Cole Mondi will continue career at Kansas
The inside word is the Kansas staff may not have many spots left to take many more preferred walk-ons. But one player they would make room for at any time, is Cole Mondi.
The all-state product from Lawrence High announced on Friday he was accepting an offer from the Jayhawks and passed on several scholarship opportunities.
“With this year and just so much adversity, and uncertainty, it just feels so good to just know that I'm a part of something,” Mondi said. “Especially something special that there's a ton of great people that are really looking forward to turning this thing around and bringing the winning back.”
There were a lot of division two and NAIA schools that were pursuing Mondi. But he wanted to play at the Power Five level and will get to do that right down the right road.
“I passed up really good opportunities at other schools,” Mondi said. “I thought it would be cool to have the opportunity to play in front of my hometown, and the people of Lawrence. You know, my barber, all of my schoolmates, my peers, the teachers. That means so much to me."
Kansas started recruiting Mondi led by Brent Dearmon, who just left for Middle Tennessee State. Early in the process safeties coach Jordan Peterson got involved along with defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
“I grew really close to him (Dearmon) through the summer, and then he introduced me to Coach Peterson, and we stared to talk a lot,” Mondi said. “Then I started talking to Coach Elliot and those guys. It stinks about Coach Dearmon leaving, but we all have our goals and we just have to keep going.”
Mondi is a three-time, all-state selection for the Lions. He could play different positions at Kansas ranging from safety to nickel to linebacker.
“The coaches said they really liked that I am a sideline-to-sideline linebacker,” he said. “I'm not the biggest guy, but I have really good feet and I can keep up with faster players. Right now, I’m 5-foot-10, 205 pounds.
“So, if that means I need to get up to 220 and maintain speed and make plays on special teams, I'm willing to do that. I need to get faster. I need to get stronger. That comes with football. But if I need to cut a little bit of weight and really focus on pass protection, I believe I can play safety.”
Mondi is the only player who has started since his freshman year at Lawrence High. One of his close friends is Devin Neal, who has already signed with Kansas. The two will get to continue playing on the same team at the college level.
“You can’t really define our relationship,” Mondi said. “I sat next to him my first day of kindergarten class. We really clicked ever since from playing against each other all the way through middle school. Just to go through the process with him and have someone like that is going to be all right. We’ve just to keep working.”