Once committed to Arkansas, this Kansas Jayhawks tight end is impressing new teammates

Freshman tight end Jaden Hamm hasn’t been on the Kansas football team very long, but he’s already made quite an impression on his Jayhawks teammates.

Hamm enrolled early and joined KU this spring after flipping his commitment from Arkansas.

“Jaden has done good; he’s had a really good spring,” KU offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. “I said this in the spring, but I was going to prom (at his age) when he was playing Division I football.

“He’s still growing. He’s learning it (the playbook). It’s good to see him amongst his peers. Some of the other kids in his class showed up in the summer ... to kind of help: ‘Hey, here’s what it’s like when we start practicing.’”

KU’s tight ends room is a close-knit group, but Hamm has fit right in.

“He’s like one of us now,” fellow tight end Jared Casey said. “We all have good relationships when he’s in the room and he knows what it’s going to take.

“He just came in right away and expressed himself and we just kind of accepted him. He fit in right away.”

It might help that KU’s older tight ends — Casey, Mason Fairchild and Trevor Kardell — have taken Hamm under their collective wing.

“Me, Jared and Trevor have done a good job mentoring him,” Fairchild said. “It is a huge jump that a lot of guys don’t expect coming in just the speed of the game and the complexity of the offense. We are trying to get him going.”

A Eudora, Kansas native, Hamm was initially committed to Arkansas but later flipped to KU. His signing day involved some theatrics: He picked up a Kansas State hat, raised it in the air, and said: “For my next four years of college ... hell no.”

He then threw the KSU hat to the side, picked up the KU hat and said: “For my next four years of college, I’m going to KU, baby. Rock Chalk.”

Fairchild pointed to Hamm and offensive lineman Calvin Clemence (who flipped from Baylor to KU) to illustrate how far the Jayhawks football program has come in the past couple of years.

“It’s great to see guys wanting to stick around at KU because they were both previously committed somewhere else,” Fairchild said. “But to see him flip to KU and join something that’s building is really special.”

Last season, KU’s tight ends group led the Big 12 in touchdowns. With the addition of Hamm, they want to be even better this fall.

“I think the easy thing to do is get content with what we did last year and not really put the work in because, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve arrived,’” Fairchild said. “Coach K reminds us every day — he pulled us aside the first day back after the bowl game like, ‘Hey, if we come in with this content attitude, we’re going to have a really disappointing season.’

“So I think from day one, we set the tone of not being content and really pushing to elevate the offense.”