Kansas football recruiting

Lucas Smalls-Allen, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound three-star defensive tackle from Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia, announced his commitment to the Kansas football class of 2026 on Friday morning.

He joins recent addition Carter among the defensive tackles, as well as ends Hunter Higgins and Draeden Punt on the defensive line.

Smalls-Allen is the 19th member of KU’s 2026 class and could be the last for a while barring any unexpected changes, given the Jayhawks’ relatively low number of reported uncommitted visitors over the course of June — because they already had so many players committed earlier in the year.

Smalls-Allen is also the lone player from Georgia in the class, following in the footsteps of wide receiver Jackson Cook from last year’s group.

During his junior season, Smalls-Allen tallied 71 tackles, including 16 for loss with 11 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles, according to 247Sports. He has also been a state qualifier in the shot put.

He chose KU over Wake Forest, one of two other power-conference schools to offer him a scholarship, along with UCF. KU offered Smalls-Allen in May as it was trying to secure its second defensive tackle of the class; it ended up losing Landen Anderson and getting both Carter and Smalls-Allen in rapid succession.

It may now be a quiet rest of the summer on the recruiting trail for KU football. One other marquee target, the top player in the state in Great Bend tight end Ian Premer, spurned both in-state schools as well as Iowa State and made a surprise pledge to Notre Dame on Thursday.