Terrence Samuel was the first choice for Leipold

Lance Leipold’s signing day press conference was not all about recruiting. The Jayhawks head coach took the last portion to talk about hiring Terrence Samuel who will serve as the new receivers coach.

Samuel will replace Emmett Jones who left for Texas Tech.

Leipold moved fast to speak with Samuel, who was working as the wide receivers coach at Syracuse. He said he communicated with Syracuse head coach Dino Babers, had conversations with Samuel and shortly after he was on a plane headed to Lawrence.

Once Leipold started the process with Samuel, he also connected him with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski.

“You're going to hear me talk a lot about alignment and continuity and things like that,” Leipold said. “He (Samuel) was the first guy I thought of. I had Andy get on the phone with him. Then the next day Jim and he got together and then shortly thereafter he was probably on a plane.

Leipold continued: “I’m excited about him. His wife, Jacqueline is from Holdrege, Nebraska. Another family that has ties to the area, which for us is going to be important as we build our program is that hopefully that family tie keeps the connection that we keep good staff continuity as well.”

Samuel and Leipold coached together at Nebraska-Omaha and he also worked with general manager Rob Ianello at Arizona.

His longest stop was Michigan State where he was the wide receivers coach for Mark Dantonio.

“He’s an outstanding teacher,” Leipold said. “He's done it. His time at Michigan State when you look at the time and the job Mark Dantonio did as a head coach. His offensive philosophy very similar of being multiple, but yet again, not just receivers as past catchers but being physical in all aspects of the game.

“Our players got a chance to meet him. Is important to get him in here before the break. He's starting to build those relationships. Very excited about having him part of this staff.”

Leipold said by the time he hired Samuel he did not have a chance to recruit any of the current players. But Samuel is familiar with one of the top commitments the Jayhawks picked up in the past couple weeks.

[Related: Kalon Gervin switches from Wisconsin to KU]

He recruited Kalon Gervin when he was at Michigan State. Gervin was rated the top player in the state when Samuel won a key recruiting battle getting him to sign with the Spartans. The two will reunite in Lawrence.

At Michigan State he coached Tony Lippett and Aaron Burbridge, who were named the Big 10 Receivers of the Year.

The staff does not release official recruiting territories, but Samuel will have areas in Texas as well as others.

“He's a Houston, Texas native,” Leipold said. “He's recruited the Dallas area as well, and very familiar in that area. He's going to help us in a lot of different ways in recruiting. Jordan Peterson, also a native of Texas so I think we will be covered well down there.”