photo by: Boston College Football

Boston College's Bam Crouch, left, is pictured in a game against Fordham on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Kansas linebacker Bam Crouch, as a fifth-year senior, has been around the block.

Crouch played 40 games at Boston College, including as a full-time starter in 13 in 2024, and was a team captain entering the 2025 campaign before an injury limited him to four appearances and an unexpected late-career redshirt.

He may have seen a lot in the ACC — “That’s going to be able to help me as far as the knowledge of the game, just knowing where the ball will be and things like that,” he said — but his early months at KU have given him the impression he’ll be in for a different challenge in the Big 12. The Jayhawks’ offensive line, Crouch said, is bigger than what he was used to seeing in the ACC.

So Crouch has developed “a lot more” physically — even after he thought he was already in a pretty strong position.

“We do tests with our strength coaches,” Crouch said. “When they told me that I got a little bit more I could add on to my body, we just sat down, came up with a plan, and obviously that plan (has) been playing out right. So we’re heading in the right direction for sure.”

Whatever the case, Crouch said he’s put on 11 pounds of muscle and dropped 3% body fat, and from head coach Lance Leipold’s perspective, he’s “healthier, playing more confidently, feeling good about things.”

Especially with Quincy Davis currently backing up Trey Lathan at middle linebacker, that performance has Crouch in the driver’s seat to start next to Lathan in the 4-2-5 alignments of KU’s multiple defense. It may indeed be “by committee,” as linebackers coach Chris Simpson puts it, with players like Marshall transfer Jibreel Al-Amin and redshirt freshman Malachi Curvey also involved, but Crouch is at least chairing the committee.

“Bam Crouch has probably been the most consistent, if I could say it that way, and that’s kind of what I’m looking for right now, is some consistency out of that position,” Simpson said. “I think all of those guys have shown flashes, but we’re trying to turn those flashes into some consistency, to really be able to have the best guys out there all at the same time.”

Crouch’s biggest strengths, he says, are “just being aggressive, being able to knock people back and making big plays.” That is not, however, the origin of the nickname Bam, which comes from his infant self apparently deciding to “bam” his way out of the womb in the final hour of April 3, 2004, in order to avoid having the same birthday as his cousin.

The Tampa, Florida, native appeared in 11 games as a freshman in 2022 and never really slowed down during his tenure at Boston College — in 2024 he recorded 77 tackles with two sacks and two forced fumbles, and even early in 2025 he returned an interception for a touchdown — until the injury derailed his senior year. Now he’s back in fall camp halfway across the country.

“It’s been fun, man, getting back into playing football with a new program, so it’s been good to have the pads on and get to hitting,” Crouch said.

Defensive communication has been an emphasis for KU all offseason, and it certainly seems like a domain in which Crouch is prepared to assist Lathan, the firmly ensconced starter at middle linebacker.

“It’s been fun getting to play next to somebody that got a lot of experience,” Crouch said. “I got a lot of experience myself, so the communication is also there, the physicality always there, just knowing your assignment and your job is always there, so it’s been a smooth ride for both of us being on the field together for sure.”

photo by: Boston College Football

Boston College’s Bam Crouch is pictured in a game against Notre Dame on Saturday, Nov. 1,, 2025, in Chestnut Hill, Mass.