Kansas is nearing 24 hours since its disappointing loss to SEC side Missouri, in what was Missouri's biggest comeback win in nine years.
While the score will forever sit at 42-31, and leave a bad taste in the mouths of Kansas fans for the next two weeks, the game wasn’t all bad. No, this is not going to be a piece where we find the positives over Kansas’ Border Showdown loss, because there are a few to take note of, rather, this will be over the decision of playing Bangally Kamara, a player that had previously been reported as out, and how he made himself fit enough to take the field Saturday evening.
The saga starts during Kansas’ blowout 46-7 win over Wagner, where, postgame, head coach Lance Leipold explained that the Pitt and South Carolina transfer was absent thanks to a non-contact injury he had sustained earlier that week.
On Monday, Leipold had told the media this slightly concerning excerpt.
“He [Bangally] did not practice today. That's my update, okay.” Marked Leipold, “Jack Tanner did not practice today as well, so they're not on the depth chart, so you can probably figure where that's trending for both.”
Yesterday, before the game, Pete Thamel of ESPN broke that Kamara had a chance of playing, with this post on social media
Sources: Kansas starting linebacker Bangally Kamara is a game-time decision at Missouri today after suffering a non-contact injury in practice. He’s expected to dress out and warm-up for the Jayhawks, and a determination will be made. He's a transfer from both Pitt and South… pic.twitter.com/1g5fqjAcbR
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 6, 2025
247Sports Michael Swain had then uploaded footage of the linebacker warming up, confirming Thamel’s report.
Kamara, while not starting, still played a big role in the game and accumulated nine tackles, two tackles for loss, and a pass defended.
To cap off the storyline, here is what Leipold said over Kamara’s status postgame.
“Well, like I told you on Monday, he was listed as out, he met with the doctors later that day, and they talked about some things that could happen, and he did not do anything on Tuesday. He practiced some on Wednesday…he wanted to play from the start, I really admired that about him.”
“You know, a lot of times in today's era, guys are like ‘ well, you know, I'll sit out this not conference game. We're open next week. I get a couple weeks' rest and then I'll be more closer to 100%,’ and he was like, ‘Coach, I'm playing.’ And he did some on Wednesday. We told him that he needed to do something to show that he could go out there. He practiced some on Wednesday, did a little bit more on Thursday, and you know, we made the decision that, obviously, Jon Jon [Kamara] would still start, but then we would see how he felt after warm-ups, and so that's the story.”
Ultimately, the day ended in a way where no Kansas fan would win, but to see a player of Kamara’s attitude and commitment to play in a big game like Saturday’s and still perform to a high level does show the grit this team will need heading into a chippy conference schedule.