Lance Leipold’s sixth year at the helm serves a crucial one. If Kansas makes it to a bowl, they make it three bowl games in six years a remarkable feat.
But for that to happen, the Jayhawks will have to navigate tricky waters both home and away next season. All while doing it with a quarterback not named Jalon Daniels and a transfer-laden squad.
However, it is not all doom and gloom, as KU is bringing back associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki to an offensive playcalling duty that is sure to bring some consistency back to an offense that has had its fair share of lags since he left to take the offensive coordinator job at Penn State prior to the 2024 season.
While a record prediction can’t be fully made until some position battles are squared away, there are still three things that are guaranteed to happen by the end of next season.
No. 1: Kansas will finish with at least 5 members on an All-Big 12 Team
Let's get this out of the way: this does not include All-Big 12 Honorable Mention members. For example, last season the Jayhawks had nine Honorable Mentions. This list is strictly confined to the first, second or third team.
Here are the possible candidates for these teams, and a short excerpt why.
Nik McMillan: McMillan finished last season with seven games of at least 100 yards; at some point, it goes beyond a fluke and instead becomes the norm. With the Jayhawks enlisting a relatively balanced wideout room, it will be hard for every defense to key in on McMillan alone, opening up the opportunity for some big plays.
Dylan Edwards: Yes, Edwards’ second season with the Kansas State Wildcats quickly flamed out after just four games. However, his sophomore season saw an insane 7.4 yards per carry, tagging along with seven total touchdowns and 679 yards from scrimmage.
Tate Nagy: Nagy could potentially lead both kickoff and punt returns next season, which gives him a great chance at making some big plays. Across 20 returns last season, Nagy totaled 193 total yards.
Tre Lathan: If there was such a thing as a surefire bet for the Kansas Jayhawks, Lathan making this list is it. After a great first year where he notched 86 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and 1 interception, Lathan was already an Honorable Mention last season.
Leroy Harris III: Like Lathan, Harris finished the 2025 season as an Honorable Mention, adding 31 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss and one blocked kick as a true sophomore.
No. 2 Kansas’ quarterback room is better than people think
While this may not sound like the most convicted take of all time, there is little doubt that Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall are talented quarterbacks. Of course they are going to be ranked towards the bottom of most quarterback rankings; neither of them has meaningful Big 12 experience. But what both will have is a steady team alongside them; Kansas’ wideout corps has a lot more balance than last season’s. And their running back room could finish as one of the best in the nation. There is every chance neither jumps off the charts next season. But this isn’t a prediction of that. Steady quarterback play is all KU needs.
No. 3 The Jayhawks post above a 45% third-down conversion rate
In Kotelnicki’s final two seasons before his move to the Big 10, the Jayhawks finished with an average of a 48.54 third-down conversion rate. Kotelnicki knows how to find big plays so when Kansas gets to a third-and-long situation, it will never be a shoo-in that they will punt. Kotelnicki averaged 6.85 yards per play in his final two seasons as well.
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