It’s been a long road back to full strength for Kansas running back Jalen Dupree after he missed spring practice due to injury.
But in a recent scrimmage in the final days of fall camp, Dupree said, “I hurdled somebody and I kind of had a glimpse of my old self for a little bit.”
That was the clearest sign yet that Dupree, who carried the ball 102 times for 508 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, could be back to the form that he displayed at Colorado State and that made him an appealing transfer-portal pickup for the Jayhawks as they looked to revamp their group of running backs.
Associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki said at KU football media day on Thursday that Dupree’s last two practices had been his best.
“The first week and a half was a little rough, just trying to get my confidence back and build up,” Dupree said, “but I feel like now I have a pretty good road, and I’m back where I was and even better.”
The question now becomes where exactly he fits into KU’s plans.
Dupree’s physical appearance doesn’t immediately suggest a particular set of offensive applications, like that of the 5-foot-9, 175-pound Dylan Edwards or 6-foot-1, 230-pound Yasin Willis. But he is indeed “pretty rocked up” himself, as associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki put it early in fall camp, at 6 feet and 215 pounds, and now seeks to find his own niche in an offense that is sure to deploy Edwards and Willis early and often.
“Between him and Yasin, those are pretty big, thumping guys,” Kotelnicki added. “That could take a toll on people, especially when you start to make the skinny butts tackle, your secondary players, that’ll take a toll on them. I’m excited to see him do that and continue to progress.”
Each running back transfer arrived at Kansas in the winter having previously led a college football team in rushing at some point in his career. Only one had to sit out the spring after an offseason surgery and watch as his fellow backs got settled in. (Freshman running back Kory Amachree, too, took full advantage of Dupree’s absence and shone during the spring, but he has been hampered by injuries in fall camp.)
“I just leaned on my teammates and just trusting God’s plan,” Dupree said. “It was tough for sure watching them guys play, but I was just seeing where I can help this team get better, so I learned a lot during that time.”
Dupree is originally from Benton, Arkansas, and attended Malvern High School, where he was a three-star recruit. He played sparingly in his freshman year at CSU, then rose into a starting role as a sophomore but left the team late in the year, citing coaching changes within the program.
He then became one of KU’s earliest portal additions of the offseason, even before the Jayhawks reeled in Willis or Edwards.
“I just know this place has a lot of potential, and the relationship me and (position coach Jonathan) Wallace built in the portal, I just knew I had to be here,” Dupree said. “He has a good history of building backs, and just making them more than what the average back could do, being an all-time back.”
That last phrase, of course, evokes Devin Neal, who wore No. 4, like Dupree, as he entered the KU record books.
Dupree said he also appreciated that Wallace was humble and down to earth. Wallace, for his part, has said of Dupree, “He’s a very decisive runner. He can get north and south, he can stick his foot in the ground, he’s got really good eyes, he makes full-speed decisions.”
The question is how that skill set translates to game action when the Jayhawks already have clearly defined and quite well-regarded power and speed backs. To hear Dupree tell it, he might be well suited to later downs.
“I would say my pass blocking, third- and fourth-down back, also I can come help protect,” Dupree said of his top skills. “But I would say my vision, the way I find holes and hit it, I’m powerful, so I feel like I’m all-around.”
In an ideal situation for KU, his value will extend beyond a single season’s worth of third-choice carries. For one thing, he is only a third-year player with two remaining years of eligibility. In the near term, too, he can lift his fellow backs to new heights.
“He’s been on the field and going, and you can see he’s making Yasin better and they’re both making each other better,” Edwards said.
Dupree also acknowledged the reality that he could also find himself experiencing increased action if the season takes a toll on his position group: “You know how the season goes for running backs,” he said. “You got to have a sturdy room.”
History has certainly borne that out for KU, considering how much of the 2025 season it spent with either Daniel Hishaw Jr. or Leshon Williams banged up. If nothing else, the presence of Dupree ensures KU will continue to have a change-of-pace option at its disposal even in the absence of one of its top two backs.
