Kasen Weisman, a quarterback and high school senior from Douglasville, Georgia, said Thursday he has committed to play football at Kansas.
Weisman, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound dual-threat prospect, shared his decision at his school, South Paulding High, about 20 miles west of Atlanta. He’s the only quarterback in what is now a nine-player recruiting class for Kansas and holds more than 30 scholarship offers, including Cal, Colorado State, Hawaii, Tulane and UNLV.
He was joined at the ceremony, which he broadcast on Instagram Live, by his parents and several coaches and teammates. He shared his choice by unzipping his sweatshirt to reveal a white Jayhawks T-shirt.
“I want to be a part of a winning program — laying the foundation for kids to come later on in the years, even past when I’m gone,” Weisman said by phone prior to the ceremony. “I think that’s true with a lot of the kids who are committed in the class. They want to be a part of that foundation. A lot of kids probably don’t want to do that. They just want to go to big schools that win a lot, and that’s OK. That’s their choice. But I want to build something and be remembered for laying the steppingstones down.”
Weisman, who has been recruited by quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, is considered the No. 65 quarterback in the country by 247Sports. Rivals.com, meanwhile, graded him as the No. 85 player in Georgia.
Kansas offered Weisman a scholarship on Feb. 18, when he was on a bus ride to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a seven-on-seven tournament, and he told the coaching staff on Aug. 4 that he would accept it. He attended Kansas’ “Friday Night Lights” camp on June 24, when he threw in front of the coaches for roughly two hours.
“Then I just hung out with the coaches for a while and met some great people,” Weisman said. “I think they have the same morals as me and the same desires — like, they’re not used to losing. I think you can probably tell. Every program they’ve been at, they’ve won, so like, the same thing with me — I hate losing more than anything. I think it’s a great opportunity to be able to start something that I think Kansas football deserves.”
Weisman completed 62.8% of his passes for 2,035 yards and 17 touchdowns with six interceptions last season. He also ran 77 times for 289 yards and eight touchdowns as South Paulding went 8-3 and lost to Cambridge High in the first round of the Georgia Class 6A playoffs — a game Weisman missed because of a broken sternum.
He described himself as “a leader, a playmaker, and someone that just wants to win,” and said he’s already built friendships with three other players in his recruiting class: wide receivers Keaton Kubecka and Jarred Sample and safety Taylor Davis.
He also said the distance from Georgia to Kansas isn’t a concern because his parents are flight attendants for Delta. They assured him they’ll be able to watch him wherever he decided to play.
“It’s only an hour flight home,” he said. “It’s not bad. I’ve been across the country a lot, so I’m not going to be homesick or anything. I like traveling, so I think it will be a good opportunity for me to get out by myself and start living by myself and play college football and live a kid’s dream.”
