Miami offers On300 Kansas prospect hoping for fall visit

Miami’s recruiting ties to Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas are well-documented, but an Overland Park (Ks.) St. Thomas Aquinas 2025 prospect has caught the Hurricanes’ attention.

Julian Marks, the No. 170 overall prospect in next year’s recruiting class and No. 16 defensive lineman in the On300, has already landed more than 20 offers including Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Oklahoma, among others, and Miami took note of the 6-foot-7, 255-pound prospect by offering him in early August. The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine lists Kansas and Kansas State as the early frontrunners for Marks, although he intends on visiting more schools.

“I was surprised that they had interest in me,” Marks said. “They made a group chat with me at 12 a.m. exactly (Aug. 1, the first day coaches were permitted to have direct contact with 2025 recruits). Coach (Mario) Cristobal and all of the defensive line coaches and myself were in there. I was with my friends. I was really excited and surprised.”

Cristobal and co-defensive line coaches Joe Salave’a and Jason Taylor led the way in the group chat, which was joined by multiple analysts and quality control assistants like Edwin Pata, an offensive line analyst. Marks is “very interested” in the Hurricanes after receiving the offer and wants to visit Coral Gables this fall, although a specific date is yet to be determined.

He has taken multiple unofficial visits to Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Oklahoma. He attended Notre Dame’s end-of-July recruiting cookout and visited Arkansas this spring.

“(Miami has) always been a dominant program,” Marks said. “They’re really excited to start building a relationship with me.”

Marks said he doesn’t have a list of top schools at the moment, but Oklahoma, USC, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Tennessee have made the strongest recruiting efforts. The Canes’ staff did not tell him where they envision him playing or specify what they like most about him.

CaneSport’s Take

Notre Dame, Kansas and Kansas State have made strong impressions with Marks early on, and all three have picked up their recruiting efforts since the start of August. Oklahoma and Missouri could be programs to watch as well, but the Jayhawks and Wildcats seem to understand the importance of not letting one of the two listed four-star prospects in the 2025 class leave the state.

Miami’s staff has pushed to bring him to campus since he received the offer, but it will have to battle more than a dozen other programs hoping to bring him to their respective schools for games this fall.

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