Former KU football players find new teams after months in transfer portal

By Benton Smith     May 11, 2021

Nick Krug
Kansas safety Davon Ferguson (7) and Kansas cornerback Hasan Defense (13) celebrate after bringing down Kansas State wide receiver Joshua Youngblood (23) on a punt return in the second quarter on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 at Memorial Stadium.

A couple of former Kansas football players who left the program months ago finally have come out on the other end of the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Both defensive back Davon Ferguson and tight end James Sosinski announced their future football plans this week, with Ferguson heading to Bowling Green and Sosinski off to Nevada

Ferguson, a starter in the secondary for the KU defense in each of the first four games of 2020, entered the portal shortly after the season’s completion.

Even though Ferguson, a junior last year, missed the final five games for the Jayhawks (0-9), he finished sixth on the team with 27 total tackles. In what proved to be his final game in a KU uniform, Ferguson led the Jayhawks with nine total tackles in a loss at West Virginia.

Sosinski, who could have potentially returned to KU as a super-senior, also entered the portal in December.

Mike Gunnoe
Kansas running back Khalil Herbert celebrates scoring a touchdown with tight end James Sosinski Saturday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Sept. 7, 2019.

A 6-foot-7, 250-pound veteran from Chandler, Ariz., Sosinski’s name showed up on KU’s did not dress list frequently this past season. Sosinski appeared in just four games for the Jayhawks in 2020, making his only statistical contribution in the season opener versus Coastal Carolina, with one reception for 16 yards.

In 2019, Sosinski played in seven games, making one start. He caught seven passes for 72 yards and scored a touchdown in KU’s opener against Indiana State.

In 2018, Sosinski famously became a two-sport KU athlete for a brief time, joining the basketball roster as a walk-on when the Jayhawks were running low on big men. Sosinski, in his one year of major college basketball, even scored a basket in the Final Four, during KU’s semifinal loss to Villanova.

Sosinski’s college athletic career actually began at UMass, as a quarterback, and he played basketball at South Mountain Community College (Arizona) before coming to KU on a football scholarship.

Both Ferguson and Sosinski were among the many players who left the program following the 2020 season, when Les Miles was still the head coach.

KU players from 2020 roster who entered the transfer portal

(Players listed left before KU hired Lance Leipold)

• Andrew Parchment, senior WR (Florida State)

• Elijah Jones, senior CB (Oregon State)

• Stephon Robinson Jr., senior WR (Northwestern)

• Dru Prox, junior LB (UTSA)

• Kyle Mayberry, senior CB (Utah State)

• Corione Harris, junior DB (McNeese)

• Davon Ferguson, junior S (Bowling Green)

• Denzel Feaster, senior LB (UTSA)

• Jacobi Lott, sophomore OL

• Api Mane, senior OL (Florida International)

• Kyle Thompson, senior P

• Ezra Naylor II, senior WR

• Jack Luavasa, senior TE

• James Sosinski, senior TE (Nevada)

• Jalan Robinson, sophomore OL

• Antione Frazier, senior OL (Northern Iowa)

• Julian Chandler, senior DB

• Clinton Anokwuru, freshman DL (Louisiana)

• Hunter Kaufman, walk-on junior WR (West Texas A & M)

• Lawrence Shadd III, walk-on redshirt freshman WR (Butler C.C)

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