The Kansas football team took a first step on Friday toward shoring up one of its most glaring positions of need in the 2025 recruiting class.
The Jayhawks got their first wide receiver of the cycle when Jackson Cook, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound receiver from Snellville, Georgia, who attends South Gwinnett High School, announced his commitment to KU on social media.
Cook, a three-star recruit, was a midweek visitor to Lawrence after spending the prior weekend at UConn. He had also visited Bowling Green and had reported Power Five scholarship offers from Indiana and Maryland along with KU.
“Just the overall culture is what stood out,” he told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com. “Most definitely the culture, the coaching staff from strength and conditioning with Coach (Matt Gildersleeve). Just the science and everything they do in the weight training program, how they individualize their position groups and make you strong and make you better. And the plan that (receivers coach Terrence) Samuel has in place to be successful and be able to take me to that next level.”
According to MaxPreps, Cook had 13 catches for 276 yards and two scores, along with one rushing touchdown, during his junior year at South Gwinnett. He also runs track.
Cook is the second Atlanta-area prospect to commit to the Jayhawks for 2024, after linebacker Kenyon Rivera did so following last weekend’s group of visits.
The Jayhawks will be in dire need of receivers once the likes of Lawrence Arnold, Luke Grimm, Quentin Skinner and Trevor Wilson exhaust their eligibility at the conclusion of the 2024 season. The 2024 recruiting class did not include any wide receivers, and redshirt freshman Surahz Buncom transferred to Eastern Illinois during the spring portal window, as KU also added Maize native Bryce Cohoon from Syracuse.
On the whole, Cook is the 12th pledge in the class, following last weekend’s flurry of five commitments. The “dead period,” during which in-person recruiting contacts are prohibited, begins Monday.
