You would be hard-pressed to find many more players with a higher ceiling on the Kansas football team than Leroy Harris III. Last season saw the Chattanooga transfer finish the year with 31 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and a stellar 8 pass breakups.
While Kansas’ defense ranked 95th overall at 409.5 yards per game, Harris was one of the few standouts amidst a bleak team.
Harris finished his first season with an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention nod and is still only a junior.
Earlier this month, defensive ends coach Joe Dineen spoke with the media about Harris, where he gave a glowing review.
If Kansas is successful next season, Harris will be a reason why
“Leroy's done a good job. You know, I think the big thing with Leroy is focusing on his technique. With that size, with that athletic ability, if you can match that and pair that with great technique and great violence, then the sky's gonna be the limit,” opened Dineen.
During his sole season in the FCS, Harris notched 11 tackles, .5 tackles for loss and 3 fumble recoveries, being on Phil Steele’s freshman All-America team.
“And the challenge for us is to get them do it every snap. You see flashes of it, and when he does it, he has a lot of success in the run game and in the pass game. And now for us as coaches, we got to get them to do it every single snap.”
Harris now has a great teacher to learn from
Over the offseason, the Jayhawks made several staff additions that are almost all viewed as net positives. One of those hires was Dineen. Despite the Jayhawks going through one of the worst decades a power-conference team has ever endured, Dineen established himself as one of the nation’s best defensive players, finishing with 391 tackles, 45.5 tackles for loss, and 8.5 sacks. With Dineen now as a resource for Harris, there is another resource for the 3-star transfer to learn from.
Harris is now a part of a transfer-laden corps that has enlisted four new linemen this season in Jibriel Conde, Eamon Smalls, David Santiago and Kevin Oatis (Tre’Von McAlpine was not included due to his season-ending injury).
The revamped corps will look to improve on what finished as the nation’s 105th-best rushing defense last season, giving up an astounding 184.1 yards per game. The Jayhawks also only got to the quarterback 1.9 times per outing last season, 74th-best in the FBS.
Despite the promise that Harris presents, there will be no task for the Kansas Jayhawks more important than getting back to postseason football. Harris’ 2025 campaign marked the second in a row without a bowl game, as KU finished with a 5-7 record, and if the Jayhawks make it three years in a row without a bowl game, it will drop some of the good credit head coach Lance Leipold has built up during his tenure.
More Kansas Football News
Add us as a preferred source on Google