Kansas linebacker Jon Jon Kamara (8) celebrates an interception by the Jayhawks during the second quarter on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

The Kansas football team lost a significant piece of the present and future of its linebacker room on Friday afternoon when Jon Jon Kamara announced that he intends to transfer.

“I will be entering the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility remaining,” he wrote in a post on X. “Thank you to the entire Kansas Jayhawks organization for everything during my time in Lawrence.”

Kamara was widely regarded around the program as one of the Jayhawks’ highest-caliber athletes, and as a player who was still growing into the linebacker position.

He was listed at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds for the 2025 campaign, his redshirt freshman season, and he played rather extensively considering his relative inexperience, especially early in the season when injuries and suspensions limited the availability of Bangally Kamara, the starting weak-side linebacker.

Jon Jon Kamara, the second-stringer at that role, ultimately played 238 defensive snaps on the season, according to Pro Football Focus, although just 61 came during the second half of the year. He finished with 13 tackles and half a sack, and only missed one tackle. His season-long PFF grade, however, was 56.5.

Kamara had arrived at KU from Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Arizona, as one of a trio of players recruited from that school in the class of 2024 through a pipeline established by former KU defensive backs coach Jordan Peterson. Kamara saw time on special teams as a true freshman, when he redshirted, and then appeared frequently on kick coverage, punt coverage and the field goal block units during his second year.

With Kamara’s departure, just one member of that Desert Edge trio remains: reserve cornerback Aundre Gibson. Defensive end DJ Warner transferred to SMU last offseason.

Meanwhile, KU now has work to do to build out its linebacker group. Trey Lathan and Joseph Sipp Jr. are veteran returnees at middle linebacker, but Logan Brantley has not seen significant time on the field during his KU tenure to this point, and the rest of the group includes 2025 recruit Malachi Curvey and 2026 signees Joseph Credit and Josh Galbreath.