A view from the southwest corner of the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas coach Lance Leipold has often drawn a parallel over the years between the ongoing stadium and football complex renovations and the gradual construction of the KU football program.

Over the course of the 2024 offseason, those two projects intersected when Leipold was faced with overhauling his team’s roster following the departure of a massive, momentous senior class, and all the while the stadium rebuild was kicking into high gear.

As it turned out, one had quite the positive effect on the other.

“That makes it even better coming here,” said junior wide receiver Cam Pickett, a transfer from Ball State who was the first wideout to commit to KU in the offseason. “You got the opportunity to play for a program on the rise and you get to play in a brand new stadium. It don’t get no better than that.”

Added punter Finn Lappin, an addition from McNeese who praised the “fantastic facilities”: “Who wouldn’t want to play here?”

Of course every transfer had his own reasons for joining the Jayhawks far beyond the superficial appearances of the Anderson Family Football Complex and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Safety Lyrik Rawls, of Oklahoma State, was impressed by how much the Jayhawks made him a priority in the portal. Running back Leshon Williams (Iowa) and defensive end Justice Finkley (Texas) liked their schematic fits. Wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. (Alabama) needed playing time in his senior season. For still others, like receiver Levi Wentz (Albany) or cornerback DJ Graham II (Utah State), it was a certain ineffable mentality or standard to which KU holds its players.

But the new amenities — especially the ones inside the complex that KU unveiled in late March — certainly helped.

“A lot of the transfers that came in were at ‘Power Two’ schools, if that’s what we call them, talked about things that we have that weren’t at their school or things that were pleasantly surprising to them, the qualities of the new things that we’ve been able to add,” Leipold said. “I think the stadium and everything is going to be another added bonus that will continue to pay dividends with our current players as well as future (ones).”

As much of a pleasant surprise as the resources were for power-conference transfers, they may have been even more impressive for the likes of Joseph Sipp Jr., a linebacker who joined from Bowling Green. His former teammate JB Brown, who helped lay the foundation for the KU program’s recent rise, had told him about the new stadium in recommending that he consider the Jayhawks.

“It’s all new to me,” Sipp said. “I didn’t know what the facilities looked like before this. It just looks very nice. Compared to my old place, this is top tier, so I love it.”

For Rawls, who saw KU up close during his tenure at OSU, there was something symbolically appealing about starting fresh as his program is doing the same.

“That was one of the big factors that got me here as well, coming around and being around new stuff, the new staff, new team,” Rawls said. “I feel like I can go over there and start my new journey.”

Future recruits are starting to see the full picture of the stadium in person for the first time after, as defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald put it, the KU staff might have been recruiting them out of offices in Rock Chalk Park and showing them pictures of what was to come.

“Anything new and pretty is always exciting,” McDonald said. “We have that right now. A lot of these (facilities) have that new car smell still on ’em.”

Early-enrolling freshman David McComb, KU’s first commitment in the class of 2025, pledged to join the Jayhawks in the summer of 2023 even before official plans for the stadium were unveiled that August. Now he’s seeing it come to life before his eyes: “It’s really cool to see how far we’ve come.”

“It’s a huge motivation, being able to walk past it every day and practice right next to it every day, just to know that the time is ticking,” Sipp added. “It’s about to be the first game in no time.”

Indeed, for now, the Jayhawks daydream about what they might be able to accomplish within its confines beginning on Aug. 23, surrounded by some 40,000 fans.

“I envision myself scoring the first touchdown in there,” Pickett said.

Added Finkley: “I’ve seen the plans for it. Very much fan-focused. I’ve seen the lights, like up top. Excited to play in that environment, excited to look on the new big screen. It’s going to be a great experience in the fall.”