Kansas football: Former Jayhawk basketball stars on board with ‘Packing the Booth’

Apr 4, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Christian Braun (2) and forward Jalen Wilson (10) celebrates after beating the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four championship game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Christian Braun (2) and forward Jalen Wilson (10) celebrates after beating the North Carolina Tar Heels during the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four championship game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Tweets from former Kansas basketball stars Jalen Wilson, Christian Braun, and Gradey Dick suggest we could see some familiar faces during the Kansas football opener this Friday.

The Kansas Jayhawks athletic program has invested more time and money into football than they have in quite some time. After reaching a bowl game for the first time in over a decade, Kansas Athletic Director Travis Goff has upgraded campus facilities and released the renderings of the new-look David Booth Memorial Stadium.

Kansas has always been considered a basketball school, but the hope is that students and fans around the state will also devote their time to the up-and-coming football program. That has led to KU promoting the #PackTheBooth hashtag — relating to the Kansas football home stadium David Booth Memorial Stadium — and former Jayhawk hoop stars are catching on.

A post from now-Denver Nugget and NBA Champion Christian Braun on the newly dubbed social media app ‘X’ called Jalen Wilson to join him at KU’s season opener on Friday, Sept. 1 against Missouri State at 7:00 p.m. CT. Subsequent responses from Wilson and even NBA lottery pick Gradey Dick ensued.

Braun and Wilson won a national championship together in 2022, and they’ve been known as extremely close friends since they arrived on campus out of high school in 2019. Meanwhile, Dick never played with Braun, but was a teammate of Wilson’s this past season and got drafted to the NBA in the same year.

Seeing that some of the most prominent recent stars in Lawrence are supporting the school’s team on the gridiron reflects on the job that AD Goff has done. For the first time in several years, people are buying into Kansas football.

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