Kansas RB Ky Thomas announces intention to enter transfer portal

By Shane Jackson Jan 4, 2023

Chance Parker/Journal-World photo

Kansas redshirt sophomore running back Ky Thomas during a training camp practice on Aug. 4, 2022.

The Kansas football team will be without transfer running back Ky Thomas next season.

Thomas, a native of Topeka who played sparingly during the 2022 season because of injuries but held a key role in KU’s Liberty Bowl appearance last month, announced Tuesday night that he was entering the transfer portal.

Wherever the redshirt sophomore running back lands in the coming weeks will be his third school since graduating from Topeka High in 2020. Because of his COVID year, he will have three years of eligibility remaining at his new destination. He redshirted the 2020 season at Minnesota before playing for the Gophers in 2021 and playing at Kansas this season.

Thomas’ slow start was due in large part to the strong play of fellow-KU backs Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw. Thomas carried the ball just 11 times for 25 yards in the first three weeks and then missed two weeks with injury before returning in Week 6 and receiving 42 carries the rest of the way.

That included 11 touches and two touchdowns in KU’s wild, triple-overtime loss to Arkansas in Memphis in late-December.

What initially looked like an important pick-up at a position of need quickly turned into a situation where Thomas was fighting for playing time in a crowded running back room.

Neal and Hishaw were far and away KU’s top two options in the backfield, and the Jayhawks also had Tory Locklin and Nebraska transfer Sevion Morrison on scholarship at the position during the 2022 season.

Neal led KU with 1,090 yards and a 6.1 yards-per-carry average and Hishaw was out-pacing even that production before suffering a hip injury in early October that knocked him out for the rest of the season.

All four of those other backs can return for the 2023 season and the Jayhawks also recently signed California running back Johnny Thompson, a three-star prospect who had originally been committed to USC.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Thomas led the Gophers with 824 yards and six touchdowns during the 2021 season before transferring closer to home. A three-star prospect according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings, Thomas had a monster career at Topeka High and figures to be a fairly sought after option in the portal this offseason.