Kansas football coach Lance Leipold makes appearances during NFL Draft

With the NFL Draft taking place in nearby Kansas City this past weekend, it provided a golden opportunity to help spotlight the nearest Power 5 football program and the progress that’s been made over the past couple of years.

There was no one better equipped to highlight that progress than Kansas football’s own head coach Lance Leipold.

Leipold appeared on both NFL Network’s Good Morning Football segment and ESPN’s College GameDay special to talk about KU’s draft prospects and where things are headed with the program.

Neither Lonnie Phelps Jr. nor Earl Bostick Jr. ended up getting drafted, but the interviews were a great opportunity for national audiences to gain some perspective on the rise of Kansas football.

"“We have an outstanding young quarterback in Jalon Daniels that, along with his teammates, has been able to put some energy back into our program …” Leipold told Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager. “Our administration’s made a commitment towards us, and we’re excited about what the future holds.”"

Later in the day on Friday, Leipold sat down with the College GameDay crew and shared similar thoughts about the trajectory that Kansas football is on.

"“At the beginning, the stability, the continuity, all the things that Kansas was struggling with I think recruits are seeing that we’ve brought that here, the play on the field is getting better, and the players are listening … ” said Leipold. “We’re going to upgrade some facilities, and all those things start stacking on one another.”"

Leipold got a lot of practice with the national media this past season following KU’s 5-0 start, and it shows. He was a great advocate for Kansas football this weekend during one of the NFL’s biggest events of the year.

In the future, hopefully, the program will get even more attention through sustained success and eventually more players getting drafted on a regular basis.