The players' lounge pictured during a tour of the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Nick Krug

Members of the Kansas football team have until recently been taking select meals in a temporary structure erected just to the west of the Anderson Family Football Complex.

“Have y’all ever been to camp, or like a summer camp, and eaten lunch?” running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. said. “It’s kind of like that.”

The Jayhawks got a significant step up in luxury on Monday, however, when they were able to dine in the Paul and Linda DeBruce Jayhawk Club, located in the new west end of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

The room, which also serves as a premium hospitality space for fans on game days — sport administrator Collin Sexton called it a “versatile gem” in a social media post — is directly connected to the football complex via the Horejsi Ciciora Family Atrium and will serve as the main “performance dining” location for KU going forward.

“The first impression was it looked like a restaurant, like an actual sit-down restaurant,” Hishaw said, “and then on top of the fact you have the staff members walking around, so then it’s like, OK, we got waiters. That’s what it feels like.”

Hishaw also called it “one of the best things I’ve ever seen (as) just a part of a football facility.”

“And the food is top-notch,” he added. “I just ate, I swear I don’t eat straight meatballs like that, and I tried the meatballs and I kept going back for them.”

A photo posted on the KU football X account showed details of a build-your-own-pasta station available to players on Monday, where the Jayhawks could choose between fettuccine, spaghetti or penne; chicken, shrimp, meatballs, Italian sausage or ground beef; 14 different vegetables; marinara, alfredo, pesto or “florentine rose” sauces; and parmesan or mozzarella cheese.

(Hishaw, an avowed fan of salads, also assured reporters that he had scoped out the salad bar at the Jayhawk Club, and it was going to have a sufficient array of options.)

Head coach Lance Leipold took the opportunity during his weekly press conference Monday morning to thank local vendors who have catered meals for the Jayhawks over the years, but noted the importance of now being able to prepare them in-house.

“It’s new and exciting and it’s going to benefit our guys in so many different ways, so it’s another fine addition to our program,” Leipold said.

The excitement was apparent to Leipold on Monday because players were already talking about lunch when KU was just wrapping up its practice.

“You can definitely tell it changed some emotions there in the morning time,” safety Lyrik Rawls said. “You’re going to see more smiling faces, see more bright eyes, see bigger plates.”

For at least one Jayhawk veteran, that extended to another aspect of the experience. KU quarterback Jalon Daniels said it was his first time seeing the newly redone stadium from the stands, in general.

“I came in, got me a nice little omelet, and I was like, ‘Let’s go ahead, let’s get going,'” he said of his dining experience.

Added Rawls: “I feel like a lot of guys are going to like it over there, especially me. I’m ready to go to lunch now.”