Kansas football signings of Calvin Clements and Jaden Hamm show in-state belief in rebuild

LAWRENCE — The recruiting doesn’t stop for Kansas football, even with the announcement of 12 signees Wednesday during the early signing period for its 2023 recruiting class.

The potential to bring in one or more high school players exists. So, too, does the opportunity to add transfers from the college level — which the Jayhawks already have commitments for. But as the second year of head coach Lance Leipold’s rebuild continues, the signing of a couple of high-profile in-state talents in this class has brought added attention to it.

Calvin Clements is a 6-foot-7 and 290-pound offensive lineman from Lawrence Free State High School, who 247Sports Composite rankings have at No. 7 in the state. Jaden Hamm is a 6-foot-5 and 225-pound tight end from Eudora High School, and ranked No. 6 in the state. And their additions showcase a further belief around those in the state in the trajectory Kansas is on.

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“I could not be more excited,” Leipold said. “I think it says a lot about them. It says a lot about our program, what the players and coaches have done, and the impact that I think they’ll continue to have in the local community and really within the state. And hopefully future recruits are going to take notice of that in their decisions.”

The surprising, bowl-eligible run the Jayhawks went on this season was always going to be something that had the potential to create momentum around future high school recruits, than those in the 2023 class. Relationships in recruiting are built over a far greater period of time than the last handful of months. But Kansas was able to benefit from it, and other aspects of the program, more immediately.

Clements had been committed to another Big 12 Conference program, Baylor, before he decommitted and chose the Jayhawks. Hamm had been committed to a Southeastern Conference program, Arkansas, before he decommitted and chose the Jayhawks. And the two far and away became the top two rated signees for Kansas as of their signings.

Leipold doesn’t think he and his staff ever put on any heavy pressure on Clements and Hamm to sign. What they accomplished, from Leipold’s perspective, came from natural conversations. There was just a small crack the Jayhawks were able to use to flip the recruitments.

“I told both of them and their families, it is amazing the transformation of maturity to see from the very first time they sat in my office to the point that they have,” Leipold said. “And what I just mean is, having conversations with adults. That’s hard when you're 16, 17 years old and you’re just new at it. And then you go through all these things, and how they articulated their feelings of why.”

Leipold continued to say Clements and Hamm didn’t just talk about how Kansas was doing, but their family connections and other aspects of their lives. That’s when Leipold could tell their considerations were deeper than the size of a stadium or things of that nature. And then the improvements the Jayhawks committed to, ahead of the Liberty Bowl matchup Dec. 28 against Arkansas, were able to help close some of the other gaps.

Leipold didn’t detail just how much the upcoming stadium and facility renovations were in either Clements’ of Hamm’s recruitments. Leipold didn’t speak to the significance of the contract extensions for himself or offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki in them either. But it seems those all played their part, as did the uptick in fan support over the course of the season.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Calvin Clements, Jaden Hamm sign to play football at Kansas