photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley

Kansas tight end DeShawn Hanika (18) is tackled by West Virginia safety Fred Perry (5) after catching a pass for a first down during the first half of an NCAA collage football game on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Lawrence.

Kansas tight end DeShawn Hanika underwent surgery and will miss the rest of the season due to injury, head coach Lance Leipold said on Monday.

It is the second season-ending injury in two years with the Jayhawks for Hanika, who missed all of the 2024 campaign due to an Achilles injury after transferring in from Iowa State.

“Unfortunately, his season has ended,” Leipold said. “A quality young man. Feel for him, everything that he sacrificed to get himself back to play.”

The Topeka native had 10 catches for 97 yards and three touchdowns through the first four games of the season, including a six-catch, two-touchdown performance on the road at Missouri. He was experiencing his first game action since 2022, as he did not play during the 2023 season at ISU amid a statewide gambling investigation.

Hanika appeared to suffer the injury in question on his second snap against Cincinnati on Sept. 27, when he went down to the ground while running a route late in the first quarter. In all, he played 110 snaps for the Jayhawks.

The seventh-year senior, who started his career at Butler Community College, received a medical waiver to play for KU in 2025. He said he didn’t want to look back later in life and regret not having taken the chance to achieve his dream of playing in the NFL. Hanika emerged as a leader in a new-look tight end room under co-offensive coordinator Matt Lubick and earned the starting role over the course of the offseason.

Since Hanika’s injury, Boden Groen, a summertime transfer addition from Rice, has stepped into KU’s primary tight end role and been a pleasant surprise. Groen is the Jayhawks’ second-leading receiver this year with 234 yards on 12 catches, and has scored a pair of touchdowns.

Redshirt freshman Carson Bruhn has caught five passes for 55 yards, and redshirt senior Leyton Cure, who serves primarily as a blocker and special-teams player, could be in line for a somewhat larger role going forward. He played seven offensive snaps on Saturday at UCF compared to three in the previous two games combined.

Another team leader who has battled injuries in the past and who does still have a chance to come back this year is running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. Hishaw has not played in either of KU’s last two games after dealing with an injury in the lead-up to the Jayhawks’ matchup with West Virginia, receiving two carries in the game against the Mountaineers and then sitting out the rest due to the injury.

Leipold said that KU is hopeful that Hishaw will be able to return at some point this season. In the interim, Leshon Williams, who scored three touchdowns against UCF, is likely to continue as the Jayhawks’ primary running back. KU next faces Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.