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

Kansas tight end Jailen Butler participates in Kansas football's spring practice on Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Lawrence.

When he concluded his high school career at Niles North in Skokie, Illinois, Jailen Butler would have considered himself more of a basketball player than a football player.

He didn’t start playing football until his senior year of high school, and his allegiance to basketball persisted well into his junior-college career, as he participated in both sports at Trinity Valley Community College. He was a shooting guard as much as a receiver.

And then he became a full-time tight end.

“I think football was just the best thing for me for my future, as far as being a professional athlete,” Butler said, “so when they talked to me about how I’m able to transition to tight end and being just more of a vertical threat and being a run-blocking tight end, I think I took those words into consideration, and it just helped me to get to this point today.”

Old Dominion recruited Butler as a tight end in 2023, and he went on to 21 of the 26 games he played for the Monarchs over two seasons, missing 2024 due to injury.

He played 1,099 offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, 547 of which were passing plays. He was targeted on 5.9% of those, and snagged just over half of his 32 targets, which is why despite such extensive experience he has 18 career catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.

“They just didn’t throw him the ball that much, but he played a lot on a good football team,” Kansas co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Matt Lubick said. “Old Dominion was a really good football team, and he had really good film against schools like Indiana, where he showed toughness and was able to create movement and run through contact.”

The Monarchs played IU closer than most of the Big Ten did during the Hoosiers’ run to the national championship.

“And so he’s done those same things here,” Lubick continued, “and he’s a very athletic kid who’s played a lot of basketball. He’s good in space, and he’s shown us that he can run and make plays.”

Playing time in KU’s tight-end room is up for grabs. Redshirt sophomore Carson Bruhn played pretty extensively in 2025 and started five of the eight games he played before suffering a season-ending foot injury, but he only caught five passes. Redshirt senior Leyton Cure has not yet climbed the depth chart during his time in Lawrence. Butler and fellow transfer Carter Moses, from Albany, are both veterans, but wild cards in their own right as they move up to a new level of competition.

“They know what it’s like to be in a college program and know how to act,” Cure said. “And I think we definitely got the right guys in the portal that kind of fit our mold in our tight end room.”

Of course, the precedent is already set that KU will use as many tight ends with disparate skill sets, deployed in diverse ways, as it can. That was a selling point for Butler in the portal.

“Coach (Andy Kotelnicki)’s creativity on how to get the tight ends the ball was a really important thing for me,” he said, “and the coaches that KU brings (are) really exciting, and I think we got some things coming this year.”

Butler evidently blocked quite a lot during his tenure at Old Dominion. That fit the profile of a player who said he takes pride primarily in “being nasty” in the run game.

“I think I showed great blocking,” he said of his time with the Monarchs. “I was able to get open against small defenders, or if it was a linebacker, he was slower, so I was faster than him. I think I showed multiple ways on how to get on the field and what I can do.”

Butler said he believes he can be a “mismatch” if he finds himself in the open field, and acknowledged that he didn’t get thrown the ball a lot at ODU, as Lubick had mentioned. But he asserted that he simply wants to fulfill his role, whatever that may be.

“I’m just here to be a team player,” he said.

Butler explained why KU was the right place for him as follows: “The culture, the facilities, what they’re bringing to the table is just very important to me, and they welcomed me and my wife here, and I think Lawrence is a great place for anyone if you’re a student-athlete or just a student here, I think Lawrence is a great place to be.”

It’s a long way from Athens, Texas, where he began his career at Trinity Valley.

photo by: Old Dominion Athletics

Old Dominion’s Jailen Butler catches a touchdown pass against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Statesboro, Ga.