The three-star prospect, per Rivals.com, who played a huge role in Eudora’s strong rushing attack, told JayhawkSlant that seeing KU’s fast rise during the past season played a big role in his decision to switch his commitment.

Kotelnicki was the lead recruiter for KU in its pursuit of Hamm, and the relationship really picked up steam after Arkansas’ tight ends coach decided to leave for another SEC program.

“The man is an absolute character,” Hamm told JayhawkSlant. “The tight ends coach who recruited me to Arkansas was the same, and Coach K would definitely be one of the only other coaches it would be an honor to be coached by. I’m really glad that I have this opportunity to be with him and be coached by him.”

Hamm took an unofficial visit to KU before his junior year and just recently visited Kansas on an official capacity, during which he was hosted by KU’s starting QB.

“I looked at my itinerary and I saw that my host was Jalon Daniels and I was like, ‘I got the real deal,'” Hamm told Kirby.

Ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 8 prospect in Kansas and No. 25 overall tight end in the nation, Hamm’s addition, along with the recent flip by Free State offensive lineman Calvin Clements, from Baylor to KU, gives the Jayhawks two of the top eight prospects in the state in the 2023 class.

According to Rivals, it marks the first time in five years that KU has accomplished such a feat on the recruiting trail.

Hamm and a handful of other KU commitments are expected to sign during the early period, which runs from Wednesday through Friday.

National signing day remains the first Wednesday in February, but most programs, including KU, have made a heavy shift toward signing the bulk of their classes during the early period in December, when high school and junior college prospects are now allowed to sign for enrollment the following fall.

Kicker commits

Late last week, Kansas landed a commitment from Texas State place kicker Seth Keller, who hit 14 of 16 field goal attempts this season, with a long of 49 yards.

Keller has been the TSU kicker for the past three seasons, making better than 86% of his field goal tries (37 of 43) during that time.

According to JayhawkSlant.com, Keller recently took a visit to James Madison and had another scheduled to Memphis. North Carolina also began pursuing Keller in recent weeks.

But he told Jon Kirby that he picked KU because of the buy-in to culture that Lance Leipold and his team have established in a short period of time.

Keller visited Kansas recently and met several of KU’s specialists and the coaching staff. He told Kirby that the coaches said they liked his consistency.

Keller has been angling for a Power 5 opportunity and he said he was thrilled to have finally landed one.

“It feels awesome,” he told Kirby. “It’s exciting to know where I am going to be and (I’m) ready to get going and get to work.”

The 2022 Jayhawks struggled in the kicking game, with redshirt junior Jacob Borcila making seven of 13 field goal attempts this season, including just four of 10 over 30 yards. Borcila was 48 of 48 on extra points.