photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold watches during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas State Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Lawrence.

The Kansas football team used the transfer portal to rebuild its most vulnerable position group last offseason, and so the defensive line, which appeared a glaring weakness entering the year, ended up becoming a fairly consistent strength.

Defensive end Austin Booker, who barely played at Minnesota, amassed eight sacks and graded among the top pass rushers in the Big 12 Conference, on his way to defensive newcomer of the year honors. Defensive tackle Devin Phillips (Colorado State) was a massive presence in the middle and a leader for the unit, and when he was hurt, Gage Keys (Minnesota) made some flashy plays of his own against the run and the pass. Even Patrick Joyner Jr. (Utah State) chipped in now and then on the edge for a unit that rotated as often as any position group on the team.

While their contributions didn’t shore up an entire unit quite like the D-line transfers’, players like linebacker JB Brown (Bowling Green), kicker Seth Keller (Texas State) and running back Dylan McDuffie (Georgia Tech) absolutely left their mark on the regular season.

More will be expected from Dylan Brooks (Auburn), Logan Brown (Wisconsin), Spencer Lovell (Cal) and Damarius McGhee (LSU) in the years to come. In fact, those future contributions will be particularly valuable because Kansas certainly won’t be getting nearly as many players in the portal this offseason.

Head coach Lance Leipold articulated KU’s recruiting approach quite succinctly on Saturday: His staff tries to match up departing seniors one for one with incoming freshman recruits in terms of scholarships allocated, and each player who leaves in the transfer portal will likely get replaced by an incoming transfer in the same position group.

The Jayhawks had 19 players go through their senior day ceremony last month; three were walk-ons and 16 were on scholarship. Their 2024 recruiting class is, not coincidentally, 16 players strong.

KU had its outgoing seniors pretty well lined up with incoming commitments last winter as well, but the difference entering that offseason was that the Jayhawks had numerous players entering the transfer portal, including some who had left the team midway through the year.

That hasn’t been the case this time around at all, and so KU finds itself in a situation where it is trying to retain its prominent players as thoroughly as it did last year — despite the transfers, the Jayhawks had the highest proportion of returning production for any team in the nation, according to ESPN — while also unable to make any substantial steps to upgrade its roster unless some of them leave.

Tight end Will Huggins entered the transfer portal and KU swiftly filled his spot with fellow tight end DeShawn Hanika (Iowa State). Wide receiver Tanaka Scott reportedly entered the portal Monday, meaning the Jayhawks should have one additional scholarship to work with. That’s it for now.

That has not stopped the KU staff from offering scholarships to players in the portal. Just to name a few: Devean Deal (Tulane edge rusher), Jahsiah Galvan (Northern Iowa linebacker), Alex Howard (Youngstown State linebacker), Bangally Kamara (Pittsburgh linebacker), Khordae Sydnor (Purdue edge rusher) and Syrus Webster (Utah Tech defensive end).

There are more, of course, but the staff has clearly focused on a few position groups. The question is whether they have done so because they anticipate upcoming departures on the defensive line or in the linebacking corps.

Even if they don’t, they could likely get away without replacing Scott at wide receiver because of the extensive depth they retain at that position, including freshman Keaton Kubecka, who impressed enough to get on the depth chart early this year. Broadly speaking, the fact that next year’s newcomers will be almost exclusively freshmen means that players already in the program who haven’t gotten much work will need to elevate their contributions significantly.

Given how constrained the roster foundation is, don’t expect to see too much more maneuvering between now and the closure of the winter transfer window on Jan. 2.

More from Hanika

The Jayhawks’ lone transfer commitment thus far has strong ties to the area as a Topeka native.

“It’s definitely not the Kansas that I remember growing up with,” he told Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com. “Coach Leipold came in and they’ve done a complete 180. They’re a very respected team now in the conference, if not one of the top teams in the conference now. And with 90% of their guys coming back, they’re ready to go win a Big 12 championship. And I want to be a part (of) that.”

He committed shortly after a weekend visit for the Kansas-Missouri basketball game. Hanika met with co-offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski and offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes (who will be his position coach), but told Kirby he has also been speaking with quarterback Jalon Daniels, who “said that he’s ready to do big things.”

The tight end room currently looks to be in for the biggest changes, by a wide margin, of any position group heading into next year, between the graduation of Mason Fairchild, the change in offensive coordinators (and therefore tight ends coaches) and the addition of Hanika.

Hanika said the coaches had “really big plans” for him.

“They were just really excited about my speed and my ball skills and my physicality in the run game,” he told Kirby.