KU linebacker coach Todd Bradford was al smiles during practice on Tuesday.

Kansas hasn’t done as well in Missouri in general and Kansas City in particular as proximity might lead one to believe.

Former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel did a great job of keeping prospects in state. The fact Pinkel had so little staff turnover helped.

But Pinkel’s gone and Bill Snyder presumably won’t remain the Kansas State coach forever, so now’s a good time for Kansas to plant recruiting seeds in the Kansas City area and beyond in the state of Missouri.

The timing works out well for KU because the Class of 2018 reportedly is one of the deepest in the history of Missouri.

“Todd Bradford has been pretty visible from the Missouri side of Kansas City,” said Jon Kirby of Rivals.com. “At Kansas’ junior day, several of the top prospects in the state of Missouri were there and a lot of that is because of the early work that Bradford has put in.”

Kirby said that at least 18 players from Missouri have received at least one offer from a power-five conference school and Kansas has offered scholarships to seven Missouri football players, six from the Kansas City area.

Cartez Crook-Jones, a 6-4, 230-pound defensive end from Grandview, Mo., already has made a verbal commitment to Kansas and was recruited by Bradford, KU’s linebackers coach.
KU has made offers to four of the Missouri prospects ranked in the top 10 in the state by Rivals:

1 – Trevor Trout, 6-3, 295, DT, St. Louis;

4 – Mario Goodrich, 6-2, 180, athlete, Lee’s Summit;

6 – Daniel Carson, 6-5, 270, DE, Independence.

9 – Daniel Parker, 6-4, 245, DT, Blue Springs.

Clint Bowen recruits Kansas City players from the Kansas side.

“KU was the first to offer several of the guys on the Kansas side,” Kirby said.