Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

Northwest coach Weston Schartz discovered a key fact about me today — I am cheap. I texted him this morning to have him call me and then said it would cost me because I’m not on a texting plan. He called me cheap. I am. I admit it. I drive my husband nuts.

OK, onto the topic at hand — Northwest lineman Colby Duranleau. He’s ranked in the top 15 of Kansas football players by Rivals.com and has an offer from Missouri State.

Here’s what Schartz had to say today:

Duranleau went to camps at Kansas State and Illinois this summer and went to a Nike Sparq combine at TCU in May that Schartz took him, too.

Neither K-State nor Illinois have offered, although they are interested in him. He’s 6-5 (and 3/4) and fluctuates between 270-285. He’s got the size and the skill (I’m sure Demarcus Robinson will love running behind him.)

“They both like him, but nobody Has  pulled the trigger other than Missouri State. But he’s too big, he’s too good, to not get offers.

I asked (linemen) Coach Brock at K-State, he said very few offensive linemen get early offers. Some of them get better the next year, they get a little bigger. (Brock continued….) They’re the hardest  to judge. It’s easy to judge a 4.4. 40 and defensive linemen who can fly. But it takes a little more time on offensive linemen.

“OK, I said, I’m going to believe you. You’ve never lied to me before. If you look at it, I think the top offensive linemen by Rivals or whoever, none have been offered anything solid.

“He went to two camps, his name is out there, a bunch of people have film on him. He was kind of feeling down yesterday, and I told him, ‘You’ve got one from Missouri State, come on, that’s a start.’ He said, ‘You’re right, you’re right, coach.’ “

As for teammate Demarcus Robinson, who will be a junior, he’s getting a lot of letters from colleges, Schartz said.

I’m kind of interested in what Schartz said about offensive linemen, so I looked at Rivals.com’s list of offensive tackles –  but 26 of 51 have schools where they’ve committed.

And then there’s the story of Brayden Burris from Bishop Carroll, who committed to K-State the September of his junior year (2006). And K-State then asked him to gray-shirt.

Here’s the story that I wrote in February below — it’s long because we don’t have a link to it on our Web site anymore.

Is K-State being honest here about Duranleau? I don’t know. I really don’t. I’m no coach or recruiter. But I do know that Burris was fortunate to get a scholarship with Iowa State after KSU informed him — at such a late date — that he would be gray-shirted. I can only go by what I’ve seen, and I would be leery.

Here’s the story:

As Bishop Carroll offensive lineman Brayden Burris contemplated signing with Iowa State later Thursday, he sounded like most recruits.

“I feel really good about it,” he said. “I like the atmosphere at Iowa State, all the coaches were great, and they have a really good program.”

It would be fair to say, however, that he’s just glad to get a scholarship. And not because he’s less than worthy. No, it’s because he had to scramble to find a college that would sign him.

Burris desperately wanted to avoid the lengthy chaos that is college football recruiting. So when Kansas State offered him a scholarship in September 2006, he happily accepted.

But less than two weeks before Wednesday’s signing day, K-State coach Ron Prince asked him to grayshirt.

In other words, if he enrolled in September, he’d pay his own way, attend school on a part-time basis and work out on his own - he wouldn’t be able to participate in any team functions. In January 2009, he’d be on scholarship, meaning he’d be a full-time student - but he’d likely have to redshirt the following the season.

He’d probably spend two entire seasons on the sideline.

“They brought it up, they’d never discussed it until the very last second,” said Burris (6-foot-7, 250 pounds). “It was a bit of a shock.

“It seems, I don’t know how you want to call it, it seems shady.”

But he didn’t have any recourse, even though he had spurned other colleges who came calling in late 2006 and all of 2007.

“I just think it was poor communication on (K-State’s) part, to notify a kid 13 days before the signing date,” Carroll coach Alan Schuckman said. ” . . . It’s not like he backed out of his two-year commitment.”

It’s also why Schuckman would like to see a signing opportunity before a recruit’s senior season. Just like basketball has.

“It would protect the school, protect the kid,” he said. “And that way the kids can focus on their senior year and academics.”

Schuckman wasn’t about to let Burris, an All-Metro and All-Class 5A selection, end up with nothing.

“I started contacting the people that had been through here that wanted to look at him and talk to that he chose not to,” Schuckman said.

He called Southern Methodist, Texas A&M, Mississippi, Miami (Ohio), Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa State.

“There was a lot of interest,” Schuckman said, “but most schools had accounted for all their scholarships and they weren’t going to tell someone else they were taking theirs away because they found someone better. They were going to keep their word.”

Iowa State came through and Burris made a recruiting visit last weekend.

And Burris will still have a chance to play in the Big 12.

“That’s awesome,” he said.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.