Lance Leipold signed recruits who were ‘diamonds in the rough’ at UB, wants to do the same at KU

photo by: AP/ Photo Jeffrey T. Barnes

Buffalo Bulls running back Jaret Patterson (26) carries the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against the Akron Zips at UB stadium in Amherst, N.Y., Saturday Dec. 12, 2020. (AP/ Photo Jeffrey T. Barnes)

At no point during Lance Leipold’s run at the University of Buffalo did the football team sign a hyped or touted recruiting class. Nevertheless, the unheralded players the Bulls landed year after year helped Leipold and his staff turn around the UB program.

In recent years, the Bulls’ signing classes routinely ranked in the bottom half of the MAC, but Leipold and his staff guided those players to four consecutive winning seasons and three straight bowl appearances before Leipold left for Kansas.

Leipold discussed his reputation for finding under-the-radar prospects and developing them during his recent appearance on KU’s “Hawk Talk” radio show.

“I know people like to follow those rankings and stars and all those things. But a lot of times those stars — or lack of stars — motivate players more than ever before to prove people wrong,” Leipold said.

According to 247 Sports’ recruiting rankings, Buffalo only finished with a top 100 class in the country once during Leipold’s tenure. In that span, UB’s signing classes never ranked higher than seventh in the MAC.

“There’s parts of the country where maybe they don’t get evaluated as much,” Leipold said of the Bulls finding players who outperformed their recruiting rankings. “We like to find diamonds in the rough, so to speak, or guys that are going to have a chance.”

Just a couple of weeks back, former UB defensive end Malcolm Koonce got selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.

When Koonce signed with the Bulls in Leipold’s 2017 recruiting class, he was rated as a two-star prospect with no offers from Power Five programs.

Shortly after the draft concluded, three more Bulls found rookie free agent deals with NFL teams: running back Jaret Patterson (Washington), offensive lineman Kayode Awosika (Philadelphia) and wide receiver Antonio Nunn (Atlanta).

Just like Koonce, Patterson, the program’s breakout star running back over the past three seasons, was a two-star signee in UB’s 2017 recruiting class.

The year before, Nunn and Awosika joined the Bulls’ 2016 class as two-star signees.

“So you find those guys,” Leipold said. “Sometimes we’d say back then, Buffalo wasn’t going to be on their first list of schools, but once they had a chance to see our program, see what we had done in facilities, meet our staff, do some things, and all of the sudden opportunities are rising.”

Now at a Big 12 program, Leipold and his staff figure to have a larger pool of recruits than when he was at UB. And while he enjoys finding hidden gems on the recruiting trail, Leipold made sure to point out that KU will go after “high profile players,” too.

Reflecting upon how UB football improved during the past few seasons, Leipold said the program became “a place that people wanted to be.”

He envisions a similar shift taking place with KU football in the years ahead. What Leipold is inheriting is far from a destination program in Big 12 country. But that’s all right with him, because he just left a Buffalo job that didn’t have many perks when he arrived.

“That’s why we feel it’s such a fit,” Leipold said of his desire to revive the KU football program after breathing new life into UB football.

“Now it’s on a bigger stage and in a Power Five conference, but there are going to be some things that are very parallel that we want to try and carry over and really increase and pump it up a little bit,” he said.

Buffalo’s recruiting rankings under Lance Leipold

(247 Sports recruiting rankings)

2015 — 118th nationally, 11th MAC

2016 — 118th nationally, 9th MAC

2017 — 113th nationally, 9th MAC

2018 — 136th nationally, 12th MAC

2019 — 106th nationally, 7th MAC

2020 — 131st nationally, 12th MAC

2021 — 99th nationally, 8th MAC

COMMENTS

Welcome to the new LJWorld.com. Our old commenting system has been replaced with Facebook Comments. There is no longer a separate username and password login step. If you are already signed into Facebook within your browser, you will be able to comment. If you do not have a Facebook account and do not wish to create one, you will not be able to comment on stories.
[vivafbcomment]