This was a Kansas Jayhawk running back room that was looked at as having a lot of potential heading into the season. After all, they had landed a steal of a running back duo in Dylan Edwards and Yasin Willis, with Colorado State transfer Jalen Dupree there to back up the duo.
But so far the Jayhawks have lacked that running pop, haven’t they?
Maybe that point isn’t widely agreed upon, and if not, I am happy to recant that point.
So far, the trio has combined for 319 rushing yards; sophomore Micah Johnson has also added 55 yards of his own, and redshirt sophomore quarterback Isaiah Marshall an extra 124 yards. Although for the sake of this article, we aren’t going to include any of Marshall’s rushing statistics, a sack on Marshall shouldn’t hurt their numbers.
Arizona State provided the best performances but also the worst news
Last weekend, the Jayhawks fell in what was a mildly depressing 24-17 Union Jack Classic loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils.
That loss saw KU drop to 1-2 before a bye week, and now the Jayhawks must navigate five more wins before reaching Lance Leipold’s third bowl game in six years as coach of the Big 12 school.
However, it also saw Edwards finish with nearly five yards per carry and 89 yards total, and Yasin Willis add another 35 yards. But the worst bit of the day came when the Syracuse transfer went down with a leg injury and did not return.
Following the game, Lance Leipold spoke with the media over the injuries at running back.
“Jalen Dupree hasn’t been healthy, got nicked up in practice the other day. He wasn't really available. Didn't do much of the last four days of practice. Micah Johnson's there; you know, we're down on guys there right now.”
While the KU fanbase is completely right to hate on the fact that Kansas’ bye week is this week, maybe this can provide some leeway even into the Middle Tennessee game next weekend, allowing for Willis to launch his recovery and for Dupree to get back to 100%.
What can you expect from this trio for the rest of the season?
In Kotelnicki’s last two seasons with the program, in his first stint, Kansas went 6-7 and 9-4. During those two campaigns, the Jayhawks ranked 48th-best in rushing yards per game (174.3 in 2022), and 8th-best (202.8 in 2023).
2026 may be a case similar to 2022; Kansas clearly has the talent if Willis, Edwards and Dupree can stay healthy, but the defenses won’t get much better or much worse than what KU has faced already this season, and as previously mentioned, it's not wrong to have expected slightly better productivity thus far.
Below will be Edwards’, Willis’, and Dupree’s respective numbers this season.
Dylan Edwards: 159 yards, 5.3 yards per carry
Yasin Willis: 127 yards, 4.6 yards per carry, 2 touchdowns
Jalen Dupree: 35 yards, 3.9 yards per carry, 1 touchdown
Overall Grade: C+
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