The KU Football program and its loyal followers have surely gone through their fair share of ups and downs over the years. They struggled to find any sort of consistency in roster development, coaching, or flat-out success until Lance Leipold arrived in Lawrence.
One thing that has been successful within the program as of late is the RB position. Devin Neal, the Lawrence native, is the obvious name that comes to mind immediately, but guys like Pooka Williams, Khalil Herbert, and James Sims are popular choices that highlight how well KU has handled the RB slot through all the incertitude.
Daniel Hishaw Jr. is the next man up for Lance Leipold and KU football after Devin Neal graduated and was drafted to the New Orleans Saints in the 6th round of the 2025 NFL Draft. What many people fail to remember is that Hishaw Jr. has been with the program since 2020, one year before Devin Neal ever enrolled as a freshman at Kansas.
Daniel Hishaw Jr. has had a wild ride during his time in Lawrence. He entered the 2020 football season as a three-star recruit out of Oklahoma, and finished it as KU's second leading rusher, only behind Velton Gardner, who later transferred to SMU in 2022.
Hishaw Jr. missed the entirety of the 2021 football season because of an injury, then in 2022 he started off hot before suffering another injury that led to him missing the rest of that season as well.
By this time, Devin Neal had solidified himself as the RB1 for KU Football, but Hishaw Jr. still had a very productive redshirt sophomore season in 2023. He carried the ball 121 times for a total of 626 rushing yards, both being career highs.
People were finally starting to really talk about the young man out of Moore, Oklahoma, especially with all of the hype that surrounded the program going into the 2024 campaign. During the season, he once again missed more time due to pesky injuries, but was still able to produce a respectable 65 rushing attempts for 376 yards in eight games. After the November 16 contest against BYU, Hishaw Jr. stepped away from the team due to personal family reasons, and did not return for the rest of the season. Luckily for KU, Hishaw Jr. decided to return to Lawrence for one final season.
Going into 2025, Hishaw Jr. is fully expected to be the new RB1, his biggest role as a Jayhawk yet. That's not to say he won't have help, as Iowa transfer RB Leshon Williams brings even more experience to this new-look backfield. Kansas also got back underclassmen RB's Harry Stewart III and Johnny Thompson Jr. while also bringing in freshman RB's Justin Thurman and John Kelly. Those guys will not be expected to get many reps this season, but could be huge contributors to the future of the program.
Daniel Hishaw Jr. has the skill and talent to really make a big splash onto the grand map of college football this year, and could very well keep the RB train going strong at KU. We could look up at the end of the season and see him as one of the great stories that this program has seen in recent memory.