After experiencing plenty of success with a transfer kicker in 2025, Kansas went back to the well for another ahead of the 2026 season.
Former Michigan State kicker Martin Connington announced his commitment to KU in a post on social media on Friday morning. He fills the vacancy left by Laith Marjan, a former East Carolina and South Alabama kicker who went 14-for-17 on field goals for the Jayhawks in his lone season in Lawrence.
Connington, for his part, has several years of eligibility remaining and so could potentially be a multi-season solution for the Jayhawks, although he will undoubtedly face competition from freshman Dane Efird, from Branson, Missouri, who appeared briefly during the 2025 season and took a redshirt.
Connington was a highly regarded kicker recruit coming out of Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho, in the class of 2024. He joined the Spartans and redshirted, then served as their primary kicker as a redshirt freshman. He went 12-for-16 with a long of 50 yards in his first season in the role, while also going 27-for-28 on extra points.
As a kickoff man, Connington earned touchbacks on 19 of his 37 kicks; one went out of bounds.
Connington, who will be the first Idahoan on the KU football roster in decades, is the second piece of a new-look special-teams unit for the Jayhawks after former Notre Dame and Cal long snapper Rino Monteforte, and the third followed in short order on Friday: Australian punter Matthew Gill.
Not much is known about Gill outside of his online listing on the website of the Australian Kicking Academy, a new organization founded in 2025 by former Wyoming and Rutgers punter Tim Gleeson. He is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds and recently turned 19, and he will have four years of eligibility at the collegiate level.
Gill’s bio calls him a “future NFL prospect” who is “ready for every kick in the book.”
“Technically sound punter,” it reads. “Consistency greatest strength. Comfortable both in-pocket and on the run.”
Gill will be KU’s latest Australian punter after Damon Greaves and Finn Lappin. He joins Ben Shipley, an incoming freshman walk-on punter from Houston, on the 2026 roster.
