photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. runs for a touchdown against Cincinnati at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.

Emmanuel Henderson Jr. entered the 2025 season with five career catches and six career kickoff returns over the course of three years at Alabama.

Given the chance at Kansas to show what he could do on both offense and special teams during his senior season, Henderson rewarded the Jayhawks with 45 catches for 766 yards and five touchdowns through the air, plus an average of 23.9 yards per kick return with one special-teams score.

In turn, Henderson received first-team all-conference honors as a returner and a third-team selection as a receiver in a poll of Big 12 coaches, released on Thursday. He was also an honorable mention for offensive newcomer of the year.

Henderson’s best stretch came in late September, when he had 43- and 94-yard returns against West Virginia and then 214 receiving yards against Cincinnati. The wideout from Hartford, Alabama, was the headliner for the Jayhawks in a sparse year for all-conference recognition for the program. After KU had three players named to the first team and four to the second in 2024 — a year in which it finished 5-7, the same record as in 2025 — it had Henderson as a first-teamer on special teams and no one else on the top two teams as part of Thursday’s release.

The Jayhawks’ second most prominent honoree also originated from special teams. Punter Finn Lappin, a McNeese State transfer, was a third-team pick. In his lone year at KU, he averaged 45.3 yards per punt on 39 kicks, with a long of 61, for one of the best single-season punting efforts in program history.

The rest of KU’s selections were honorable mentions. Those included veteran right guard Kobe Baynes; Syracuse transfer right tackle Enrique Cruz Jr.; center and captain Bryce Foster, a multi-sport standout and preseason all-league pick; tight end Boden Groen, a Rice transfer who had a career year after taking over as the starter at midseason; defensive end Leroy Harris III, a breakout player as a true sophomore who had joined KU from Chattanooga; sixth-year senior running back Daniel Hishaw Jr., in his first year as the lead back; and transfer linebackers Bangally Kamara (South Carolina) and Trey Lathan (West Virginia).

Each of KU’s honorees transferred to join the Jayhawks at some point in his career except for Hishaw, and seven of the 10 selections played their first season in Lawrence in 2025. The players with remaining eligibility are Harris (two years to play) and Lathan (one year).