photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University linebacker Josh Ehambe works through a set of curls on Friday, June 17, 2016, in the KU football training facility.

When sophomore defensive end Josh Ehambe learned that he had been selected by Kansas University strength-and-conditioning coach Je’Ney Jackson as this week’s Workout Warrior of the Week, one of the first places his mind traveled was to his good friend and teammate Cameron Rosser.

Rosser, a senior linebacker from Las Vegas, first took Ehambe under his wing three years ago and showed him how to work at the Div. I level.

At the time, Rosser was a little-known walk-on who, like Ehambe these days, was going through the grind of college football life with little recognition and even less playing time. But that was exactly the type of player Ehambe was looking to follow because Rosser’s identity best reminded him of the lessons he received at home from his parents, Alex and Fariala Ehambe, natives of The Congo in Africa.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas linebacker Josh Ehambe (17) tries to get around offensive lineman Larry Hughes during practice on Tuesday, April 11, 2016 at Memorial Stadium.

“I kind of went with him because I knew that a walk-on that wants it and was hungry would have way better work ethic than someone who was already starting,” Ehambe explained. “Yeah, he was a walk-on, but he worked his butt off, got a scholarship. He’s smart. He’s like a brother to me, and, from the first day I stepped foot on campus at KU, he saw something in me that I didn’t see and kind of showed me, ‘Hey, this is how you gotta do it.'”

Today, even if it’s still not completely comfortable for him to do so, Ehambe tries to help show other young Jayhawks the right way to work, regardless of where it may lead.

Through his first 2 1/2 seasons as a Jayhawk — the Prime Prep Academy graduate from Arlington, Texas, red-shirted in 2014 — Ehambe has appeared in just five games and recorded no significant stats. That’s on the field. In the weight room, it’s a different story, and Jackson said Ehambe’s model dedication and determination have been amazing for coaches and teammates to watch.

“His work ethic has not changed one bit from Day One,” Jackson said of Ehambe. “He has been a freakin’ animal.”

Because of that, Jackson admitted, the strength coaches have paid less attention to Ehambe during workouts. Why worry about the player doing everything right and going hard 100 percent of the time when others need more guidance and motivation?

“It’s kind of sad, really,” Jackson admitted. “A guy like Josh doesn’t get a lot of the coach’s time because he does everything perfectly, and he does it so hard so you don’t really have to coach him. He doesn’t get patted on the back as much as he should, and I’m trying to do more of that.”

To that end, this summer Jackson has created a group of workout monsters with whom he can mix it up with on a regular basis. The 6-foot-3, 247-pound Ehambe is in that group, and so far he has proven he can stand up to every test thrown his way.

“He’s always with me, and he challenges me,” Jackson said. “We’ll go back and forth to see who’s better. His response to that is always, ‘All right, coach. Let’s go.'”

The character that serves Ehambe so well as a seldom-used special-teams player still trying to make his breakthrough comes from his family. The youngest of eight brothers and sisters, Ehambe credits his parents, their culture and his faith for teaching him the difference between working hard and doing just enough to get by.

“I love what (second-year KU) coach (David) Beaty says, ‘It’s a process.’ And that’s the way I grew up,” Ehambe said. “Everything was a process, nothing ever came easy, and I’ve had to work for everything I got. So this is nothing new for me, and I kind of like it that way. … Of course I want to play, and of course I want stats. But even if I don’t, I still work hard because I just love football.”

The goal for Ehambe the rest of the summer — and the rest of his career — is to tackle the mental side of the sport so he can transform himself from a beast on the bench to a play-maker on the field.

Jackson believes it will come.

Ehambe knows it will.

“He is tireless in his effort,” Jackson said. “I’m talking from lifting to academics to conditioning to practice. He is going to give you everything he’s got. The piece he needs now is to figure out what he’s doing on the field. When he does, he’s going to be a real good player for us.”

Added Ehambe: “I’m growing. It’s definitely the mental part, the playbook, knowing what to do, when to do it. That’s the tough part. And that’s what’s most important, especially when you get to the Div. I level. Everybody’s big, everybody’s strong, but it’s who’s mentally tough? That’s what I’m starting to see and starting to get. I’ve been here for three years and haven’t really gotten that many reps, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up. I still have the drive to keep going, and I always will.”