With the official opening of the transfer portal on Friday came the apparent departures of several additional Jayhawks whose intentions to enter had not previously been widely reported.
Namely, middle linebacker Joseph Sipp Jr. confirmed to the Journal-World on Friday that he will enter the transfer portal, and defensive end Dylan Brooks, cornerback Jacoby Davis and wide receiver Jaidyn Doss were included on a list of day-one portal entries compiled by Jon Kirby of JayhawkSlant.com.
Sipp leaves Lawrence after a single season that head coach Lance Leipold at one point called “frustrating.” The former Bowling Green transfer had spent three years with the Falcons, and he was a first-team All-MAC selection in 2024 who chose KU in part due to the recommendation of his former teammate (and Jayhawk) JB Brown.
Sipp seemed poised to play significant snaps at middle linebacker, but he suffered an arm injury during fall camp and never quite got going as a result. Trey Lathan took on the lion’s share of the snaps, as Sipp didn’t appear during nonconference play and ended up recording just two tackles in four games.
Lathan’s departure on Thursday suggested there could be a big role in store for Sipp in 2026; instead, he too will leave the Jayhawks for his final year of eligibility, meaning that KU’s scholarship linebacker group currently consists of one redshirt freshman, Malachi Curvey, and two incoming freshman signees, Joseph Credit and Josh Galbreath.
Brooks has not played in either of the last two seasons due to injuries. His last appearance was in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl, when he had one of his five tackles on the season. In all, Brooks appeared in seven games that year, the only season during which he has seen action at KU. He previously spent two years at Auburn, after he was one of the top prospects in the state of Alabama out of high school. He will be a sixth-year senior in 2026.
Davis is the latest in a series of reserve cornerbacks to head for the portal, following Jameel Croft Jr. and Aundre Gibson, although KU has largely kept the top of its depth chart intact at that position to this point. Davis had been a three-star recruit out of North Shore Senior High School in Houston in the class of 2023; he did not play during either of his first two years with the Jayhawks and then appeared in five games with one tackle in 2025.
Doss was an odd case, as he came to KU unusually late — in July — as part of a one-time portal window for Designated Student Athletes who would have lost their roster spots as part of the House v. NCAA settlement’s roster limits if not for their newly granted exemptions. The Kansas City, Missouri, native had spent two years at Nebraska, where the Cornhuskers tried to convert him to defensive back after he caught two passes in his redshirt season. He played in one game in 2024 and then did not appear at all in his lone season at KU. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.
The portal will remain open for potential future entries until Jan. 16.
