Ky Thomas is ready for a new start to his college football career. He is headed to Lawrence today, driving with his father, Tobian to officially join the KU program.
Being back near his family is one of the reasons he entered the transfer portal. His sister will graduate from Topeka High and play college basketball, and he has two, younger brothers who are involved in competitive sports.
“After talking with my family, I decided to make the best decision for me,” Thomas said. “I wanted to be closer to home and a part of something special. I will be able to be at more family events with my brothers and sister and still do what I love.”
Thomas took an official visit to Kansas last weekend before announcing his decision. Last week he also took an unofficial visit for the West Virginia basketball game to get a closer look at the plan the coaching staff has for the running backs.
“After getting to know the coaching staff and them taking the time to get to know me, it was clear for me,” Thomas said. “I believe Coach Leipold is going to turn this program around and I want to be a part of taking KU football to the next level.”
Kansas recruited Thomas out of high school where he was the Gatorade Player of the Year his senior season at Topeka High. He rushed for over 7700 yards in his career, which is second all-time in the state records.
Thomas led Minnesota in rushing this season and was named the MVP of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl before he entered the transfer portal.
He had the opportunity to hear about the Kanas program on his official visit from the coaches and players.
“I learned that the coaches, as far as what they believe and how they're attacking, changing the program, they feel strongly about that, and the players also,” Thomas said. “Talking to players, they all believe in the coaching staff and the culture that is being built around there.”
His host on the visit was Devin Neal and the two know each other going to back to their grade school days when they played youth football on the same team.
“It was a lot of fun,” Thomas said. “We knew each other in high school and elementary school when we played together. So, it was cool being able to hang out with him. I felt weird, me being older than him and him be the one to show me around. But it was cool, and we have a good connection.”
The connection to the coaching staff from the day they reached out to him played a big part in making his decision.
“It was good, and I felt like it was easy to talk to them,” Thomas said. “It was a smooth conversation. I felt comfortable from the start with them really trying to get to know me rather than trying to sell me to the system, to what they were trying to do. They were actually trying to get to know me and that's where I think we built that connection and ended up leading me to picking KU.”
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