defensive coordinator sat me down, he was like, ‘Yeah, we need you to play.’ And I trusted him and trusted the rest of the staff and here we are.”
From there things took off for the 6-foot-6, 240 pound defensive end.
“This first year I've learned a lot,” Wallin said. “I'm still continuing to learn. I'm growing every day, developing, maturing, and just turning 18. It's definitely been a pretty quick, wild ride and kind of got thrown into the fire, jumping into college ball and I adapted quick and caught up to speed and then started to excel. And ARC has a great program, so they really developed me and helped me grow.”
College recruiters quickly picked up on Wallin. Offers started flowing in from every level and he currently holds several offers from division one programs.
“It's super humbling, super gratifying, and I’m very glad to be in the position I'm in,” he said. “But it definitely came very fast, very sudden, and I'm super blessed.”
Kansas is one of the schools who extended Wallin an offer. He said the coaches reached out to him through Twitter and then called his coach.
During the bye week Kansas defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu flew out to watch him play. The two started talking over the next week and Wallin set an official visit to Kansas this weekend when they host Texas.
“I'm super excited,” he said. “They are playing Texas at home and it should be a pretty crazy environment. Excited to see what that game day atmosphere is like. Excited to see the town and Kansas-Texas game. It is a huge game obviously; Kansas beat them last year.”
Wallin’s recruiting is still picking up.
“I have offers from Utah, Kansas, Oregon State, Indiana, Nebraska, Louisville, Houston, Liberty, and San Jose,” he said. “A lot of those schools and then I’ve started to talk to some SEC schools and more Big 10, and Big 12 schools. So, it's ever growing process.”
He can leave after the semester and be on a campus next January. He is still mapping out his recruiting and will schedule other visits soon.
“I have a couple in the works still,” Wallin said. “I'm just taking everything week by week still. I'm still in season myself, getting ready to go into the playoffs. I’m going week by week and trying to keep everything in house and keep my head down.”