By many accounts, this Kansas football season has been a disappointment. Expectations were high, yet results have been mostly low.
But if there has been one silver lining to the 2024 season it’s been the pleasure of watching senior running back Devin Neal play football for one final year in a Kansas uniform.
The Lawrence native set a trio of school records in a 45-36 victory on Saturday over Iowa State.
In the game, Neal became KU’s all-time leading rusher, surpassing Kansas legend June Henley. He left Saturday’s game with 3,951 career rushing yards. Neal also passed Henley to become KU’s all-time leading rushing touchdown scorer (43) and passed KU great Tony Sands to become the school’s all-time leader in games with 100 or more rushing yards (18).
On the year, Neal has racked up a total of 874 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. With still three regular season games left to go, he is well on his way to rushing for a third consecutive 1,000 yard season.
Neal’s record-breaking year has been a storybook finish for a local kid who chose to stay home and play for his hometown team.
He could have gone to more established programs out of high school but chose to play for KU – wanting to be a part of this rebuild. He could have transferred after the coach who recruited him (Les Miles) was fired, but he stayed committed when Lance Leipold was brought on. He could have gone to the NFL after his junior season but returned to school because he loves being a Jayhawk and wanted to help his team expand upon their success from the last few seasons.
Neal has been the best player, teammate, and ambassador that this program could have asked for. And now, his name and memory will live on forever as one of the greatest Jayhawks to ever put on a Kansas uniform.
Mr. All-Time pic.twitter.com/Aqxu1Hrbzg
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) November 10, 2024