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KC area’s top seniors tell recruiting stories
We asked Rivals.com recruiting editor Jeremy Crabtree to rank the top five high school football players in the Kansas City area. The Star’s staff asked each player about his college choice and recruiting experience.
1. Andrew Jones•HIGH SCHOOL: Smithville
•HT., WT., POS.: 6-5, 228, tight end
•COLLEGE CHOICE: Missouri.
•RECRUITING EXPERIENCE: “It was nice having people tell you they love you, even though they don’t. I liked going to all the different stadiums and different games. I’d never had a chance to see Oklahoma and Texas play in the Red River Shootout, or I would have never had a chance to watch USC play at Arkansas.”
•WHY NOT K-STATE, KU? “My family is so pro-Missouri. Just growing up in Missouri my whole life …. I’ve always been in Missouri. If I can pan out and do some good things, then maybe I can be a legend around Missouri. That’s something I want to achieve.”
2. Spencer Ladner•HIGH SCHOOL: Pembroke Hill
•HT., WT., POS.: 6-7, 245, tight end
•COLLEGE CHOICE: California
•RECRUITING EXPERIENCE: “I hadn’t had any exposure at all until I sent out the tapes, and it took about three months for somebody to call me. I always wanted to go to Cal, and sometime in April they called me. That was probably the greatest moment of the whole recruiting thing.”
And the not-so-great moment? “I grew up a huge KU basketball fan, so going to the Mizzou game (on a recruiting trip) was kind of hard for me and my family.”
•WHY NOT KU, K-STATE, MU? “So many kids from my school always go to Kansas. It seems like the thing that everyone does. I kinda wanted to separate myself from that. Do something out of the norm.”
3. Aldon Smith•HIGH SCHOOL: Raytown
•HT., WT., POS.: 6-5, 235, defensive end
•COLLEGE CHOICE: Missouri
•RECRUITING EXPERIENCE: “The beginning was really fun because it kind of caught me off guard and everything. That was really fun, seeing everybody that wanted to talk to you.”
•WHY NOT K-STATE, KU? “Missouri was just different. They were just different than those other schools … . The coaching staff made it feel more like a family.”
4. Kyler Reed•HIGH SCHOOL: St. Thomas Aquinas
•HT., WT., POS.: 6-3, 204, wide receiver
•COLLEGE CHOICE: Nebraska.
•RECRUITING EXPERIENCE: “The best thing was going to the USC-Nebraska game for free. What was cool about that was I went up there (to Nebraska) and some of the fans already knew who I was and where I went to school. Me and my dad were walking down the street and some guy knew we had just beaten BV North the night before.”
•WHY NOT MU, K-STATE, KU? “One of the reasons I didn’t look into Missouri more was because I was a Nebraska and KU fan, so naturally I just hated Missouri. … Really the only reason I didn’t go to KU is because I decided to go to Nebraska.”
5. Sean Ransburg•HIGH SCHOOL: Harrisonville
•HT., WT., POS.: 6-1, 185, quarterback
•COLLEGE CHOICE: Kansas
•RECRUITING EXPERIENCE: “The down part was telling some of the schools that had spent a lot of time recruiting me that I wasn’t coming there. The best part was just getting the decision made and getting that off my shoulders.”
•WHY NOT K-STATE, MU? “(Those two schools) were kind of delayed. They took the process slower. They wanted to figure out where I fit into their team. KU jumped right out there and said they wanted me no matter where I played.”