Visit Reaction: Jonah Lewis, Kian Payne, Grant Stubblefield

The Kansas coaches hosted close to 20 visitors for a recruiting event on Saturday. Here is more reaction from the recruits who were in attendance.

We will continue to update what other recruits said in the upcoming days.

If there is an award for travel time it would go to Jonah Lewis, a cornerback from Sierra Canyon in California. Lewis holds an offer from the Jayhawks and wanted to meet with the coaches in person and get a better feel for the Jayhawks program.

So, what stood out to him?

“Things on my visit that stood out to me was number one, the hospitality that the whole coaching staff showed me,” he said. “I really felt the love and good energy. Second, the energy that the team had during practice it was a great vibe to experience, and see in person, and third they had a nice locker room that really stood out.”

Lewis holds offers from Kansas, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Colorado and others. During the visit he met with KU cornerbacks coach Jordan Peterson.

“I really spent time with all of the coaches,” Lewis said. “But the coach I spent the most time with was coach Peterson. I got to know him as a person, talk ball, and I even took a couple of pictures with him during my photo shoot.”

It has been a great year for Grant Stubblefield at Blue Valley Northwest. He helped the Huskies to the 6A state football title in the fall and was the starting point guard on the basketball team that played for a state title.

Stubblefield attended the junior day event in January and made his way back to Kansas on Saturday.

He was able to watch practice and had to return for basketball practice.

“The thing that stood out the most was the competition and competitive environment everyone was truly trying to make each other better,” he said.

One thing he has learned over his last two trips to Kansas is the vibe he gets from the coaching staff.

“I’ve learned the coaches truly care about each player and their progress’s not only as a player but a person and athlete,” he said. “They focus on building individual relationships.”

Stubblefield is not taking any time off after going from football to basketball. He will move into the AAU basketball season and still focus on recruiting.

“I’m going to lift and run daily on top of my AAU basketball schedule,” Stubblefield said. “And I will start taking more visits.”

The Kansas coaches brought in recruits from several classes. A lot of attention is on the 2023 class, but the staff is already working ahead on players in the 2024 and 2025 years.

One of the 2024 recruits to visit was Kian Payne, a defensive lineman from St. Thomas Aquinas. He watched the defensive linemen go through practice and how Jim Panagos worked with them.

“I liked watching the flow of their practice and how they were so organized,” Payne said. “I also liked how they had timed periods through the practice.”

After practice he visited with Panagos and found out more about the recruiting process.

“I spent the most time around Coach P,” Payne said. “I thought he had a great personality and fit the type of coaching I like. He taught me five things he looks for in recruiting, how he coaches, and something that really stood out to me was that he cares for his players mental health. He wants to become close with you personally.”