Davion Adkins has been picking up a lot of positive traction heading into his freshman season at KU. The former 4-star is a power forward/center combo who was rated as the 10th-best player from Texas in the class of 2026.
Earlier this month, former Kansas assistant Norm Roberts chimed in on Adkins, predicting a strong future for him, and earlier this week, head coach Bill Self spoke on Adkins with the same positive mindset.
Self noted that Adkins is not fully healthy after dealing with some knee issues, but later assured the press “he’s gonna be fine.”
Adkins is going to offer an immediate threat for KU
“I don't think he is 100%. He is a quick-twitch, athletic guy. He's had a great summer. More skilled than what we thought. Gotta get stronger, 'cause we're not very big, so he's gonna have to play the five some, especially early on.”
Adkins is currently listed at 6-foot-9, putting him in the odd space between a possibly too tall power forward, or a slightly undersized center.
“But quick-twitch is what we’ll see. You know, he put his hand above the square, but what made him special is he had squat-to-jump, change directions, how he got a ball screen, a lot of things like that. But I don't think he's quite where he needs to be athletically just because he's still bothering a little bit, but he's gonna be fine.”
What will Adkins’ role be for his freshman year?
Self seemed adamant that Adkins may open the season as a possible backup center as Christian Reeves’ recovery is still underway from an offseason shoulder injury. This means that center Paul Mbiya is set to get the start under Reeves is back to 100%.
As the season wears on, though, expect to see Adkins transition more to a power forward role. While Utah transfer Keanu Dawes is bound to start every game he can, Adkins very well may be the only power forward backup Kansas has. Mbiya and Reeves are both too tall, and while incoming 5-star Tyran Stokes can slot into the power forward slot, his 6-foot-7 stature creates a slight size mismatch.
Those mismatches extinguished a lot of the momentum the Jayhawks had last season. It started with Baba Miller and Moustapha Thiam in a blowout loss to Cincinnati in February and things never truly got better after that. Including the loss to the Bearcats, KU finished the last nine games with a 4-5 mark, where all but one loss was by double digits.
By no means will Adkins likely be a star by the end of his first year. Expect him to pick up around 10-15 minutes per game with his role likely shrinking as the season enters crunch time. Typical for most freshmen.
But if he can learn from Dawes, Reeves and Mbiya, his sophomore season could easily see him be the Jayhawks’ starting power forward, pushing that position way down the list of urgent needs.
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