photo by: AP Photo/Barry Reeger

Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi celebrates a safety with linebacker Bangally Kamara (11) during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Syracuse, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh won 19-9.

With several weeks to go before the end of the Kansas football season, the Jayhawks have already begun building what will be a new-look 2025 squad.

Bangally Kamara, a linebacker who has played at South Carolina and Pittsburgh, will join KU next year, his agent Darren Wilson confirmed to the Journal-World on Monday morning. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the news.

Kamara is from Akron, Ohio, and came out of East High School to play for Pitt in 2020. The Panthers primarily used him on special teams for his first two seasons before he started at what the program called Star linebacker in 2022 and Money linebacker in 2023, with Star being a coverage-heavy role and Money more of a standard outside linebacker position.

Despite missing a pair of games due to injury in 2023, Kamara tallied 55 tackles with 6.5 for loss, including two sacks, and recovered a fumble.

Kamara then transferred to South Carolina for the 2024 campaign, but only played in four games with nine tackles in 70 snaps before opting to redshirt and sit out the remainder of the season. In that small sample size, he posted an 81.6 defensive grade on Pro Football Focus, the highest of his career.

Because of the unusually early timing of his pledge to KU, Kamara becomes, as Thamel put it, “the first known transfer commit of the 2024-25 portal cycle.”

The versatility Kamara displayed at Pitt, starting at two different spots, suggests he will fit well in KU linebackers coach Chris Simpson’s room, which places a significant emphasis on cross-training. That emphasis has already been borne out on the field this season, with Taiwan Berryhill Jr. having to slide over from weak-side to middle linebacker while Cornell Wheeler was injured.

Broadly, KU is in need of help at linebacker for the 2025 season. Many key contributors at the position, including JB Brown, Berryhill and Wheeler along with reserve Alex Raich, are set to exhaust their eligibility after this year. Expected returners include Jayson Gilliom and Tristian Fletcher, as well as younger players like Logan Brantley, Jon Jon Kamara and JaCorey Stewart. Malachi Curvey and Kenyon Rivera are committed to join the team as freshmen next season.

Bangally Kamara should figure in prominently during his final year of eligibility. On3 previously reported that he had also been considering Cal, Illinois and SMU along with KU in the portal.