Notebook: Kamara's weekend visit, 2025 LB on the radar

As the Kansas coaches end their spring recruiting and get ready for summer camps and official visits, they hosted a key visitor over the weekend.

Jonathan Kamara, one of several prospects the staff is recruiting from Desert Edge High, took a visit over the weekend.

Kamara is one of three Desert Edge players in the 2024 class who hold an offer from the Jayhawks. He has been talking with Jordan Peterson, who is the lead recruiter in the Phoenix area.

This was his first visit to Kansas after several conversations with the coaching staff. One thing that stood out to him was the plan the coaches have in place.

“What stood out for me was the plan they have for me to be successful,” Kamara said. “What caught my attention was how everyone was locked in on making sure my visit was great.”

Kamara will return to Kansas in late June for an official visit with his teammates Aundre Gibson and Deshawn Warner. The visit gave him an opportunity to meet with the coaches after talking on the phone with them.

“It was great spending time around the coaches because they all wanted me there,” he said. “What I took from that was they value me and think I could come in and be a difference maker right away.”

The day before he left for Kansas, he picked up offers from Washington and Arizona State. More college recruiters are taking notice and several more coaches are expected to be in the area to evaluate him this week, including Michigan.

The 2024 class is a focus for the coaching staff as a busy month of official visits is approaching, but they are also working ahead.

In the spring, they attracted interest from prospects in the 2025 class including Cooper Catalano. The inside linebacker from Germanton, Wisc., made a trip to Kansas to watch spring football and meet the coaches.

“I liked the coaching style,” Catalano said. “I liked how the coaches are straightforward with their coaching and in the meetings. The team looked like they all meshed really well a had a lot of team chemistry.”

Catalano said Kansas is a team in the mix and one reason is his high school coach was on staff at Wisconsin-Whitewater with several KU coaches. Head coach Lance Leipold won six national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“They obviously went through my coach to express their interest and then they called my coach to let me know they offered me,” he said.

He holds several Power Five offers mainly from Big 10 and Big 12 schools. He has time to figure out recruiting since he is in the 2025 class.

“I feel very fortunate in this recruiting process and it’s very humbling,” he said. “I’m looking at the stability of the coach staff. I want to know the staff is going to be there for the duration of my time there. I look at how the coaches interact with their players and the culture of the team. I obviously look at the success of the team and how they plan on improving every day.”