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

Kansas running back Dylan Edwards works on returns during KU Football's spring practice at Lawrence High School on Saturday, April 11, 2026 in Lawrence.

As a holdover from Les Miles’ final staff at Kansas, running backs coach Jonathan Wallace had the chance to coach Pooka Williams Jr. in his first year with the program.

Williams didn’t stick around long in 2020; the multi-year all-conference selection left the team midway through the season, stating that he needed to help his mother deal with health issues. But in the time he and Wallace overlapped in Lawrence, he made enough of an impression that Wallace is comparing a new KU running back to him six years later.

That would be Kansas State transfer Dylan Edwards, an inch shorter and a few pounds heavier than Williams, but just as renowned for being “dynamic in terms of make-miss ability, return ability, catch ability, all of those things,” as Wallace put it.

Enough time has passed that Edwards can say, as he did on Wednesday, that his father Leon, a former KSU running back himself, had him watch film of Williams “when I was little.” (That might be a bit of an exaggeration. Williams debuted for the Jayhawks the month Edwards turned 14.)

But the comparison holds water, and the reference to “return ability” — Williams’ final touch as a collegiate player was a kickoff return touchdown — was of particular note on Wednesday as special teams coordinator Taiwo Onatolu expressed his own eagerness to leverage Edwards’ talents.

“We’re putting him all over the place,” Onatolu said. “But he’s going to do some punt return. Obviously, kick-return things, he’s experienced at. Fired up about him. He sees things really well. He’s really dynamic. Part of what makes him so hard (to tackle) is he’s a smaller guy, and you can’t see him behind big fullbacks, and then all of a sudden when there’s a little crease, he hits it and he goes.”

Edwards is at his third different school but at each of the first two spent some time returning both punts and kicks. At K-State in 2024, he brought back a punt for a touchdown against Arizona.

“It’s 11-on-11,” Edwards said simply of the return game. “It’s football. So anything that’s football related, (I’m going to) like.”

Onatolu said that KU tries to give its fastest players opportunities as returners, but feel for the game also plays a significant role: “Kenny Logan a few years back wasn’t the fastest guy, but he had good feel and timing in space, so he was a pretty good kick returner.”

Tate Nagy might fall into the Logan category, as the converted quarterback is far from the purest speed threat but proved quite elusive and more importantly avoided any notable mistakes while serving as the Jayhawks’ primary punt returner as a true freshman in 2025. He’ll be in the driver’s seat to remain in that role, but Edwards and Keaton Kubecka have caught punts as well.

“It’s been cool,” Edwards said. “I like the guys that I’m back there with, and (we’ve) all just been having fun and working on our technique, catching the ball.”

In any case, if Edwards slots in as the primary kickoff returner, he’ll have big shoes to fill. Emmanuel Henderson Jr. last year became the first Jayhawk to earn first-team all-league honors as a returner since Charles Gordon in 2005, leading the Big 12 in yards per return at 25.3 with a touchdown against West Virginia.