KU announces signing of guard Latrell Jossell to national letter-of-intent
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self on Friday announced the signing of combo guard Latrell Jossell to a national letter-of-intent.
Jossell, a 6-foot, 160-pound Chicago native who now plays for Central High School in Keller, Texas, announced his commitment to KU on Twitter on Thursday night. He had a signing ceremony at the high school on Friday. He told The Star he also heard from Longwood, Georgia State, South Dakota State, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, New Mexico, Southern Illinois and Louisiana Tech in the recruiting process.
“Jerrance (Howard, KU assistant) and I became involved with Latrell late in the process, not until this fall. He came up for Late Night (in the Phog and after having a chance to visit with Latrell and his family, I knew he was the type of young man we want in our program,” Self said of Jossell, an unranked three-star according to Rivals.com. “He’s very impressive. He’s far better than his rating. He’s extremely fast and can really shoot. He would challenge to be as good a shooter as anyone on our team right now.”
Jossell averaged 13.2 points per game as a freshman at Central, 13.8 points his sophomore year and 18.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game his junior season in 2018-19 for coach Gerald Sledge. Jossell has made 162 threes in his three seasons at Central, including 54 last year, making him 38% from beyond the arc.
“Latrell is very aware we were recruiting other guys,” Self said. “He’s happy with whatever role he will have early in his career. We see him as being a player that will help us by his energy and by his presence in our program. We think he’s going to develop into a really solid Big 12 player.”
Jossell plays for YCG36 on the AAU circuit and was a teammate of current Jayhawk freshman Jalen Wilson and fellow KU signee Gethro Muscadin.
Jossell joins high school forward Muscadin (ranked No. 131 by Rivals.com), junior college guard Tyon Grant-Foster and high school senior guard Bryce Thompson (ranked No. 19) who signed earlier this week. KU’s recruiting class is now ranked seventh nationally by Rivals.com. KK Robinson, a guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, says he will choose either Arkansas or KU on Nov. 28. Arkansas is believed the favorite.
The early signing period runs until next Wednesday. KU, which entered the 2019-20 season with 12 scholarship players (one under the limit of 13), now projects to be one over the limit for next season following the departure of seniors Udoka Azubuike and Isaiah Moss.
One or more non-senior players are expected to turn pro following the 2019-20 season, meaning Self certainly is not through recruiting.
