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Big 12 spotlight: Five assistants off to hot starts for 2018

Spring football has taken over Texas and college coaches have been making the rounds and handing out offers. Five of those assistants in the Big 12 have done an exceptional job so far in helping get their teams’ classes started off right in 2018.

RELATED: Five hot assistants in Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Pac-12

TONY HULL - Kansas

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Biggest gets: Devonta Jason, Corione Harris

What he’s done: Kansas turned the football recruiting world upside down when it snagged the commitments of Jason, Harris, Ja’Marr Chase, and Aaron Brule earlier this spring, and Hull is the catalyst. A former player at Louisiana-Lafayette, his connections in the state have made for an unlikely exodus to the Midwest. When you add the commitment of running back Anthony Williams, he’s already accounted for at least a quarter of the Jayhawks’ potential class. Even though Chase has since backed off his commitment, to maintain the commitments of the others is a pretty impressive way to start changing the perception of the Kansas program.

JOEY MCGUIRE - Baylor

Biggest get: Josh Fleeks

What he’s done: One of the more shrewd hires by Matt Rhule upon his hire at Baylor was to quickly add McGuire to his staff. The former head coach at Cedar Hill High School outside of Dallas got to work quickly, winning over in-state players just ahead of National Signing Day 2017 and has continued to have success early in 2018, as well. Fleeks is a major playmaker at Cedar Hill and his commitment to the Bears has much to do with his relationship to his former head coach. McGuire has played a part in re-connecting Baylor with its in-state talent and has had a hand in securing most of the Bears’ commits from Texas.

MIKE STOOPS - Oklahoma

Biggest get: Miguel Edwards

What he’s done: Although news on the recruiting front hasn’t been the greatest lately for the Sooners, they still have the third-ranked class in the conference to this point, and a big part of that has been the way Stoops has recruited defensive players in 2018. Edwards is a four-star cornerback from South Florida and he got a two-for-one deal out of Tulsa-Union with three-star prospects Jordan Kelley and Patrick Fields. Stoops, who coaches linebackers — and picked up a nice class of them in 2017 — will no doubt try and at least pluck a few in 2018 such as Alston Orji or Brian Asamoah.

JOSH HENSON - Oklahoma State

Biggest get: Bryce Bray

What he’s done: Oklahoma State has seen an uptick in recent weeks, picking up multiple commitments at a variety of positions. One of the most recent was from Texas offensive lineman Tyrese Williams, who joins Bray as another strong interior player out of a group of four commitments along the offensive line. With fellow three-stars Hunter Woodard and Hunter Anthony rounding out the group, the Cowboys have stacked up 10 total commitments in 2018 for a Top 15 ranking.

EMMETT JONES - Texas Tech

Biggest get: Jaylon Robinson

What he’s done: No surprise that the wide receivers coach for one of the top college offenses in the country has done well so far in 2018. Robinson, who is starting to see more attention on the recruiting trail after some impressive spring camp performances, is looking like a very smart target. Denton-Ryan standout Gabriel Douglas committed to Tech after his first discussion with Jones. Even though he announced his decommitment Friday morning, Giddings WR Treveon Johnson had been committed thanks to Jones, who also helped secure the commitment of junior college transfer Myron Mitchell. When a product sells itself as well as the Red Raiders offense, Jones has a pretty strong sales pitch with recruits.

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