photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas defensive end Dean Miller (45) and defensive tackle D.J. Withers (52) celebrate after Lindenwood quarterback Nate Glantz was sacked during the first half of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Frisco, Texas — Tight end DeShawn Hanika had the opportunity to represent Kansas at Big 12 media days this week before ever playing a snap for the Jayhawks.

“It’s a true honor,” Hanika said on Wednesday. “I think for me, it just shows how much trust coach (Lance) Leipold has in me, how much trust my teammates have in me for allowing me to have this kind of a type of voice for the team, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Hanika’s was not the standard path to becoming a team leader at KU. He started out close by as a Topeka native, but never thought growing up that he would wear the crimson and blue. Instead, he played at Butler Community College and Iowa State and sat out most of the 2023 season with the Cyclones due to a gambling investigation before transferring to KU — where he promptly missed the entire 2024 season with an Achilles injury.

He wasn’t even supposed to attend Wednesday’s media day until an injury to center Bryce Foster created an opening, and, as Hanika characterized the phone call he had with Leipold, “You don’t tell the bossman no.”

“I was excited to come,” he added. “Never thought I’d be on this type of stage representing this great university.”

“He jumped at it,” Leipold said, “and again, what he means for our football team not just on the field but off, (it is) deservedly so, to have him here today.”

But as unlikely a route as the seventh-year senior took to sitting for interview after interview at Ford Center at The Star on Wednesday, it wasn’t even necessarily unusual among his fellow team leaders representing KU.

Besides Hanika and quarterback Jalon Daniels, a longtime fixture of the program, the Jayhawks also brought Dean Miller, a defensive end who toiled on special teams in relative obscurity before surging to a starting spot and a second-team all-conference selection, and D.J. Withers, a defensive tackle who played end in high school, stuck around despite being recruited by a different KU coaching staff and has over the course of five years become a well-respected veteran and key contributor.

Miller admitted he had some nerves heading into his inaugural (and final) media day appearance before the gathered reporters in Frisco, but “once I actually get rolling, I’m just talking to you guys, it’s no big deal.”

The 6-foot-5 end from Los Angeles could hardly crack 200 pounds for much of his collegiate career after joining KU from College of the Canyons. But his strengthened commitment to a nutritional plan that he once described as “just eat ’til I can’t eat no more,” combined with a lack of other experienced options at weak-side defensive end after Austin Booker declared for the 2024 NFL Draft, left Miller to snag a key role last season.

He parlayed it into six sacks and a second-team all-conference selection.

“It’s been a long journey for sure,” he said. “If you would have looked at where I started coming into KU and just looking at how much progress I’ve made, it’s clear to see. Honestly, it’s kind of a surreal feeling, a little bit.”

There’s still more work to be done as he enters his final season with a sense of urgency: “There’s no more time, no more waiting thinking about what you could do next season to prepare and get better.”

Miller is now listed at 240 pounds, but continuing to hit new personal records for speed, and fighting to maintain weight, as “the bigger you get, you need even more fuel to continue making progress.”

Withers’ rise to prominence has been a steadier and longer-term one than Miller’s, and it’s one he’s undertaken alongside teammate Tommy Dunn Jr., as both are now situated as some of KU’s most experienced defensive players in 2025.

“We’re super close,” Withers said. “That’s my roommate. Ever since I moved to D-tackle, that’s been my guy for the past four years.”

Withers’ action gradually ramped up, per Pro Football Focus, from 13 defensive snaps in 2021 and 186 in more consistent rotational action in 2022 to a combined 786 with 20 starts over the course of the past two seasons.

Now, he’s one of the favorites to emerge atop a crowded position group that could be one of the best on the roster — and one of the public faces of the Jayhawks.

“I was just thankful for the opportunity, really,” he said. “Just because I know this is a big deal, especially in the Big 12, so just being able to represent my school, I think, is a great opportunity.”

photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas tight end DeShawn Hanika during practice on Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Lawrence.