Houston Thomas felt the time was right to pick Kansas

Last week Houston Thomas scheduled his official visit to Kansas and said he might make a decision in June. But after talking with the Kansas coaches and discussing it with people close to him, he decided there was no better time to make a commitment.

Thomas informed the Kansas coaches he was ready to make a verbal commitment.

It started with a text to Kansas recruiting coordinator Josh Eargle.

“Actually, it was funny because I texted him I wanted to do it and he said, ‘We're all in the office in the meeting room right now,’” Thomas said.

“So, I Face Timed him, and I got to tell the whole offensive staff and Coach (Emmett) Jones was happy, Coach DeBord was happy. They were all just clapping in excitement. It was a pretty cool experience.”

Kansas offered Thomas in large part because offensive line coach Lee Grimes is from Texas A&M and knew about prospects at the school. Last month Grimes secured a commitment from Cory Hendrix who is a teammate of Thomas.

Eargle got involved with the recruiting since he coaches the tight ends, and it took off from there.

“It was just the coaches, Coach Eargle and the whole Kansas staff,” Thomas said. “They just consistently showed me a lot of love, and they sent me over 35 handwritten letters, and it was just every day. They were super consistent and made me feel wanted there.”

Thomas did his research and was patient during the process. He talked with several people in his family, high school coach, and trainers before making a decision. He even got all of them on a virtual call with Eargle.

“This decision actually took a while,” Thomas said. “About three weeks ago, I was talking to my mom and my dad about it and then I talked to my head football Coach Huff my trainer, Byron Taylor, and Antonio Gibson, and Eric Land. I talked to them about it, and we just came to the decision that this was where we can go be successful at and I talked to my grandparents as well. I had Coach Eargle FaceTime them.”

This gives the Jayhawks two commitments from College Station High. The two teammates will get to play at the same college.

“That's going to be awesome,” Thomas said. “Especially with how close me and him are. Every weekend, me and him were always hanging out. So that will be cool to have a friend like that up there with me, and it would just be an awesome experience and I just can't wait for it.”

Thomas was receiving interest from Texas A&M, New Mexico, Houston, Rice, Baylor, Yale, and Harvard. He believes he will fit in the offense the Jayhawks plan to run after listening to Eargle and DeBord.

He’s currently 220 pounds expects to play in the 245-250 range. He believes he can still keep his speed and athleticism at that weight. He said it was a good feeling to make the decision and commit to Kansas.

“It feels great because this has been something I've been really wanting for a long time and go play college ball somewhere,” Thomas said. “And for it to be a division one power five school, this is a special feeling and I'm just excited for it.”