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

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels smiles during the Kansas Football Fan Appreciation Day Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Lawrence.

The Kansas football team lost a momentous senior class following the 2024 season, but in the process of rebuilding in advance of 2025 it also added a lot of senior transfers from other colleges.

The Jayhawks, like so many other teams in the modern era, opted to get old and stay old, as the saying goes.

As a result, KU will have plenty of additional work to do in the offseason ahead of the 2026 campaign, but it will also have an opportunity to send quite a few more players to the professional ranks next year, which could make for the first set of three straight years in which Jayhawks are selected in the NFL Draft since 1996, 1997 and 1998.

On Saturday, between the final rounds of the draft and the undrafted free agent signings afterward, nine Jayhawks got professional contracts. Four more received invites to upcoming minicamps in the days afterward, and two more went to the Canadian Football League.

The 2026 group might not match those robust numbers, but it still features a few players who have been key to the Jayhawks’ success in recent years, such as quarterback Jalon Daniels and running back Daniel Hishaw Jr., and several experienced transfers who could make immediate impacts at KU next season.

Here’s a handful of the players who have chances of getting drafted this time next year.

Jalon Daniels: It’s been a turbulent few seasons for Daniels, whose exemplary performance in early 2022 put him in all sorts of conversations about the best quarterbacks of the nation, to the point that he was the Big 12’s preseason offensive player of the year headed into the following season. Then he missed almost all of 2023 due to a back injury and opened 2024, his lone full year of action, very poorly before reclaiming something like his previous form late in the year.

Daniels’ mobility and ability to deliver throws on the run will make him a fringe professional prospect however his final season at KU goes. In order to make the most of his last chance to impress pro scouts, he’ll have to knock off whatever offseason rust might emerge after he was limited in spring due to a knee procedure, get acclimated to his new wideouts in the fall and deliver a higher standard of play for double-digit games at a time.

Bryce Foster: The second-team all-conference center, who was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded qualifying player at his position in the Big 12, opted to return to KU for a second season after he had spent his first three years at Texas A&M. Now playing at a lighter weight and more of a leader in the locker room, Foster is poised to go out in style, albeit on what might be a slightly weaker overall offensive line than last season’s.

Emmanuel Henderson Jr.: This projection is largely speculative for a player who has five career catches for 96 yards, but it’s about as well founded as speculation can possibly be. Coaches and players have raved about Henderson, a former five-star running back who now plays wide receiver, from the moment he arrived in Lawrence as a transfer from Alabama. Fellow wideouts and corners alike, all with plenty of experience, have called Henderson one of the fastest receivers they’ve ever seen. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound receiver is a pretty safe bet to serve as Daniels’ No. 1 target next year, and if one of them has an exceptional season the other one almost certainly will as well.

Daniel Hishaw Jr.: The Moore, Oklahoma, native will finally get his turn as a feature back after serving as a complement to Devin Neal, when healthy, for the majority of his career. After missing some of the 2024 season due to injuries and personal reasons, Hishaw is back for a sixth year, and his lengthy college tenure combined with his medical history and past ball-security issues could potentially deter some professional interest. Not to mention that he’ll still have to share some carries with Iowa transfer Leshon Williams. But when Hishaw is at his best, there may not be a more powerful runner in the Big 12. He’ll get a shot at being a workhorse back in the way he never has before and could take advantage of that opportunity to put more highlights like his memorable 2022 receiving touchdown against Duke or 2023 truck-stick against UCF on tape.

Bangally Kamara: It’s still a mystery at this juncture exactly how KU plans to line up at linebacker, both in terms of personnel and from a schematic standpoint under new defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald. Whatever happens, it’s safe to say Kamara will receive significant playing time at the weak-side linebacker spot. The first known transfer for any team of the offseason, who committed to the Jayhawks back in November, Kamara brings wide-ranging experience at multiple positions against high-level competition from his stints at Pittsburgh and South Carolina. His athleticism is such that “it looks like he’s not even trying sometimes,” as his position coach Chris Simpson put it in the spring, and those are the sorts of players who usually get looks at the next level.

Laith Marjan: Marjan hasn’t yet suited up for the Jayhawks, but he was already a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award given to the nation’s top kicker during his final season at South Alabama. That means he was one of the 20 best players at his position in 2024, when he went 16-for-17 and his only miss was a 50-yard attempt into the wind. Of course, very few kickers get picked in the NFL Draft. If he can work his way into the top three or so as a fifth-year senior, he’ll likely get selected; if he’s a little outside of that range he could still get an undrafted free agent opportunity, like so many past players at his position. He’ll need to maintain a high level of accuracy and perhaps show off some additional range in his second full season as a placekicker, since his longest field goal in 2024 was from 49 yards.

Dean Miller: Miller has come a long way since playing as an underweight special teamer early in his KU tenure. Now he’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds and is coming off a six-sack season after which he was named second-team all-conference. A high-velocity pass rusher with a relentless motor at the defensive end spot, Miller picked up speed in particular towards the end of the 2024 season after he struggled to make a consistent impact in his first days as a starter. It’s been a while since KU managed to retain a pass-rush end for a second season, given that it lost players like Lonnie Phelps Jr. and Austin Booker to early entries into the NFL Draft. One more year on campus as one of the top players on the Jayhawks’ defense could be what Miller needs to become a professional prospect himself.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Egan

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against BYU, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Provo, Utah.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas offensive lineman Bryce Foster during the first day of fall camp on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: AP Photo/Vasha Hunt

Alabama wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. (3) gets set against Western Kentucky during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas linebacker Bangally Kamara takes part in spring practice on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: Scott Donaldson/South Alabama Athletics

South Alabama kicker Laith Marjan kicks during a game on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Jonesboro, Ark.

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.