🎙 The Jayhawker Podcast | Football Recruiting with Coach Joshua Eargle

Episode 31: Football Recruiting with Coach Joshua Eargle | August 13, 2020

Every football season, there’s a handful of new freshman Jayhawks for fans to get excited about. Their high school careers over, now they’re ready for the bright lights of major college football. But how do they get discovered? And what goes into getting them to Lawrence?

The world of major college football recruiting is a wild one, and there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to secure a commitment. It’s months and years of planning, travel, visits and watching film.

In this episode, staff recruiting coordinator Josh Eargle takes you behind the scenes and inside the program, and explains how it all works. He also spotlights just how much the Jayhawk Football program has to sell and the charismatic football salesmen and women doing the pitching.

“I think the University of Kansas sells itself,” said Eargle. “I think this football program has had spots and glimpses of greatness in its past and when you add a Hall of Fame head football coach and put him on this campus, it’s an unbelievable matchup and it’s one that people are taking notice of from coast to coast in America, wanting to be Jayhawks.”

Eargle was well aware of what he’d have a chance to sell when it came to Les Miles and his coaching resume – the two worked together before at LSU in 2009 – but he was blown away once he had the chance to tour the Kansas facilities including the Anderson Family Football Complex, it’s recently renovated locker rooms and the brand new KU Football indoor practice facility.

“Any great salesman in any industry better have a great product and the University of Kansas is a phenomenal product,” stated Eargle. “Our facilities are second to none.”

Now Eargle and the rest of the KU coaches are trying to build a roster that will help Kansas restore its winning tradition. Thankfully, Miles has assembled a staff of excellent recruiters.

“I think you’re dealing with a staff of unbelievably passionate men. You talk about passion. We’ve got a passion for football, for developing young men,” described Eargle. “This is an elite group of men and recruiters. There’s not a coach on our staff or anybody in our building that’s isn’t here to recruit highly successful young men – student-athletes who can also perform in the classroom and in our community.”

And that collection of passionate and talented recruiters is headlined by a head coach whose accomplishments are only exceeded by his relentless work ethic.

“His work ethic is ridiculous. It really is,” marveled Eargle. “His day is planned out minute by minute. We may have a break here and there, (The staff) may try to go sneak a workout in or whatever, but Coach Miles is sneaking to go get another recruiting phone call in.”

And when KU head coach is working the phones, his authentic approach really shines.

“We’ve got one of the best closers in the business (in Coach Miles),” said Eargle. “He’s so genuine and relationship-driven that that comes through in his conversations. He makes you feel really, really comfortable with his vision and how he’s going to take care of you as a football player here at Kansas.”

But before a player’s recruitment gets to the point of being contacted by a positional coach or eventually Coach Miles, what all does the evaluation process entail? What measures are taken by the recruiting staff to make for the most effective in-home and on-campus recruiting visits? And what’s the ultimate vision that Miles and his staff have for the future of Kansas Football? On this episode of The Jayhawker, Eargle breaks down all those questions and more and gives you an insider’s look at how college football recruiting works at the University of Kansas.