photo by: KSU Athletics

Kennesaw State running back Chase Belcher scores a touchdown against UTEP on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Kennesaw, Ga.

When Kansas defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald was in the NFL — he spent three years working with the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive backs — a new player would arrive midseason and by the following weekend the coaching staff might have to have him ready to start.

KU finds itself in a comparatively leisurely position with regard to its newest defensive tackle Clifton Thompson.

“At least we got a couple days, a couple weeks to get him kind of accustomed to what we’re doing,” McDonald said, “instead of the GM (general manager) asking you, ‘How many snaps is he going to play for us this week?'”

On the offensive side of the ball, associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki’s approach is that if someone is eligible to play, they could play. So don’t be surprised if he finds a way to get Kennesaw State transfer running back Chase Belcher on the field quickly: “We can get that position coached up, ready to go,” Kotelnicki said.

But KU’s depth, depleted though it may be, is not so dire that it needs either Thompson or Belcher, newly eligible as a result of an injunction in Indiana, to play a big role right away like a street free agent might in the NFL. (Head coach Lance Leipold brought in Belcher not long after joking about looking for running backs on the waiver wire.) That means more time to get in shape and learn the playbook.

“He was coaching high school football last week,” McDonald said of Thompson. “He gave a goodbye speech and went from breaking down the huddle to being in our huddle. So it’s a quick turnaround for him, but that’s how it is in this landscape. Welcome to college football and college sports.”

Or as defensive tackle Eamon Smalls put it, “It’s life in the big city, you know what I’m saying?”

“We’re going to roll, we’re going to welcome him to the family and everything like that,” Smalls said of Thompson. “We’re going to get him caught up on the playbook and everything like that. That’s our brother, we love him.”

Smalls — 6-foot-2, 335 pounds — said his first impression of Thompson — 6-2, 350 — was that he is a “massive guy.” That’s basically why KU needs him: to ease some of Smalls’ burden as a nose tackle in odd fronts.

“What’s exciting is another big body,” McDonald said. “You need that in this day and age in this game. For what we do, it’s always nice to have a big zero-technique. They’re hard to find … We hope in a couple weeks here we get him up and going and hopefully get him in the game and have another big guy to go along with ‘Big E.'”

It’s not like the Jayhawks were picking out of a deep pool of players when they added Belcher and Thompson: “We chose from the best that was available with everything that’s going on in the landscape of college sports now,” McDonald said.

“We had to do what was best to make Kansas football better,” Kotelnicki added.

But they found traits to like in both, with Thompson a former second-team all-conference defensive tackle at the FCS level and Belcher a well-traveled back who spent time at three schools, rushing for 566 yards at FBS Kennesaw State last season. McDonald said he can already see that Thompson has strong hands and short-area quickness. Kotelnicki said that Belcher has “really good size and power and change of direction, has good vision, the things that you see with him on film.”

“I’m excited to have them, and happy to have them along on this team and this journey that we’re about to go on,” quarterback Isaiah Marshall said.

It will be quite the journey, over nine consecutive weekends with games beginning on Saturday at 11 a.m. against Middle Tennessee. Both players will help account for previous losses, with Thompson filling a void left by the ACL injury of Tulane transfer Tre’von McAlpine and Belcher helping to make up for the long-term injuries of Kory Amachree, Justin Thurman and Yasin Willis.

photo by: Steve McLaughlin/Central Connecticut State

Central Connecticut State defensive tackle Clifton Thompson (0) is pictured during a game against UConn on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in East Hartford, Conn.