Tyran Stokes seems to be settling in well at Kansas Jayhawks after a summer when he appeared to flirt with other teams before finally committing to Kansas in a landmark announcement a few months ago. He was recently named the preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year, suggesting a high ceiling for the five-star recruit.

Nevertheless, critics have questioned Stokes’ character, and Kansas head coach Bill Self was the first to defend him when asked.

“He’s a great kid. Is he emotional? Yes,” Self said to the media. “Could he be too emotional? Maybe. But he hasn’t been with us at any point, and I’ve coached him harder than I have anybody else on the team. All he does is come back for more every day.”

Tyran Stokes on Joining Kansas

At Big 12 media day, Tyran Stokes spoke about his experience at Kansas and what he expects for his future with the Jayhawks.

“It’s been great so far. You know, long four months. It’s been a grind. The team’s been putting in a lot of work, I’ve been putting in work day in and day out. Coach has been getting onto us, but he’s preparing us to be great,” Stokes said, as reported by the Field of 68.

Stokes also elaborated on when he knew joining Kansas was the right move, despite interest from teams such as Kentucky.

“I found out that coach (Bill Self) was thinking about retiring while I was still in my recruiting process. It kind of made me push back a little bit. Also, obviously, the transfer portal got hectic. A lot of players were hitting me up trying to figure out what I was doing, and I was trying to figure out what I was doing as well as them. So just trying to get through that process. But honestly, super late. I would say probably a week before it was time for me to commit, I knew. Once I set my commitment date, it got serious. So once I figured out what day I was going to commit and how I would do it, that’s when I truly figured it out.”

The Kansas Jayhawks will be in action against Fordham on Nov. 2.