Kansas receiver Derrick Neal pulls in a catch during Fan Appreciation Day, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014 at Memorial Stadium.

Each summer, across the country, football fans spend time watching, waiting and anticipating the arrival of another college football season. And while that might not always be a favorite pastime of KU fans, many still get sucked in to the journey.

Will this be a better season? Is this the year that things finally get going in the right direction? Will Kansas at least be competitive therein making Memorial Stadium on Saturdays in the fall the place to be instead of a place to avoid? All are common questions KU fans wrestle with every year.

So in order to help you predict the answers to those questions and more, we set out to pinpoint the 25 players that could make the biggest impact for the Jayhawks this fall.

Big seasons from these guys — be them in the form of yards and touchdowns or just consistency and perhaps overachieving — could go a long way toward increasing KU’s chances at success during the upcoming season.

This is not a list of the 25 best players on this year’s team. That would be much easier to pinpoint and, while still key, would not exactly demonstrate the full value that each player has in regard to the 2015 season.

This is a list of the 25 players who need to have strong seasons in order for the Jayhawks to have a chance to compete.

Matt Tait and I came up with the list by each making our own list of 25 and then combining the results. We did the same thing last year, but most of the guys from that list are gone, which made this list much tougher to put together.

Remember, this is not an exercise designed to identify KU’s best players but an attempt to pinpoint which players, with standout seasons, could have the biggest impact for Kansas this fall.

Track the list every weekday at KUsports.com, where we’ll unveil the list one-by-one in reverse order.

25. Derrick Neal, 5-foot-10, 170-pound Soph. WR

Week after week, Kansas will face football teams with superior size, experience and depth. The Jayhawks will need big plays to steal touchdowns to close the gap on more talented teams. On defense, that means forcing turnovers. On offense, that means players with game-breaking speed finding daylight via kickoff and punt returns, receptions, rushes to the outside and even trick plays.

Neal is one candidate to find the end zone in a variety of ways, thanks to his speed, accelleration and escapability. At 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Neal makes for a small target, which can be a good thing in that it can frustrate would-be tacklers into missing.

Neal played four games at last season, appearing at wide receiver, cornerback, and on special teams, until suffering a season-ending injury making a tackle against Baylor. He was used as a punt returner and could be seen there again this season. His size makes him a risky athlete to use as an every-down player, but his speed makes him a weapon that first-year coach David Beaty is going to want to use in a variety of ways.

Neal and twin brother, Erick, originally committed to play basketball at UT-Arlington, where Erick is a sophomore. Derrick changed his mind, orally committed to play football and Texas Tech and ultimately decided to accept a football scholarship at Kansas.