photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas freshman DJ Warner (15) during practice on Friday, August 9, 2024.

DJ Warner seems to be handling the transition to college football quite well — and not only because, when asked about the biggest thing he had to get used to after arriving on campus, he replied, “Probably the time difference.”

Warner has made enough of an impression since coming to Lawrence for summer workouts — two time zones away, this time of year, from his hometown of Goodyear, Arizona, — that head coach Lance Leipold is strongly considering playing him as a true freshman defensive end.

Leipold is very happy with Dean Miller, and Michigan State transfer Bai Jobe will work himself into the picture as he practices through a hand injury. But of Warner and early-enrolling classmate Dakyus Brinkley, who are settling in more and more, Leipold said, “If you’re trying to ask if those freshmen could play some this year, that’s a high possibility.”

“It’s definitely exciting,” Warner said, “but I feel like I need to continue to focus on day by day.”

Warner’s future is bright, to put it lightly. He picked the Jayhawks over two schools that ended up in the College Football Playoff last season and after committing to KU got another belated offer from the eventual national champion. He was not just the consensus highest-rated commitment in KU’s 2024 recruiting class but, according to 247Sports, KU’s best recruit of the modern era.

“He’s a freak, man,” veteran teammate Jereme Robinson said. “He has that natural ability to pass rush. He can bend off the edge, he can get there.”

Right now, though, he’s also a true freshman trying to soak up everything he can — Leipold called him a “sponge” at Big 12 media days — from the veterans around him.

“His twitch, that’s something I feel like I can relate to, and I like watching him out there because I feel like I could kind of give him some pointers here and there,” said teammate Dean Miller, who referenced his own weight journey by adding, “I know what it’s like to be a little light on the edge of the ball.” (Warner is listed at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds.)

The advice doesn’t just come from Warner’s fellow defensive ends, but also players like cornerback Cobee Bryant and the offensive linemen Warner has been taking on in practice.

“I feel like I try to take everything equally and absorb everything that gets thrown my way,” he said.

The results are clear to his position coach, Taiwo Onatolu.

“He’s a real mature kid, and not a lot flusters him,” he said. “Pretty quiet kid, but you can ask him any question in the meeting room and he knows it, and it’s pretty impressive for a young guy, and that’s what’s most exciting.”

As he proceeds forward through fall camp, Warner has a pair of advantages at his disposal in the form of his membership in two separate contingents of freshmen. For one thing, at defensive end specifically, he joins the team alongside Brinkley, a highly touted recruit himself out of Katy, Texas, who is the son of an NFL linebacker and an Olympic hurdler.

“Coming in freshman year, they want to play, so they’re giving it their all every day,” defensive end Dylan Wudke said, “and I’m impressed, I really am.”

In addition, Warner is part of a trio of players out of Desert Edge High School, primarily recruited by former defensive backs coach Jordan Peterson, who are now all on campus. He is joined by cornerback Aundre Gibson and linebacker Jon Jon Kamara.

“I feel like we bring that Arizona feel,” Warner said. “I feel like we bring some diversity in the personalities.”

What does an “Arizona feel” mean to Warner? “Just a different energy. I feel like if you’re around it you know.” Though sometimes it’s fairly simple.

“I feel like it’s sometimes when it’s not as hot to us, other guys are kind of like ‘Yeah, it’s hot,’ and I have a hoodie on,” he said.

Miller has continued to reinforce his apparent lead at the weak-side defensive end spot, but KU’s coaches will inevitably rotate, and they don’t have many other players to rotate to besides the freshmen and Jobe.

If Warner and Brinkley contribute heavily as freshmen, they will be among the first of Leipold’s staff’s high school recruits to do so, after players like backup quarterback Cole Ballard and punter Damon Greaves in 2023.