Point guard Dajuan Harris commits to Kansas

photo by: Darryl Woods/810 Varsity

Class of 2019 commitment Dajuan Harris, who announced his decision to attend Kansas on July 16, 2019.

The Kansas men’s basketball program has found a taker for its 13th and final scholarship for the 2019-20 roster.

Dajuan Harris, a fast-rising 3-star point guard who is destined to crack the top 100 and earn a 4-star rating from Rivals.com when the updated ratings are released, announced his commitment to Kansas via Twitter on Tuesday night, just before 9 p.m.

A recent graduate of Rock Bridge High in Columbia, Mo., Harris plans to stay in the 2019 class — instead of taking a prep school year at Sunrise Christian Academy and reclassifying to 2020 — and is expected to begin classes at KU this fall.

Harris has been taking online classes this summer in order to make the move back to 2019 possible and has to finish up that work to clear the way for the move to KU.

Harris told KUsports.com recruiting insider Matt Scott that he hoped to arrive in Lawrence sometime next month.

A 6-foot-2, jet-quick point guard with good speed and vision, Harris announced his commitment via Twitter and included an edit of him in a white Kansas jersey — wearing No. 13 — with the words “110% committed” attached to the Tweet.

After initially committing to Missouri State as a member of the Class of 2019, Harris changed gears and temporarily reclassified into the 2020 class. But after recently receiving a release from his commitment to Missouri State and reopening his recruitment, Harris began fielding offers from some high-major programs, including Kansas.

That was just the beginning of his rise.

For MOKAN Elite AAU coach Chris Neff, who has seen it all and helped coach a lot of players to the Division I level, the past couple of weeks were as crazy as anything he had seen with a single player. And Neff credits Harris for his demeanor through it all in helping him land Tuesday’s outcome.

“This is just a culmination of hard work and him being committed to keeping his head down and running the race,” Neff told the Journal-World late Tuesday.

A strong showing at the Peach Jam AAU tournament in Georgia last weekend — he averaged more than eight assists per game in helping lead MOKAN Elite to the title — put Harris firmly on the national map and led to his decision to pick Kansas on Tuesday night.

Harris has strong connections to a couple of members of KU’s current roster — freshman Christian Braun, sophomore Ochai Agbaji and junior walk-on Chris Teahan all played for MOKAN — and also developed strong relationships with KU’s coaching staff.

“I’m very excited,” Harris told the Journal-World shortly after committing. “They made me feel like home and believed in me.”

Added Harris of what he will add to the KU roster: “Defense! Like taking charges and diving on the floor for loose balls. On the offensive side I’m going to make everyone around me better and set my teammates up for great shots — basically a playmaker.”

Neff agreed with both assessments and said that MOKAN assistant coach Dave Milliren was locked into Harris’ potential earlier than most.

“I’ll never forget it,” Neff began. “Three years ago, when he first joined our 17U team, I asked coach Dave Milliren, ‘What level do you think Dajuan is?’ And he looked at me immediately, like snapping his fingers, and said, ‘Oh, he’s a blue blood. He’s blue blood on his defense and deflections alone.’ The kid has some Stacey Augmon length, going way back. You don’t want to be defended by this kid.”

Harris becomes the fifth freshman to join KU’s 2019 recruiting class — all five will be 4-star prospects if Harris, as expected, gets the bump in his rating — and the sixth newcomer to join the Jayhawks this offseason, with senior graduate transfer Isaiah Moss (Iowa) being added to a freshman class that includes Braun, Issac McBride, Tristan Enaruna, Jalen Wilson and Harris.