Northside cornerback RJ Lester commits to Kansas State after taking unofficial visit
Northside 2023 cornerback RJ. Lester announced his commitment to Big 12 Kansas State Thursday after an unofficial visit to a place that he said felt like Fort Smith.
“The Manhattan campus reminded me a lot of Fort Smith, my hometown,” Lester said. “It’s a small town, not too much going on, but there are things to do and so, that kind of helped my decision.”
Although the prospect has zero stars on 247 Composite, his Grizzlies coach Felix Curry, who had been the defensive coordinator there since 2013 prior to Jan., said in May that “his ceiling is as high as anybody that I have coached.” This lengthy list includes about 20 defensive backs who have played in Division I and five in the NFL, including starters James Butler, Deon Grant and Tre Norwood.
While Lester had limited playing time as a sophomore, the Arkansas All-7A Central selection as a junior had 58 tackles and four interceptions despite playing through broken hands.
Lester attended a prospect camp at Kansas State about a year ago and linebackers coach Steve Stanard attended Northside’s first-ever football combine on May 2.
In Lester, the staff saw a 6-foot-2, 185-pound cornerback who had the 4.48 speed to match the physical play captured on film. They found a fit in the prospect for its defense that utilizes three high safeties in quarters coverage and Lester saw a matching scheme that resembles concepts run at Northside.
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While Lester said he didn’t feel like the program did anything extravagant to recruit him, he said that he didn’t need for it to be that way and leaned toward the program after its consistent expression of interest.
“Just the relationships I had built with the guys up there in coach (Steve) Stanard, coach (Van) Malone, all of those guys,” Lester said. “They sent mail to my house, they texted me every day. They just really showed that they wanted me to be there and continued to ask me to want to come up there throughout the summer and I just feel like it was a place FOR ME, like it would be a home FOR ME.
“They really cared about how I felt about the program and cared about how my father felt about the program. They were really adamant about getting my dad up there so we could see and my parents could really see how the campus was and how the program was built.”
In addition to Kansas State, Lester has received offers from Tulsa, Tulane and has received interest LSU.
Lester is undecided on his college major.
The Wildcats finished 8-5 last season and defeated LSU 42-20 in the Jan. 4 TaxAct Texas Bowl.
Under current coach Chris Klieman, it has been 20-16, which is the most wins for any Kansas State coach in their first three seasons. With a 92-29 career record, his 76% winning percentage ranks third among current FBS coaches that have led programs for at least nine seasons, behind only Clemson's Dabo Swinney (80.6%) and Alabama's Nick Saban (80.0%).
On July 30, 2021, it was announced that Big 12 members Oklahoma and Texas' board of regents each accepted invitations to join the SEC down the road, but Lester said conference re-alignment didn't weigh into the college decision.
"At the end of the day, it's still Power-Five football," Lester said. "I'm going to be lined up against NFL-caliber guys every Saturday regardless of what Power-Five conference I go to, so that didn't really matter. It was about the people and the area that I was going to."
You can follow Bryant Roche on Twitter @BRocheSports and you can email him at BRoche@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: RJ Lester of Northside commits to Kansas State
