Kansas linebacker Bangally Kamara feared the worst when he injured his knee during a non-contact incident at a walk-through the week of the Wagner game.
Ten days later, he was on the field in Columbia, Missouri, helping the Jayhawks take on the Tigers.
Very few saw his quick return coming. His teammates didn’t truly know he would be with them until he was actually out there awaiting a Mizzou snap and trying to read the offense in front of him.
"Any time you get a great player back, it’s always a lift. It’s a lift to me as a play caller. So, I know our guys got a little more pep in their step when they saw 1 out there running around."
— KU D-Coordinator DK McDonald on LB Bangally Kamara
And even Kamara himself, who did not start but played plenty against the Tigers, was uncertain whether he had actually done enough to be able to get back onto the field that quickly.
“Saturday,” he told R1S1 Sports of when he knew for sure that he could play. “That’s when I knew. I think my teammates had an idea because of me practicing during the week, but I wasn’t as confident until that first series. That’s when I thought, ‘OK, I can get away with this.’”
Get away with it, he did.
Per Kamara’s own evaluation, he made some plays and missed some plays, but his presence on the field was certainly noticed. And he finished with 9 tackles — 4 solo, 5 assists and 2 for loss — and a pass breakup in the 42-31 loss to the Tigers.
Going into the Border War, Kamara had no set goal for how many tackles he wanted to record or even how many snaps he hoped to play.
“The mindset was just don’t be a liability,” he said. “I tried my best to just make plays and do the right things.”
More important than the numbers was the fact that he not only proved he could play but he managed to play without making things worse for himself.
“Obviously, I felt it more and more throughout the game,” he said. “It was a serious injury. But I was just very happy that I came out of the game healthy enough to get better the next week.”
The next week was a bye, and both Kamara and KU Defensive Coordinator DK McDonald told reporters this week that one of the biggest points of emphasis during the Jayhawks’ first bye week of the season was to get healthy.
Kamara, who noted that one of the big reasons he worked so hard to get back was because, “it’s all or nothing right now,” took time off, continued to work on rehabbing the injury and entered this week’s preparation for Saturday’s home game against West Virginia feeling “really good – better than I was in the week leading up to Missouri.”
Just as it did against the Tigers, Kamara and his coaches believe that having him back in the lineup provides an added jolt of energy to the entire KU defense.
“Any time you get a great player back, it’s always a lift,” McDonald said this week. “It’s a lift to me as a play caller. So, I know our guys got a little more pep in their step when they saw 1 out there running around, because they know what type of player he is and what type of plays he can make.”
McDonald continued: “I’m just really proud of the young man. He showed a lot of heart and grit. Man. That’s inspiring. In all my years of coaching, that’s one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen from a kid.”
That last bit was very much in line with KU coach Lance Leipold’s praise of Kamara immediately after the loss to Missouri.
“I really admire that about him,” Leipold said of Kamara doing everything in his power to get back onto the field. “A lot of times in today’s era, guys (will say), ‘Well, you know, I’ll sit out this non-conference game, we’re open next week, I get a couple weeks (to) rest and then I’m be closer to 100%.’ And he was like, ‘Coach, I’m playing.’”
Initially “devastated” when the injury occurred, Kamara said two things helped change his outlook.
The first was the results of the MRI. The second was the fact that a couple of KU coaches were telling him about a player from the past who had a similar injury and returned to action in a week.
“It was definitely one of those feelings like, ‘Damn, it could be something very serious, but it didn’t end up being that,” Kamara said, matter-of-factly. “When your knee is just feeling a certain type of way, you think the worst. And I was fearing the worst. I just thank God it wasn’t the worst.”
“I was devastated we lost, but I’m happy with what I got out of that game.”
And even happier to be back in action this week as the Jayhawks open Big 12 Conference play against the Mountaineers.
Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on FS1.
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