Kansas football recruiting

The Kansas football team added its first offensive lineman in the 2026 recruiting class on Sunday morning when it earned the commitment of Malachi Mills, a tackle from Westfield, Indiana.

Mills, whose social media profile lists him at 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, is a three-star prospect out of Westfield High School, the same program that produced KU’s current backup quarterback Cole Ballard.

“I’m close friends with the Ballard family, so they were really pushing me and encouraging me to go,” Mills told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com. “Cole was a very influential person and making sure that the coaches knew all about me and put in the good word for me. Chris Ballard (Cole’s father, the Indianapolis Colts’ general manager) did the same.”

Kansas was the only known power-conference team to offer Mills, who also reported opportunities to play at Akron, Central Michigan, Colorado State, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Miami (Ohio), Toledo and Western Michigan.

Mills attended KU’s Junior Day event over the weekend and became the second player to commit immediately afterward, following Lawrence High linebacker Joshua Galbreath.

“The main thing that got me to commit was how much they cared for me and how special they made the visit,” Mills told Kirby. “They knew that I was making a long drive down there to come check them out, and they really did a good job just making me feel welcome.”

He becomes the seventh commitment overall in KU’s 2026 class and just the second from outside the state of Kansas.