The Kansas Jayhawks basketball program has yet to receive a commitment from any 2016 recruits, but that is definitely going to change. They may be close to receiving their first commitment, as four-star center Schnider Herard has cut his list down to five schools and scheduled three official visits including Kansas, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com.
Herard is a 6-foot-10 center from Plano, Texas, and his final five schools are Kansas, California, Purdue, Mississippi State and Texas Tech. Herard will be visiting Mississippi State from Sept. 11-13, Texas Tech from Sept. 25-27 and Kansas from Oct. 9-11. All of the final five schools besides Purdue have set up in home visits with Herard and his family as well.
Bill Self has been recruiting Herard himself and seems to be very high on him. As of right now, Kansas is the early favorite to land the talented center, according to 247 Sports. Kansas was also able to land one of the top big man recruits in the 2015 class in Cheick Diallo, but his eligibility is a question mark, and he is also a potential one-and-done player, which means Herard would likely be able to come in and get plenty of playing time as a freshman.
Rankings are all over the place on Herard, as Scout has him as the 39th best player in the class while 247 has him as the 43rd best and ESPN has him as 69th best player overall and ninth best center. Herard has only been playing organized basketball for a year, so his lack of experience is probably why there is such a big fluctuation in his rankings, but the fact that he is unanimously top 100 shows what kind of talent he has.
Herard's best assets are his length and superior athleticism, as he is great at running the floor and playing above the rim. He will need to work on polishing his offensive game in the low post and his hands, but overall he is someone that, with a little coaching, can have a major impact at a big school. Herard has major upside and would be a very nice start to Kansas' 2016 recruiting class or whichever of the five schools lands the center.
