Chris Harper Wide Open
By Matt Scott
Phog.net Recruiting Analyst
Posted Jun 19, 2007
After having a leader in his recruitment just a few short months ago, Chris Harper explains why he now is wide open.
Chris Harper has had some surprises happen in his recruitment recently. At one time, Chris had expressed that Kansas State was his leader, but that is no longer the case. Now, schools that he didn’t even know were looking at him have made big moves up his list.
“Illinois, Cal and Michigan have now offered. Kansas State was my leader, but now more schools have become involved and I want to make sure I look at all my options before I make one school a leader,” said Harper.
The interesting thing about Michigan and California is that Harper hadn’t heard anything from them before he received an offer.
“Michigan and California just showed up at my school and offered one day,” said Harper on his recruitment. “It was in the middle of May. It was a huge surprise that they both offered. Notre Dame told me they are waiting to get my ACT scores before offering. I took the ACT last weekend, and I think I did good.”
With schools like Notre Dame, Michigan, Cal, and Illinois now hoping they can get Harper on their campuses, local schools are still very much in the mix for Chris. Kansas State no longer leads for the 6’2” athlete, but he still likes them.
“I don’t want to be in a little town, but somewhere close to a big city,” added Harper. “Kansas State is different because they are close to home and I know a lot about them.”
Kansas seems to fit Harper’s desire to be at a program that is close to a big city with Lawrence being only 30 minutes from Kansas City. The improvements at Kansas have also left an impression on Harper.
“I know a lot about Kansas,” said Harper on the Jayhawks. “I know a lot about their coaches and the staff, and the direction that they are trying to take the program. I also think the renovations and construction of the new facilities are going to be great for the program.”
Kansas also has left the door open for Chris to play QB at ku.
“Right now, they are telling me that they are going to re-evaluate me when my football season starts,” Harper said. “They’ll look at me at QB then, but I could also play wide receiver there too. Missouri is also a place I could see myself playing QB at. They play a similar style that we do at my high school and MU has said that I would play either QB or WR there too. I like them a lot too.”
With three new schools offering in Cal, Illinois, and Michigan, and the possibility of Notre Dame offering soon, it would seem that it might take Harper a long time to decide where he will play in the fall of 2008.
“I want to make a list of my final five schools by time my season starts. Then, I plan on making official visits and then deciding pretty quickly after that,” said Harper.
Since Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri being so close, Harper doesn’t know if he’ll be making official visits to those schools, but he does plan on visiting all three again before deciding. He will also make unofficial visits to Notre Dame, Illinois, and Michigan in early July. Harper also wants to make trips to Okalahoma State and Texas A&M before summers end.
I'm not sure how to interpret that in regards to our chances. There's a "I want to be near a big city" and then there's a "K-state is different."
