KU football players shave heads to support young fan battling cancer

Seven-year-old Kansas football fan Cole Hayden sports one of his #TeamCole T-shirts as he continues his fight against undifferentiated sarcoma, a rare form of lung cancer.

While discussing Joe Dineen’s season-ending hamstring injury Tuesday, head coach David Beaty and defensive coordinator Clint Bowen alluded to the junior linebacker’s leadership within the program and how he remains engaged with teammates.

Another example of Dineen’s impact at Kansas showed up this week, when he and some teammates wanted to find another way to support for a young KU football fan in the midst of a battle with cancer.

Seven-year-old Cole Hayden, son of Shanda Hayden, the team’s academic and career advisor, is an avid Jayhawks fan. And as he continues to fight undifferentiated sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, the Jayhawks have rallied around him, wearing #TeamCole bracelets, visiting with the youngster and, in general, doing anything they can to cheer him up.

With Dineen leading the charge, a number of Kansas football players decided this week to shave their heads in a from of solidarity. So if you see a Jayhawk missing some hair, it wasn’t just part of some elaborate Halloween get-up or a stylistic choice. The Jayhawks just wanted to remind Cole they’re rooting for him.

KU football tweeted out a photo of just a handful of players who shaved their heads to support Cole, as they posed with his mother, Shanda. Pictured below are: (front row, from left) freshman long-snapper Kolin Hayes, junior punter Cole Moos, sophomore quarterback Keaton Perry, Shanda Hayden, freshman tight end Jace Steinberger, assistant strength coach Ervin Young, (back row) freshman defensive end Sam Hardy, sophomore offensive lineman Larry Hughes, junior center Joe Gibson, retired O-lineman Jordan Shelley-Smith, freshman punter Kyle Thompson and sophomore offensive lineman Clyde McCauley III.