Kansas will have another significant vacancy to fill on its offensive line during the offseason.
Center Tyler Mercer, who spent one season with the Jayhawks, is entering the transfer portal, he announced on Thursday afternoon shortly before the portal was set to open on Friday. He will have three years of eligibility remaining as a redshirt sophomore.
“The University of Kansas will always be a part of my story,” Mercer wrote in a post on X. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent this program and for the Lawrence community that meant so much to me throughout my time there.”
He went on to thank KU’s coaching staff and his teammates before revealing his decision and adding that he intends to “pursue a new opportunity that best aligns with my growth on and off the field.”
“This decision was not easy and came after a lot of thought and prayer,” he wrote. “I leave KU with nothing but respect, appreciation, and love.”
His departure deprives KU of its apparent center of the future following the graduation of Bryce Foster.
Mercer had acquitted himself well in six starts in eight appearances as a true freshman at North Texas under now-Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris in 2024 before he joined KU as a transfer. He then redshirted while appearing in mop-up duty in blowout wins over Fresno State, Wagner and West Virginia.
The 6-foot-4, 300-pound lineman had been a consensus three-star prospect out of Prosper High School in Texas in the class of 2024.
Losing Mercer creates a new challenge for KU. The Jayhawks have returning starters along the line in left tackle Calvin Clements and left guard Amir Herring, and Tavake Tuikolovatu seems like a strong candidate to contribute at guard after rotating in during the 2025 campaign. But they may now need two starting-caliber linemen from the transfer portal, even if they move Herring inside to center — a position at which he has previously practiced. Freshman Anderson Kopp is another younger center currently on the roster.
Mercer is the third offensive lineman to leave KU in the portal after classmates Kene Anene and Greydon Grimes. The Jayhawks are already reportedly involved with one Division II transfer, Trezelle Jenkins Jr. of Wayne State, the son of a former Kansas City Chiefs first-round pick.
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