One of the most exciting aspects of Kansas’ offense heading into this season was their wide receiving corps.
Over the past couple of seasons, the Jayhawks have had to use the transfer portal to great effect. The 2025 roster saw names like Cam Pickett, Emmanuel Henderson Jr. Bryson Canty and Levi Wentz.
This season saw much of the same as the Jayhawks reeled in Nik McMillan and Nahzae Cox, both joining the team and immediately becoming the team’s top targets, especially with Pickett suffering an injury-laden start to the season.
Where have the Jayhawks’ wideouts most excelled?
Let’s comb over the stats real quick.
So far through three games, Kansas ranks 81st in passing yards per game, with 204.5. However, obviously there is the caveat that the KU wide receivers have to have the ball accurately thrown to them, and with redshirt sophomore Isaiah Marshall at the helm, that hasn’t always been the case.
Through 49 receptions this season, those have been spread out between McMillan (12), Dylan Edwards (9), Tate Nagy (6), Keaton Kubecka (5), Cox (4), Yasin Willis (3), Carson Brun (3), Jalien Butler (2), Cam Pickett (2), Bryson Hayes (2) and Marshall rounds out the team with 1.
The top three wideouts for KU in terms of yards have been McMillan (226), Cox (125), and Nagy with 101.
While the ball hasn’t always been delivered with pinpoint passes, this has been an offense that has schemed each wideout pretty open across all three levels, primarily in the mid-range passing game over the middle.
Under Andy Kotelnicki, the passing attack was never the most important thing
Probably the biggest move of the offseason for KU came when the Jayhawks reeled in the former associate head coach and offensive coordinator back to the program after a two-year stint with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
In Kotelnicki’s last two seasons with the program, Kansas ranked 55th in 2023, averaging 237.1 passing yards per game, and 40th in passing in 2022 with 258.5 passing yards per game.
However, so far this season, with Marshall already attempting 82 passes and completing 44 of them, an increased passing attack has appeared to be the new initiative. It is also worth noting that Kansas has found themselves down by at least two scores in most of the second half of both losses against Missouri and Arizona State, increasing the urgency for points as soon as possible, which may play a part in Marshall’s spiking passing numbers.
Which wideout has been the most impressive this season?
To each their own, in terms of explosiveness, it feels like Cox has made every one of his catches count for big yards, averaging 31.3 yards per catch. However, McMillan has probably felt more consistent overall, being used in multiple different sections of the field and almost always giving Marshall an open target.
Overall Grade: B+
Up next for this receiving corps is the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, a homecoming of sorts for Cox as the redshirt senior hailed from the CUSA side ahead of this season. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT, with streaming available on ESPNU.
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