Kansas defensive end Leroy Harris III has all-Big 12 breakout potential and he’s the leader of what might be the Jayhawks’ most loaded position.
So, it may catch your attention when Harris, the Jayhawks’ top returning sack man from a season ago, started singing the praises of one of his teammates before the end of KU’s preseason camp.
And he wasn’t alone.
Throughout camp, KU coaches and players alike pointed to Michigan State transfer David Santiago as a guy who was having as good of a camp as anyone.
Defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald said multiple times that the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Santiago had as good of a camp as any defensive player the Jayhawks have, and Harris had no problem agreeing.
So where’d it come from?
Simple, said Harris.
“David’s a dog, man,” he said. “He’s a dog. He’s just a good all-around player and you know he’s gonna do his job and have a big impact whenever he’s out there.”
When KU released its first depth chart of the 2026 season — which begins at 7 p.m. Friday night vs. Long Island at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium — Santiago was listed with the second unit, behind Alex Bray and on the opposite side from Harris.
Doesn’t matter. All five guys — Dak Brinkley is Harris’ backup and Garrett Martin also made an appearance — are going to play, and Harris said their different styles, strengths and the versatility that exists among them can only mean one thing this fall.
“Party in the backfield,” he joked.
Truth be told, it’s that mentality that brought Santiago to KU in the first place. After starting his career at Air Force, where he played the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he moved to Michigan State last season and recorded 24 tackles, 2.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks, in 12 games for the 4-8 Spartans.
One of those games — a 28-10 loss to Penn State — came against the OC and, in some ways, the offense that he’ll be cheering for this season in KU assistant coach Andy Kotelnicki.
Santiago remembers the game well. He recorded a half sack in that one, but it was more the preparation ahead of time that stuck with him.
He has seen something similar every day since joining the Jayhawks and has loved building a bond with Kotelnicki over their own offense-vs-defense battles and the memories of that MSU-PSU game in 2025.
“I chirp him a lot,” Santiago said with a laugh. “We’ve talked about that game a lot. He talked about playing us, and I talked about what we were game-planning for him and all that. His offense is a lot. You’ve got to have really good eyes. It’s frustrating because he’ll do a lot of different things and he really understands how defenses want to play.”
While that was a detriment to Santiago last season, he believes it will be something that benefits him this year. Still, his focus will remain mostly on the defense and his job within it.
He became a defensive end after putting on some necessary weight during the COVID-19 pandemic. And he spent the rest of his high school career playing on the edge.
It fits him, Santiago said, for a couple of reasons.
“I think setting up moves is a big part of it and I like that,” he said. “Anticipation is a big part of it, too. Where (the offensive lineman is) looking, their stance, the lean, how their foot is shaped, all of it.”
He continued: “At D-End, you’ve gotta be kind of nasty, you’ve gotta be pushing guys over piles and that’s something I picked up in the Big Ten. On every play, there’s a 50-50 point and you’ve gotta win those with the guy that’s blocking you.”
Few players in recent NFL history have done that better than Denver Broncos great and current Dallas Cowboy Von Miller, and Santiago, who grew up in Raleigh, N.C. began following the Vonster when he saw him wreck the game in Super Bowl 50 in the Broncos’ dominant win over the Carolina Panthers.
“The Panthers were super-good and Von Miller (dominated) that Super Bowl and was MVP,” Santiago recalled. “He’s a freak, but I tried to pick up little things, how quick he is, how explosive he is and the bend. That’s something I really noticed right away.”
“David’s a dog, man. He’s a dog. He’s just a good all-around player and you know he’s gonna do his job and have a big impact whenever he’s out there.”
— KU defensive end Leroy Harris III on teammate David Santiago
All of that is something he wants to see if he has in him, now that he’s at Kansas. For what it’s worth, Harris said Santiago’s “bull snatch” move was the one that stood out most to him throughout camp.
Think of it as pushing the offensive lineman back with his much drive and power as possible after the snap and then kind of pulling him back to your side and ole’ing him on your way to the quarterback.
“Pass rush is a lot more fun that stopping the run,” Santiago said. “And coming into the Big 12, I wanted to really stand out as part of the pass rush, too. The Big Ten’s really run heavy and there’s more emphasis on the pass (in the Big 12) and that’s something I was really focused on. When it’s a pass, (the O-linemen are) back on their heels more and you’re more the aggressor.”
Santiago’s hoping to enjoy that feeling a lot this season, both in the more pass-heavy Big 12 and as he stays fresh on game days with the excellent rotation of D-Ends that Kansas football has to utilize.
While he knows that more capable bodies means fresher legs and everyone eats, he still can’t help but chase the feeling of being in a zone on game day.
What’s that feel like for a defensive end?
“When you’re just itching to get back out there when you’re sitting on the bench, that’s an awesome feeling,” he said. “When it’s going, it’s going. And it feels great when you’re walking out there at the start of a drive just thinking, ‘All right, here we go. Line up and let’s do it again.’”
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