The Kansas football team will bring back its leading tackler and starting middle linebacker from the 2025 season after all.
Trey Lathan announced on social media on Thursday that he is returning to KU, posting a highlight video from last year that concluded by declaring him “locked in.”
Lathan had previously stated on Jan. 1 that he planned to enter the portal but by all accounts and according to multiple reports never officially did so, and the final day for him (or any other player) to enter would have been Friday.
Now that he is back with the Jayhawks, he has one year of eligibility remaining.
The native of Goulds, Florida, started all 12 games for KU in 2025 after transferring in from West Virginia. He was one of the Jayhawks’ most successful additions from the portal by far that year, as he earned an all-conference honorable mention after recording a team-high 86 tackles, including seven for loss, with one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, an interception and five pass breakups. Lathan served as an honorary captain when the Jayhawks hosted WVU on Sept. 20, which was also the game in which he made his interception.
He had played his first three seasons with the Mountaineers, redshirting in 2022, missing most of 2023 due to a broken tibia and fibula and then starting 13 games with 79 tackles in 2024.
Lathan earned KU’s starting job at middle linebacker and ended up playing an extremely high share of snaps at that position throughout the year, in part because Bowling Green transfer Joseph Sipp Jr. was hampered by an injury suffered during training camp.
Sipp has since transferred away to Florida Atlantic, and over the first half of January, KU has rebuilt an entirely new linebacker group into which Lathan will be inserted. Boston College transfer Daveon Crouch, a veteran, will undoubtedly garner some time in the middle as well, and four additional transfers — Jibreel Al-Amin (Marshall), Quincy Davis (New Mexico State), Landyn Watson (Kentucky) and Jaron Willis (South Carolina) — will vie for snaps, with the weak-side spot now vacant with Bangally Kamara’s graduation.
Malachi Curvey is the lone returning player besides Lathan in the position group, and Joseph Credit and Joshua Galbreath are joining as incoming freshman signees.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
