Kansas football picks up four commitments ahead of early signing period

The early signing period for college football is approaching Dec. 15-17, and this past week the Jayhawks landed a few key commitments ahead of signing day.

On Thursday, local Lawrence High School kicker Grant Glasgow committed to walk on at KU. This year he went 48-50 on extra point attempts and 8-9 on field goal tries. He also had a kickoff average of 67 yards.

On Friday, Lance Leipold and staff secured a commitment from talented cornerback Kalon Gervin, who is transferring from Michigan State. Gervin was originally intending to transfer to Wisconsin but flipped to Kansas after a recent visit.

Coming out of high school, Gervin was the No.1 rated prospect in Michigan and the No. 124 ranked player in the 2018 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com. The 5-foot-11, four-star cornerback held offers from some of the best programs in the country.

At Michigan State, Gervin played in 23 games and recorded 44 tackles and four pass break-ups. Gervin redshirted his freshman year but then started all six games last season and the first two games this year. His playing time decreased due to a couple of cornerbacks who transferred in during the offseason and as a result he entered the transfer portal in September.

Gervin will very likely be a day-one starter for KU and instantly upgrades the secondary – which struggled at times this year. What’s more exciting is that he has multiple years of eligibility remaining. This was a big get for the staff at a real position of need.

The next player to commit was running back Sevion Morrison – a former four-star recruit from the 2020 class who is transferring after two seasons with Nebraska.

Prior to joining Nebraska, Morrison was the No. 2 rated high school prospect in Oklahoma with offers from schools across the country.

The Jayhawks have a deep running back group now with Neal, Morrison, Pesek-Hickson, Hishaw, Locklin, and others. But that depth was tested this year as multiple players went down with injuries.

If Morrison can stay healthy, he should be able to take some of the load off Neal and keep a fresh set of legs on the field.

The Jayhawks’ fourth commitment of the weekend came from 2022 high school prospect Mason Ellis, who is a local product from Mulvane, Kansas.

He was previously committed to FCS-powerhouse North Dakota State but flipped to Kansas after his visit this weekend. Ellis is a two-star safety prospect, whose offer list included Kansas, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State.

"“It’s always been my dream since I was a little kid to play in the Big 12 play for Kansas,” he told JayhawkSlant.com. “I went to Kansas football games when I was little playing on the hill and all that. I mean, it’s just surreal.”"

Ellis received a grayshirt offer, meaning he won’t enroll at KU until the spring of 2023 in order to preserve his five-year eligibility and he won’t count against the scholarship cap for this upcoming season.

Ellis’ commitment brings the 2022 high school recruiting class to seven. With Leipold and staff not arriving to Lawrence until shortly before the summer, it was expected that their class may be smaller this year and they would attack the transfer portal to fill roster spots.

The Kansas staff hopes to hear more good news from the high school ranks and transfer portal as the early signing period kicks off this Wednesday.