Tight end may be the position with the most question marks for the Kansas football team. Only one of the seven players listed on the roster as tight ends has any catches at the college level.
Redshirt senior Boden Groen is the only tight end with any career receptions. He has 60 catches for 556 yards in his years at Rice. He averaged 9.3 yards per catch and scored three touchdowns with the Owls. A bulk of his production came in 2023, as he suffered an injury last year and redshirted after playing in only four games.
That’s it, folks.
The Jayhawks do, however, have several players who’ve been in the program and have been buried on the depth charts. Some have played occasionally, but none have had any receptions.
Who will get the bulk of the opportunities at tight end for the 2025 Kansas football team?
Playing time at tight end will likely center around four players. Groen, with his game experience, is an obvious choice. DeShawn Hanika transferred from Iowa State after missing all of 2024 due to an injury. Holdovers Quinton Conley and Leyton Cure should all see opportunities to earn playing time.
Hanika and Cure are redshirt seniors, and Conley is a redshirt junior. Physically, Hanika is impressive at six-foot-six, 245 pounds. He has the size to contribute as a blocker in the run game, and the length to be a tantalizing target for quarterback Jalon Daniels.
Cure and Conley have the advantage of being in the program for a few years and are familiar with the offense and the culture. They’ve waited for their turns, and one of them could be a pleasant surprise.
While Daniels is working with a wide receivers group that consists primarily of players new to KU, he should be familiar with most of the tight ends, outside of Groen and Hanika. The key will be if two or three of these players can step up once the season begins and become dangerous, reliable pass-catching threats. The Jaykawks will need production from this group, and it will be interesting to see who takes advantage of their opportunities.