Kansas bolstered its secondary with two more young players on Thursday evening, as it added former Iowa State safety Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman and Mississippi State cornerback Elijah Cannon, both of whom announced their commitment decisions on social media.
The Jayhawks are now up to two corners in the portal (Cannon and Ball State’s Roman Pearson) and three safeties (Cummings-Coleman, Jaden Harris of Georgia and Christian Pritchett of Georgia-Tech).
Cummings-Coleman was one of many players affected by a rash of injuries that debilitated ISU’s secondary over the course the 2025 season. As a redshirt freshman, the Minneapolis native started out of the gate for the Cyclones’ season opener in Ireland against Kansas State, and again the following week against South Dakota. He played in three more games, with 101 total defensive snaps according to Pro Football Focus, but after his first snap against Arizona on Sept. 27 suffered a season-ending injury.
He will have three years left to play at KU, unless he eventually obtains a medical redshirt for the lost 2025 season, in which case he’ll have four. Cummings-Coleman played wide receiver in high school and some colleges recruited him to that position — he was a three-star athlete — but ISU switched him over to the defensive side of the ball. During his redshirt year, when he did not play in 2024, he was ISU’s offensive scout team player of the year.
Cannon was a member of the same class as Cummings-Coleman, but Cannon played in four games as soon as he got to Mississippi State as a three-star prospect from Coconut Creek, Florida. As a true freshman, Cannon tallied four tackles on the season and also returned an interception for a touchdown against Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 30, 2024. That year, he played 59 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, 34 of which were on defense.
The following season, he garnered what was ostensibly a slightly larger role with 78 snaps across 10 games, but they almost exclusively came on special teams outside of a brief appearance at outside corner against FCS Alcorn State. Cannon recorded one tackle for the year.
He too will have three years of eligibility remaining.
