Keaton Kubecka headed back to Kansas for official visit

Keaton Kubecka visited Kansas last summer after Lance Leipold and his staff were settling in and coming off the camp circuit.

He was first offered by former wide receivers coach Emmett Jones and then Terrence Samuel picked up and not missed a beat.

When Samuel was hired, he reached out Kubecka and started building a relationship.

“Me and him have a really good connection and just bond,” Kubecka said. “He came and visited Westlake not that long ago. I’ve got the chance to talk to him a lot and just see what type of coach he was. I really like him a lot. And then I’ve been talking to Coach Leipold a lot. It's just been great.”

Kubecka said he has talked with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and other members of the staff.

“They started talking to me like and it was like they have known me for a long time,” he said. “We just formed a really comfortable and tight bond right away. I really like them, and they're all great people.”

Samuel told Kubecka he likes the way he plays and the effort he uses on film. He is looking forward to getting back on campus and have more time around the program.

“I remember last time I visited how beautiful the campus was,” he said. “The people were great, and everyone treated me well.”

He started the summer workouts with his team at Austin Westlake. They are one of the premier high school programs in the country and last season won their third straight state championship. Every high school poll had them ranked second in the country to end the season.

“We're really just putting in the work right now during the summer conditioning program and building connections with our whole team,” he said. “It’s getting us ready for the upcoming season. It's a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you all three repeated. It's easy for you all.’

“But this is a new team this year. This team hasn't won a state championship yet. This is a whole new team. So, we have to build up what we have right now and just take control and go do it again.”

Playing at Westlake has prepared him to compete at the highest level and he gets to go against some of the best players every day.

“It's probably the best high school you can be at,” he said. “All over you have D1 competition. Everybody's putting in work. Everybody's competing out there. Every rep, you go against a D1 player.”

Kubecka said he plans to visit Oklahoma State and Tulane after his official to Kansas.