photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Kansas offensive lineman Calvin Clements (75) during the first half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl NCAA college football game against UNLV. Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Phoenix.

The Kansas football team is relying on a greater proportion of transfers for significant contributions during the 2025 season than it has in any other year under Lance Leipold.

The ultimate fate of the Jayhawks, though, may well depend on the ability of certain returning players to grow into much larger roles than they have occupied in previous seasons.

Here’s a look at some of those returnees who will be under the microscope this fall. Note that this list doesn’t encompass every player who needs to take on a bigger responsibility for KU to excel during the 2025 season; it focuses on those for whom, due to a combination of the positions they play and the depth (or lack thereof) behind them, it is particularly critical that they do so.

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

Kansas defensive end Dakyus Brinkley, right, talks with head coach Lance Leipold at spring practice on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Lawrence.

Dakyus Brinkley: Whichever side of the defensive line Brinkley ends up playing on this year, he is going to see a lot more playing time than in 2024, when he had zero snaps of any kind.

Before the end of the spring it seemed like he might have had the chance to back up Texas transfer Justice Finkley on the strong side in more of a run-stopping role, while Bai Jobe served as the second-string weak-side end. Jobe transferred to Miami (Ohio) and KU brought in 270-pound Alex Bray from Illinois, so now Brinkley looks like a more likely option back on the weak-side. If he’s playing right behind Miller, that’s a role that could give him about 25 snaps per game, like what DJ Warner garnered last season before departing for SMU.

Listed at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, a weight he earned by buying into KU’s nutrition program, and as a former four-star prospect whose parents are a former NFL linebacker and an Olympic hurdler, Brinkley certainly has the physical tools to make a splash this season. But it’ll be quite a step up, and they may need him right away; fellow transfers Caleb Redd (Kentucky) and Leroy Harris III (Chattanooga) are high-upside players, as young as Brinkley is, but they may need more time to develop.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive lineman Gage Keys takes on Calvin Clements in a drill during the Kansas Football Fan Appreciation Day Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Lawrence.

Calvin Clements: Offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa essentially declared during spring football that Clements is KU’s left tackle of the present and future. That is obviously a big responsibility with which to entrust a redshirt sophomore.

The Lawrence native from Free State High School certainly feels like he’s already a fixture on the Jayhawks’ offensive line, perhaps because he started in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl victory two seasons ago, but he actually only has 248 career offensive snaps (per Pro Football Focus), 29% of which were in that single game. He played 165 last season, working his way back from a springtime injury, and ultimately performing quite well at left tackle when he had to start the season finale against Baylor.

On the strength of those performances and what they’ve seen in practice, the KU coaches are now trusting Clements with protecting the blind side of Jalon Daniels. That’s a task that carries with it a great responsibility, as Daniels’ ability to extrapolate his early-2022 or late-2024 form to an entire season will go a long way toward determining the Jayhawks’ fate. To do that, he needs to remain upright and healthy. (It might be especially important this year for Clements to thrive given that left guard is possibly the biggest question mark on the entire offense, with James Livingston and Tavake Tuikolovatu in the mix.)

It’s also worth noting that KU does not have a large amount of plug-and-play players behind Clements at tackle, which is in part why it needed to bring in Enrique Cruz Jr. from Syracuse to challenge for a spot on the right side of the line. Nolan Gorczyca, who is coming off an injury, and Tulsa transfer Jack Tanner are the primary additional contenders for time at tackle.

photo by: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Kansas running back Daniel Hishaw Jr., left, runs away from Illinois linebacker Seth Coleman during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Champaign, Ill.

Daniel Hishaw Jr.: Consider that Hishaw, in his five years in college thus far, has carried the ball more than 13 times in just two games. In the same time frame, which encompasses the entirety of Devin Neal’s career, Neal did so in 29 different games. As much as the two created a sort of one-two punch over the years, Neal undoubtedly got the majority of the action. And in 2025, Hishaw only played in eight games due to a combination of illness, injury and a family matter. He’ll need to step up to serve as a workhorse back for a full season for the first time in his lengthy career.

One bit of good news for KU is that he seems fully prepared to do so from a mental and physical standpoint. Coaches have said he’s in a better headspace; Hishaw himself is playing leaner and said he feels better. That’s a good sign, even if he’s typically a power runner.

Also promising for the Jayhawks is that they don’t need Hishaw as their sole source of rushing offense, which makes this pick a little different than some of the other ones on the list. Iowa transfer Leshon Williams is a veteran, too, and his 2023 season in which he racked up 821 yards was more productive than any single year of Hishaw’s (although Williams inexplicably recorded just one touchdown on his 170 carries).

In this case, it’s more about what the Jayhawks are trying to replace in terms of the void left behind by Neal. For offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski to call as many deep shots as he would undoubtedly like to, for co-offensive coordinator Matt Lubick’s passion for the option to get put on display, KU needs to have a consistent and well-rounded run game in the way it has in years past, and that burden is primarily on Hishaw’s shoulders.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas cornerback Jalen Todd participates in a drill during fall camp on Monday, August 5, 2024, in Lawrence.

Jalen Todd: In his role as a reserve and eventual nickel cornerback, a capacity in which he started and participated extensively during KU’s memorable victory over Colorado, Todd saw some of the most significant playing time of any true freshman during Leipold’s tenure.

That’s a great start to a career, and undoubtedly it was valuable for Todd to enroll early as well and get a leg up on some of his fellow corners over the course of the spring of 2024. But he now has a much taller task ahead of him: replacing a first-team all-conference outside cornerback.

Todd is the apparent favorite for one of KU’s starting spots now that Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson have moved on to the NFL. He’ll face competition from newly added Georgia Tech transfer Syeed Gibbs, but KU doesn’t have a lot of experience at the position beyond Gibbs and another projected starter, Utah State transfer D.J. Graham II. Also, Leipold has said that one of the primary qualities of Gibbs’ that made him attractive in the portal was his experience playing nickel. Of course, Todd and Gibbs both have that at this point, but the remark provides some insight into the role that KU was looking for a transfer to fill.

So if Todd does indeed play outside corner with Graham, and finds himself covering some of the Big 12’s top receivers next year, it’ll be a considerable step up for someone two seasons removed from high school. KU looks poised to have a strong run defense this season with a physical and robust defensive-tackle group and completely new set of linebackers; the overall strength of their unit may ultimately rely on the ability of those like Todd to defend against the pass.