Defensive tackle Tre’von McAlpine, one of KU’s premier offseason acquisitions, will miss the 2026 season due to injury, head coach Lance Leipold announced at the start of fall camp on Tuesday.
“Tre’von was injured in the spring, had surgery and will not play this season,” he said.
Leipold said that KU has filed for a medical waiver so that McAlpine can return to the Jayhawks in 2027 for what would be his sixth year of college football.
“He’s moving really well, he’s probably ahead of schedule, but still, an ACL is an ACL,” Leipold added.
McAlpine, from Saraland, Alabama, is a transfer from Tulane who earned second-team all-conference honors in 2025 as his team reached the College Football Playoff. In his lone year with the Green Wave, he recorded 35 tackles with a sack and a fumble recovery.
McAlpine previously spent three seasons in the Big 12 Conference at Texas Tech, redshirting in 2022 and serving as a member of the Red Raiders’ rotation on the interior defensive line in 2023 and 2024.
As a fifth-year senior, he seemed poised to play quite often, particularly with his considerable experience as a nose tackle that could have aided his transition to defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald’s multiple fronts. In his absence, transfers Jibriel Conde (Grand Valley State), Kevin Oatis (Arkansas) and Eamon Smalls (UAB) will be asked to take on more significant roles alongside returning defensive tackles Marcus Calvin and Blake Herold.
McAlpine is the only player in his position group listed as a senior, meaning everyone in it could potentially return for the 2027 season. That also includes freshman Nakwaine Carter, redshirt freshman Josiah Hammond and newly acquired redshirt sophomore Jalen Atkins.
If McAlpine’s extra year is approved, he will be one of the final players to take advantage of a medical waiver. The NCAA is removing its waiver system almost in its entirety (retaining exceptions for military service, missions and pregnancy) as part of the new five-in-five eligibility model, which would also make McAlpine one of the last ever six-year players.
Leipold also said that Justin Thurman will miss the 2026 season due to an injury that occurred at the start of the summer. Thurman, a redshirt freshman running back from Tampa, Florida, who was committed to Notre Dame before joining the Jayhawks, recorded four carries for 32 yards in two games last year before undergoing Achilles surgery.
He would have had a tough road to playing time in 2026 with the additions of transfers Jalen Dupree, Dylan Edwards and Yasin Willis and the emergence of freshman Kory Amachree. All of those players have remaining eligibility beyond this season as well.
Tre’von McAlpine
Justin Thurman
Kansas Athletics
Kansas Athletics