photo by: Scott Donaldson/South Alabama Athletics

South Alabama kicker Laith Marjan kicks during a game on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Jonesboro, Ark.

Laith Marjan remembers all of his kicks, both the makes and the misses. Fortunately, at South Alabama last season, there weren’t many missed opportunities to dwell on.

In his first year as a college placekicker, Marjan converted 16 of 17 field goals. His only miss was a field goal over 50 yards against the wind.

“It was a good hit, honestly,” Marjan said. “I missed it short down the middle. I think if I drove it a little more and put a little less height on it, I could have gotten it.”

The 2024 season was Marjan’s first as a field goal kicker but his fourth in college. He spent three years at East Carolina, working his way to becoming the team’s kickoff specialist.

That role left him desiring more. He wanted to handle both duties, so he transferred to South Alabama, where he had the chance to kick field goals for the first time in his college career.

The bet paid off. Marjan’s 94% hit rate earned him the honor of being a Lou Groza award semifinalist. He hit all 12 attempts from 30 to 49 yards out. That success led him to hit the transfer portal again in hopes of kicking at the highest level.

“Ultimately — I’m coming up on year five in college — I wanted to go to a place that really wanted me,” Marjan said. “They showed me the love.”

The Jayhawks and Marjan have a connection that dates back to his time in East Carolina. Special teams analyst Kyle Deween and Marjan worked together in 2023 at ECU, where Deween held the same title on the Pirates’ coaching staff. He played a significant role in landing Majan, and the relationship the two built worked well.

“We both grew as people in that year we spent apart, and I came here, and it has just clicked,” Marjan said. “Our film sessions are super productive. We talk a lot, we communicate off the field. He understands what to say to me that doesn’t get in the way and distract me.”

Marjan transferred to Kansas expecting to handle kickoff and placekicking duties. Handling both roles means making sure he’s recovering and physically ready to succeed in both spots.

“We have an abundance of resources here and a great training staff to do that,” Marjan said. “They’re really on the ball. I feel confident body-wise I can stay healthy and take care of the things I need to.”

Spring practices with Kansas have gone well. Marjan said the team has been like a family, which has helped him assimilate. Special teams coordinator Taiwo Onatolu and the rest of the staff have helped Marjan see a lot of growth in a short period of time in Lawrence. The coaching staff has challenged him, and he’s been up to the challenge so far.

“They keep a tight ship and have high expectations for us and high standards,” Marjan said. “It’s our job to go out there and meet those standards, but they do a really good job of instilling confidence in us as specialists, which is big.”

Marjan’s college experience has helped shape his confidence. He fought his way into playing time at East Carolina and became a transfer portal success story at South Alabama. Now, going into his fifth year as a collegiate kicker, he’s seen and handled a lot both on and off the field. Where a younger kicker might struggle with finding peace and calm during pressure moments, Marjan has learned to clear his mind and let his muscle memory do the job.

There’s a bit of a technical difference between kicking for kickoff and field goals. Marjan said it’s like using a driver and a wedge in golf. He angles his foot slightly differently to get a different angle on the ball. For Marjan, it comes down to getting enough reps in practice so that both kicks are second nature to him, and he doesn’t have to think too hard about how he’s kicking the ball.

When it comes to placekicking, there is a lot less of a margin for error. That’s why Kansas’s outdoor practice fields have uprights that are a third of the width of regular uprights. It’s a tool that many specialist kicking coaches have talked about with him during the offseason, but this is the first time he’s had to practice with it daily. It’s a challenge, but Marjan welcomes it.

“While it’s frustrating you might miss a yard to the right, you know on a real upright that’s a good field goal,” Marjan said. “I work with other specialists in the offseason and other private kicking coaches that work with college guys, and they’re all saying, ‘If we can work on a pole or skinnier uprights, this will make you better.’ So when I got here and saw those, I was pretty excited.”

For the next few months, Marjan and the special teams unit will work on chemistry. In placekicking, it’s all about consistency and repetition. Every kick is the same, and the more natural the kicking process is, the more confident Marjan will be.

The coaching staff isn’t making any drastic changes to Marjan’s kicking routine. Instead, they are focused on finding the little details in his technique to unlock his most efficient combination of power and precision.

“We’ve made a ton of progress in my short time here, and I’m just super excited to see where the next five months can take us — myself and the (special teams) unit,” Marjan said. “I’m sort of at the point where we’re sort of doing minute changes, minuscule nitpicking so we can get as close as we can to perfect come August 24.”

photo by: South Alabama Athletics

South Alabama kicker Laith Marjan kicks off in this undated photo.

photo by: Scott Donaldson/South Alabama Athletics

South Alabama kicker Laith Marjan kicks during a game against Texas State, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in Mobile, Ala.