The Kansas football team has struggled for many years with its interior defensive line. This year's roster features a lot of youth and not a lot of experience.
The Jayhawks needed to upgrade their speed, physicality, athleticism, and size in the trenches. It appears that KU did go out and find players who should help them be more competitive up the middle.
Of course, the Big 12 is a physical conference, so these guys will be tested week in and week out. They will have to be able to stop the run consistently and apply pressure on the quarterback from up the middle. Kansas will need to rely more on its defense this season than in the past because of plenty of unknown elements on offense than in the past.
Who will Kansas be counting on in 2026 on the interior defensive lines?
Here's a look at the interior defenive lineman for the Jayhawks:
Eamon Smalls
- Six-foot-two, 335 pounds, redshirt junior
- Played in 23 games, starting 10, with UAB
- 50 tackles. 3.5 TFL, 1 sack in 2025
Jibriel Conde
- Six-foot-five, 300 pounds, redshirt junior
- Played two seasons at Grand Valley State, played in 13 games
- 30 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks in 2025
Kevin Oatis
- Six-foot-three, 305 pounds, redshirt freshman
- Played in four games last season for Arkansas
- 2 tackles
Blake Herold
- Six-foot-three, 300 pounds, redshirt junior
- Played in 24 games over the last two seasons at Kansas
- 43 tackles, 5 TFL, 2 sacks last year
Marcus Calvin
- Six-foot-two, 305 pounds, redshirt junior
- Played in 12 games, including 11 LAST YEAR at KU
- 16 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack in 2025
While these five players are likely to get a bulk of the snaps, Kansas has several other players with limited or no experience who could work their way into the rotation.
Grady Seyfort, Jason Strickland, Josiah Hammond, Jalen Atkins, and Nakwaine Carter could see playing time throughout the season. Hammond and Carter might be the most intriguing players of this group. If there are injuries to the top five, it will be interesting to see who sees the uptick in snaps.
Kansas lost maybe their most important transfer during spring football when redshirt senior Tre'von McAlpine went down with an ACL injury, according to KUSports.com (subscription required). He suffered an ACL injury and is trying to get a medical redshirt so he can play next year. If he wins his case, he may be one of the last players to get a sixth year with the new NCAA five-in-five rule going into effect. The rule will eliminate any kind of redshirt seasons in the future.
McAlpine's injury will certainly hurt the Jayhawks' depth on the interior, but hopefully, the other players can make up for the loss.
KU will need Smalls and Conde to adjust quickly to the big jump in competition, especially the latter. Someone needs to fill in next to Heroald, who most certainly has a starting role locked up. These two have the most experience, so they seem like the most likely candidates to carve out the best spots on the depth chart.
If this group can't stop the run and apply pressure on the quarterback from up the middle, it could be a long season for the Jayhawks. Games are won and lost in the trenches, so this group has to prove themselves if Kansas is going to exceed expectations in 2026.
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