photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels takes a snap under center from Michael Ford Jr. during practice on Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Lawrence.

It’s not hard for new Kansas center Shane Bumgardner to pick out differences between KU and his old Division II school, Tiffin University.

“Tiffin had about eight buildings total for a campus, and our student body was like 3,000 people,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a lot different. We had an indoor (facility), but we never had any nutrition or anything like that. Just getting food after practice, protein shakes, all that’s new to me.”

Throw in a new offense, a fast practice pace that was “kind of a shock” and his responsibility to serve as the anchor of the offensive line — a capacity in which now-graduated Mike Novitsky excelled for so long — and it’s been a bit of an adjustment for last year’s D-II Rimington Award winner.

“It’s kind of challenging at first because you got to earn the respect of the guys,” Bumgardner said. “You just got to do that from playing well and knowing your assignments.”

He added that he’s now getting settled into the various aspects of the KU football experience. And getting up to speed will be particularly critical for Bumgardner because he is firmly in contention to start in the middle of the offensive line for the Jayhawks.

However, so is Michael Ford Jr. The senior has been a mainstay at guard for KU; in fact, his 72.2 blocking grade on Pro Football Focus was second-best on the team last season behind Dominick Puni and fourth among Big 12 Conference guards. He’s taken reps at center before when Novitsky has been absent, but now he finds himself in real contention for the spot.

“I wouldn’t say it feels different, but I am taking on that responsibility,” Ford told the Journal-World after practice Tuesday. “I feel like I’m taking it more personal to me for the O-line’s success because we don’t have a person like (Novitsky) here anymore. So I take the O-line play real personal this year.”

In short, he added, he will “want us to be perfect every play even though that’s not always going to happen.”

One significant question is what playing Ford at center would do to the remainder of KU’s line.

“I think there’s a competition, but it’s not just at center,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “It’s center and guard, I think, for us.”

Kobe Baynes is a probable starter at guard, and at tackle, at least until Calvin Clements returns to good health it’s hard to conceive of another pairing besides Logan Brown and Bryce Cabeldue (both working their way back from injuries of their own).

As a second guard, Iowa State transfer Darrell Simmons Jr. would seem next in line to step in next to Ford if he does move to center, though as Leipold noted, the Jayhawks have other pieces, like rarely used veteran Nolan Gorczyca, who he said has improved by “great leaps and bounds” and gained confidence since getting his first extended playing time at Cincinnati last season.

Sufficient improvement from Bumgardner, though, would at least alleviate the need for those bench contributions, and allow the two possible centers to start next to each other.

“Shane has been great,” Ford said. “He’s a worker. I think he (meshes) great with the O-line. He came in, he’s a great person off the field first of all. It’s been cool. He’s a very smart dude. I learned a lot from him already.”

Bumgardner said he has himself learned from Ford, along with reserve center Dre Doiron. Once Bumgardner concludes his first spring in Lawrence, he plans to continue his learning through the summer, getting such a firm grasp on the Jayhawks’ offense that he can “master it and not have any questions about anything.”

Whatever lineup starts for KU, Leipold said that Ford’s work at center helps the Jayhawks get what they always wanted under former position coach Scott Fuchs, and still do under Daryl Agpalsa: an array of “moveable pieces to put the best five out there.”

“Somewhere in fall camp, Daryl and I will go in his office and close the door and I’ll start asking questions about, ‘OK, who’s the first five? How do you see the next (ones)?'” Leipold said.

The progression of Bumgardner and the evolving leadership of Ford will mean plenty for how that whole group ultimately shakes out.