Friday marks the final day of Kansas football’s preseason camp and, from there, the Jayhawks will transition into a simulated game week followed by the start of the 2026 season.
In short, shit’s getting real.
By most all accounts, it’s been a solid camp for Kansas.
Injuries were kept to a minimum, effort was at a maximum and the Jayhawks leaned hard into their Lance Leipold Era motto of working to get 1% better every day everywhere they could.
Film room. Practice field. Weight room. Training table. Nutrition. You name it, the goal in any area was always to be better than the day before.
While that quest was something the Jayhawks could control, the question now is what about the things they can’t control — what about those unforeseen scenarios on game day that no amount of planning and preparation can account for?
Leipold was asked at the end of his Media Day press conference on Thursday to identify an unknown – an area or aspect of this team that he’s still not quite sure about, maybe even something that keeps him up at night as the season draws closer.
Is there something that stands out that fits that criteria?
“Yeah, how will we handle adversity,” he said without hesitation. “When your back’s to the wall, how will you respond? And that can be (on the) opening kickoff when somebody kind of smacks you in the mouth or is it gonna be something that’s late in the game and how do you handle something that doesn’t go right?”
To be fair, that same question is one that plays in the mind of most coaches throughout football. Even NFL teams with rosters returning in tact and college programs full of two- and three-year veterans are led by coaches who aren’t quite sure of the answer to that bigger question and the dozen or so little inquiries that live within it.
“How are we gonna handle if we give up a long scoring drive or an explosive score or how are we gonna do if we turn the ball over,’” Leipold continued.
And KU’s 6th-year head coach knows there’s nothing quite like the real thing to provide an answer.
“You practice it, you talk about it, you talk about flushing things, you talk about competing, but you don’t really know until the lights go on, exactly what you have,” he said. “Especially when you have a lot of new guys.”
The 2026 Jayhawks do have a bunch of new guys. And there are several positions where, on paper, that seems to be a good thing. On paper.
Again, we won’t know if these newcomers — Bam Crouch, Yasin Willis, Dylan Edwards, Nik McMillan, Carter Moses, Jaden Harris, Connor Stroh, Eamon Smalls and a dozen or so more — are up for the challenge of elevating the program and delivering on game day until we see them do it.
That’s why there’s a certain preseason buzz floating around the KU football facility these days, now just 14 days out from the season opener — 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4 against Long Island and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The offseason is largely over. Yeah, the Jayhawks still have two weeks to prepare for the opener, but things move fast and furious from there. And, what’s more, the final 14 days are less about development and big picture improvement and more about dialing in to the little details and trying to fine-tune everything as much as possible before things get going for real.
That’s the picture second-year defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald painted for his defense in the next couple of weeks.
With the install long finished and things like communication, speed and depth working in KU’s favor, now it becomes about drilling down on those little details of football and trying to make sure they’ve seen and covered everything.
“I think as far as knowing the defense and that type of thing, I really think we're in great shape,” McDonald said Thursday. “I really like where we're at. We put in a lot of work this winter, this spring and this summer to be in a good spot. But I just think our situational awareness we can kind of hone in on because that's going to be the difference between us winning and losing this year.”
With camp winding down, here’s a quick look at a few things that fall on both sides of that ready-to-roll coin for this team heading into the final two weeks before the opener.
Three things I think KU fans should feel pretty good about and three things we’re still unsure about.
Lookin’ Good
• Trey Lathan – This guy is the heartbeat of KU’s defense and maybe the team as a whole, and he knows it. He also looks really, really comfortable in that role. Plenty was made about the jump he made as a leader, a teammate and a Jayhawk in his return to Kansas. But I don’t think it can be overstated. He’s routinely one of the happiest guys on the football field and he’s always chirping and bringing positive energy for his teammates. He’ll likely be a captain. And he’s the odds-on favorite to lead this team in tackles. When you add the intangibles that he now brings to those things, you’ve got something special. And I think both Lathan and his teammates and coaches all know it.
• Front 7 on D - There’s depth at D-Line and on the edges, where KU may have a few really nice pass rushers. And in the middle of the defense, this linebacking corps is the most athletic and best looking bunch that Leipold’s had at Kansas. I think you’ll see a bunch of guys play hard and with a hungry motor and I think KU’s ability to rotate bodies up front and at linebacker should go a long way toward helping this defense be much better than the one we’ve seen the past couple of seasons.
• Running back play – To not put this one down here would be creating unnecessary concern that this group has in some way slipped or something. They haven’t. This is one of the top options for the strength of this team on either side of the ball. And, when you’re talking about something this team wants to hang its hat on, running the football with purpose, physicality and intentionality is at the top of the list. Yasin Willis and Dylan Edwards are the 1-2 punch and both have a chance to have great years. But there’s more behind them and they’re both unselfish in nature and focused almost solely on doing whatever it takes for this team to win. If the O-Line can come together (see below), then this group could be in for a monster year, which would go a long way toward helping whoever is taking the snaps for Kansas this fall (see below again).
Still an unknown
• O-Line play – Kotelnicki has done nothing but say positive things about this group when asked during camp, but it’s still a bunch of dudes that are trying to figure out exactly how they fit together. I think their camaraderie is there. They like each other, they click and they all want what’s best for this team, no matter what that means for them as individuals. And the cross-training thing that KU does a lot of has provided good depth at all five positions while also ensuring that KU should be able to play its best linemen when it matters most. Having said that, even with a rock-solid running back room and two capable quarterbacks, the O-Line is such a key part of the equation for both of those positions to have success, that I think we need to see it before we can count on it for sure.
• QB questions – Not only who the Jayhawks will name as their starter but also how that player will look, perform and handle the role early in the season. This certainly falls squarely into the item above, where Leipold talked about wondering how this team would handle adversity. No matter who starts at QB for KU this season, he will face plenty of adversity. How well he handles it may determine how long he’s the starter.
• Secondary play – KU’s got athletes upon athletes upon athletes in its defensive backfield, but outside of veteran returner Jalen Todd, I’m not sure we know yet exactly which ones are going to be ready to roll and ready to take on a big role right away for this KU defense. There are plenty of options at all five positions — strong and free safety, field and boundary corner and nickel — but you get the feeling that there’s a lot of thinking that we hope this guy is the guy there and we think he can play that position for us rather than knowing for sure which names those will be. It’s certainly possible that the questions will be answered quickly. And KU likes what it has there in terms of talent and depth, which is a good place to start.
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