Following this week’s news around Yasin Willis’ potential season-ending injury, a lot of the talk has been around Kansas’ running back room.
With Willis probably out for the season, this leaves Dylan Edwards and Jalen Dupree to shoulder Kansas’ rushing attack. Something that is extremely important in a fluid Andy Kotelnicki offense.
Kansas has since added running back Chase Belcher, a former Kennesaw State and Northern Arizona rusher, to help cushion the blow of Willis departure.
Last season with the Owls, Belcher rushed for 566 yards going 5.3 yards per attempt and an average of 43.5 yards per game along with 2 rushing touchdowns. Via the air, Belcher added another 194 yards for 14.9 yards per catch, along with 2 receiving touchdowns.
However, the addition of Belcher wasn’t the only eye-opening running back addition made to the squad, as it was announced that Iowa State transfer safety Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman would be making the move to that position.
What could make Cummings-Coleman a useful running back?
In the offseason, defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald spoke about what Cummings-Coleman offered KU.
“When he was in the portal, you know, I called Coach Heacock (former ISU defensive coordinator) and just kind of asked about who he was, approachability, things like that. And all that stuff is off the charts. And the one thing Coach Heacock told me was, you know, he was voted one of the top five athletes on their team there. So that was really impressive there.”
Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki spoke about what made Cummings-Coleman an intriguing addition to the running back room.
“He's an explosive player. He's got a lot of twitch. He's powerful. When you look at football, really the running back spot. There's some physical traits that kind of permeate through all levels of football, and he has those things, and he's got experience in high school, doing this stuff, before [college] he played every position in high school.”
According to his profile on the KU website, the former Minnesota Mr. Football nominee holds Coon Rapids High School records for single-season receiving yards (962), while also rushing 32 times for 207 yards, going for 6.7 yards per carry.
…So to see him go out there, run around right away, and pick it up really, really quick is exciting, you know, 'cause he's got some real juice and power.”
How realistic is it that Cummings-Coleman gets valuable minutes?
With how banged up this room suddenly is, nothing is out of the picture. At best, Cummings-Coleman is third on the depth chart, but as of heading into Middle Tennessee, he is probably lower on the chart.
However, this was also not an article anyone would have expected to have been written three weeks into a season, so things can flip quickly in any direction.
For the Jayhawks, though, after what will soon be 14 days off, KU will need to find their winning ways in order to prevent the wheels from falling off. Up next is the Blue Raiders this Saturday, with kickoff set for 11 a.m. CT and streaming available on ESPNU.
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