Kansas hosts Florida four-star 2025 RB Justin Thurman, SEC heavy camp circuit set
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG
Roll over to Justin Thurman’s Twitter page, so it seems, every other day the four-star tailback is sharing another big-time offer received. The speedy 2025 back out of Tampa’s (Fla.) Jesuit High School is jumping on his recruiting process this summer setting out to college campuses near and far. South Florida hosted him, and on Saturday, Kansas got their chance to impress.
When RNG last caught up with Thurman in late April, Thurman had just visited Rutgers and Tennessee holding six offers. The windfall of offers has come Thurman’s way since with Kansas State, Coastal Carolina, Iowa, Vanderbilt, NC State, Indiana, UAB, Charlotte, Louisville, Auburn, UCF, Middle Tennessee State, and Notre Dame handing over their scholarship opportunities. Many of those same teams came by to watch Thurman this spring.
“Spring ball went really well,” Thurman said. ” This was my first-time doing spring ball; in Missouri they don’t have spring football. It was great getting back on the field helping my team win the game against Palmetto.”
Thurman continued sharing a partial list of the teams represented on the practice sidelines this spring.
“There were many teams to be honest,” Thurman stated. “Kansas, Tennessee, Rutgers’ running backs coach, coach (Damiere) Shaw, coach (Jabbar) Juluke (RB) from Florida, Toledo came by, they offered, coach Brian Anderson from Kansas State (RB), coach (Xavier) Dye (RB) from Coastal Carolina, coach Ladell Betts (RB) from Iowa, NC State, Alabama-Birmingham, UNC Charlotte, Cadillac Williams (RB) from Auburn came by, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Alabama, coach (Robert) Gillespie (RB), and there were more.”
The rise in recruiting attention is allowing Thurman to learn more about different programs so he can choose his path forward.
“Being able to have more in-depth conversations with coaches, schools have had more of a keen eye on me,” Thurman shared. “All the schools that have offered have piqued my interest. The recruiting process for me is early, but I am having more in-depth conversations about how I would fit into their programs.”
Florida 2025 RB Justin Thurman at Kansas.
The time in Lawrence helped Thurman learn more about the Jayhawks’ program.
“It was great overall,” Thurman said. “They were very informative about how they run their program, about their strength and conditioning, and the academic piece. Their director of academics talked to me about how they manage their classes and the structure there for the student-athletes.”
The one-on-one time with Kansas’ coaches opened opportunities to talk about a wide range of topics.
“We talked about many things,” Thurman shared. “We talked about the new facilities that are coming in. They are doing massive, and many renovations, to their facilities. We talked about the program, their culture, how they run things, and how I would fit in as a running back and as a player in general.”
The time in Lawrence further bonded Thurman with running backs coach Jonathan Wallace.
“My relationship with coach Wallace has been good,” Thurman stated. “He is a great coach and person overall. Not only the football part but also about life, he is a great mentor and a great person to speak with about everything. He is a really good mentor and running backs coach. We have a good relationship. We’ve had a relationship for about two years now.”
With the chance to showcase what he can do in person, more scholarship offers will be dropped this summer when Thurman begins his college camp circuit.
“Starting June 3, I am going to Tennessee,” Thurman said. “Then on June 5, I will be at Florida and at Auburn on June 9; those are all camps. On June 11, I am camping at UCF. On June 15, I am heading to Notre Dame for a camp and at the end of the month, on June 24, I am heading to Alabama for a camp.”
Thurman had a very successful track season this spring posting a personal best 10.84 in the 100 and was part of a 4×1 relay team that broke the Jesuit school record and then shattered their own record twice running a 41.67 at Florida State. During Jesuit’s spring game, Thurman toted the rock eight times for 107 yards and posted a 62-yard touchdown on the board.