The first time the thought became public was on the bus from Wembley Stadium back to the team hotel after the Jayhawks’ 24-17 loss to Arizona State in London.
Still stinging from the close loss to the Sun Devils and aware that the KU offense was down a key player after an injury to running back Yasin Willis, redshirt sophomore defensive back Khi Cummings-Coleman floated an idea to KU quarterback Zeke Marshall.
He wanted to play running back.
“He told me that he wanted to make the change and that he used to play offense, and my first thought was, ‘OK,’” Marshall told R1S1 Sports after Saturday’s 55-0 win over Middle Tennessee, during which Cummings-Coleman logged the first carries of his college career. “He’s got the build for it.”
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With that, the idea was born and upon returning to the United States, Cummings-Coleman visited KU coach Lance Leipold in his office and told him a more detailed version of the same thing.
“He came into my office after the London trip,” Leipold began. “And said, ‘Coach, I think I can help the team on offense. I think I could fit into what Coach K does with the running backs in the backfield and as a receiver; I’d like to have a chance.’”
With the bye week in progress and another full week of game prep after that, Leipold and his coaching staff decided to give the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Minneapolis native a shot.
“Really, the injury situation forced our hand a little bit more,” Leipold acknowledged. “And it was one of those, ‘OK, Khi, we’re gonna give you Thursday and Friday and then we’ll make a decision.’ As you saw today, the way he ran, that’s the way he showed right off the start.”
By the time Cummings-Coleman entered Saturday’s blowout win, the game was well in hand and five other Jayhawks had carried the football. So, this is not exactly a situation where he’s going to be logging big snap counts in the first quarter and pushing starter Dylan Edwards for carries.
It’s also not like Cummings-Coleman needed to move to running back to get on the field. He had played real snaps on defense in each of KU’s first three games heading into Saturday and seemed to carve out a depth role in the Jayhawks’ secondary.
But it does provide the latest evidence that the KU culture built by Lance Leipold, his coaching staff and these players has firmly put the good of the team above all else and that’s why his teammates — “both sides,” as Marshall pointed out — were so excited to see him rush for 48 yards and a touchdown on four carries while adding one reception for 19 yards, as well.
“It’s great,” said Marshall, who finished 13-of-22 passing for 161 yards and a touchdown while adding 110 rushing yards on 11 carries himself. “We all knew that he could do that from the bye week we had and just seeing him run in practice. He’s very explosive, he moves very fast, has got good moves and we knew that was gonna happen.”
The question now is, how much more will it happen.
Game script and what’s happening with the running backs on the depth chart ahead of him — Colorado State transfer Jalen Dupree carried 12 times for 68 yards and a TD on Saturday — will likely dictate a lot of that.
But if Saturday’s fourth quarter was an audition of sorts, consider director Leipold as someone willing to cast Cummings-Coleman in some kind of role.
“He played aggressively,” Leipold said. “That’s the biggest thing. He took care of the football, ran hard, he continues to be a work in progress, but I think that was a very positive addition and move that we made.”
Leipold said that Cummings-Coleman, who was initially recruited to Iowa State as a wide receiver and was rated in the Class of 2024 as an “athlete,” spent a lot of time with running backs coach Jonathan Wallace and assistant RB coach Kevin Johnson during the past couple of weeks to make sure he was ready to roll if his number was ever called.
“Credit to (those guys) for getting him ready,” Leipold said. “That’s hard, in short time, for him to have as good an understanding of our offense as he does.”
Leipold said it’s been rare for him to have a player come ask to switch positions, particularly from one side of the ball to the other, and even more rare for him to allow them to do it. Edwards, who finished Saturday with a 132 yards and 3 TDs on a career-high-tying 20 carries, said this was the first time in his football career that he had ever had a teammate change positions from defense to offense.
But they both liked what they saw and are excited to see where it takes Cummings-Coleman and this team.
“He’s getting better each and every week, and he just moved to the position,” Edwards told R1S1 Sports. “Knowing that we have each other in the room, if he has questions, ask ‘em. “He’s one of my coolest friends in the room.”
Edwards continued: “I like his game because he plays special teams and he wants to do everything. Khi’s gonna keep working and he’s gonna do his thing. He’s physical. He works hard. I (knew) he had that in him. Why not?”
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