As Kansas coach Lance Leipold noted on Friday, it’s nothing new for the Jayhawks to make “late- or mid-to-late-camp adjustments” to their offensive line in service of putting the best possible group on the field by the time the season opener rolls around.
A year ago, Amir Herring emerged as a starter at left guard in a competition that had initially appeared to be between two other players. In 2024, not only did Bryce Foster overtake Shane Bumgardner as the starting center (after Michael Ford Jr. had even taken some reps in the middle in the spring), but offensive tackles Logan Brown and Bryce Cabeldue switched sides to put Cabeldue on the blind side.
That last one ended up working out particularly well as both players went on the NFL (and won Super Bowl rings with the Seattle Seahawks last season).
With all that history, it isn’t a surprise that a new development has arisen in the second week of 2026 fall camp. Herring, a redshirt junior who had worked from time to time at center earlier in his career, told reporters in the spring that he had been focusing on guard. But in recent days, he has spent some time back at center once again.
“It’s always nice when you have people have the ability to play multiple positions,” offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa said. “With Amir, his ability to have flexibility to play guard and center for us is a big deal in case things — knock on wood — may happen.”
Earlier in the week, Leipold mentioned that Oklahoma State transfer Kasen Carpenter — long considered the presumptive favorite at center — didn’t practice. But with Carpenter again taking part in the portion of practice open to media in recent days, Herring has still done his fair share of snapping.
This new version of the line could provide starting opportunities to both Tavake Tuikolovatu and Connor Stroh, rather than requiring them to battle for a single spot at right guard.
“Obviously we’re bigger with Stroh (6-foot-7, 350 pounds) in there versus Kasen (6-3, 310),” Leipold said. “Kasen practiced some today and was back. But Amir’s getting some work in that. Our responsibility is to get the five best linemen out there, and if someone’s not available in that five, how do we get the next best five out there?”
The sixth-year head coach also mentioned that he didn’t intend Herring’s presence to be an indictment of redshirt freshman Anderson Kopp, who had been the backup to Carpenter.
The question is whether this new arrangement with Herring is built to last or just a temporary experiment.
“It’s been good; it hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like,” Leipold said. “Got to be consistent with snaps and it’s different in some things that we’re doing.”
Despite that lukewarm review, he had plenty to say about the prospective merits of an offensive line with the interior trio of Herring, Stroh and Tuikolovatu.
“We’re pretty big in there, and we can be a pretty physical group,” Leipold said. “As we know, Amir’s extremely physical. He’s athletic. I like either unit that’s out there and we’ll just have to see how it goes through camp. But will Amir play some center through this year? I would definitely think so.”
Herring had a strong first season as a starter in 2025. The former Michigan transfer was a quiet but reliable presence at the position he had seized in training camp, occasionally rotating with Tuikolovatu. Now, inspired by the past examples of veterans like Kobe Baynes, Bryce Cabeldue and Bryce Foster, he’s attempted to grow into more of a leader in his position group.
That might serve him well if he does end up serving as its anchor.
“At center you got to command the offense, really,” Herring said. “You’re like the, I would say, like the point guard, kind of, (of) the offense, like how the quarterback is. You got to make IDs and make calls and different things like that, and echo it down to the whole offense.”
He said his goal in fall camp more broadly has been to raise “the floor of competition” along the offensive line. As for playing center, “I’m just going to do whatever it takes, really, for the team to win, obviously. Where the team feels where I need to be, really, to put us in the best position to win overall.”
What exactly Agpalsa and Leipold decide is the best fit for Herring — and Carpenter, Stroh and Tuikolovatu — remains to be seen. The season opener is now three weeks away.
‘SWISS ARMY KNIFE’
Between now and then, there might be one more late development for the coaches to contend with: the rise of DeAndre Harper.
Harper is a redshirt sophomore offensive lineman from Omaha, Nebraska, listed at 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, who started his career at Division II Northwest Missouri State before transferring to KU — Agpalsa had previously recruited him at Northern Illinois — and played in one game for the Jayhawks last year.
Leipold had mentioned earlier in camp that KU was trying out some offensive linemen at multiple positions. Well, Harper has clearly made a strong impression at guard after starting camp as a tackle. Herring called him a “Swiss Army knife” with a “unique skill set.”
“As we continue to go through this, it’s going to be hard to keep him off the field,” Leipold said. “When he gets on people, they have troubles getting off of him, and he’s versatile and athletic enough to play inside or out. So he’s going to continue to make his impact in this as well, and we’re going to have to find ways to get him some snaps.”
Agpalsa said that, aided by his flexibility at multiple spots, Harper is “moving in that direction” of potentially being the first lineman off the bench if anyone goes down.
“He is a talented young man,” Agpalsa said, “but in the last nine practices he’s continued to elevate even from the spring, and that’s great, because it just creates a lot of competition within the room.”
DeAndre Harper
Kansas Athletics