Kansas football: Four-star running back Devin Neal signs with Jayhawks

Four-star running back and Lawrence native Devin Neal has officially signed with Kansas football as the highest-rated recruit in the Jayhawks’ 2021 class.

The early signing period has begun, and Kansas football is off to a great start. The Jayhawks have signed a number of great prospects already, but one recruit stands out from the rest for a few reasons. Four-star running back Devin Neal of Lawerence High School has officially signed with the Jayhawks, and he’d the highest-rated recruit in the state of Kansas.

When he committed to Kansas football back in March of this year, Neal held offers from schools like Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa, and Nebraska. He was also heavily recruited by both Baylor and West Virginia. Neal is the highest-rated recruit in the state of Kansas, and it’s also the first time the Jayhawks have landed the top recruit in the state in over a decade.

If you want to see why Neal earned a four-star rating from 247Sports and so many offers, check out his highlights. He boasts versatility, with the ability to catch the football and run it effectively. Neal has potential as a return man, which is a role we could see him in early in his career with the Kansas Jayhawks.

It’s also worth noting that the running back position is fairly open right now at Kansas with Pooka Williams Jr. declaring for the NFL Draft. Velton Gardner, Daniel Hishaw, Amauri Pesek-Hickson, and Neal will be vying for the spot, so we should have a nice battle for the starting position during this offseason.

Landing the in-state and highly rated recruits will go a long way for Les Miles in getting Kansas football turned around. They’re the kind of guys that the program can build around, and it’s what Kansas did with guys like Kerry Meier and Jake Sharp back in the 2000s when Kansas was respectable on the football field.