Kansas football recruiting

Jack Utz, a tight end from Platte County High School in Missouri, announced on Tuesday afternoon his intention to join the Kansas football team as part of its class of 2026.

A three-star prospect who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 225 pounds, Utz becomes KU’s 11th commitment in the class. That number currently leads the nation, according to Rivals’ recruiting rankings, a metric that provides one indication of how quickly the Jayhawks’ staff is assembling a group of freshman for next season. The majority of those commitments have come since Saturday night, and seven overall in the last week.

Utz had a host of power-conference scholarship offers at his disposal, including from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ole Miss and Wisconsin in the SEC and Big Ten, as well as several of KU’s Big 12 rivals. He visited Lawrence for the Junior Day event surrounding Saturday’s men’s basketball game against Houston.

Utz is KU’s first tight end commitment since assistant coach Matt Lubick returned to KU from Nevada and assumed the role of co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. He also could become the Jayhawks’ first signee since Carson Bruhn in the 2024 class, after former commitment Joeseph Skipworth in 2025 ended up flipping to Mississippi State.

Utz represents another local commitment for KU, since he hails from the Kansas City metropolitan area, albeit outside the state of Kansas itself, where the Jayhawks have done most of their work in the 2026 class.