Chase Belcher believed he had more to give to the world of college football.
By the end of his usual four seasons of action, which he spent at several schools across various levels, Belcher said, “I just felt like I didn’t finish or leave my mark like I was supposed to.”
The running back from Valdosta, Georgia, carried the ball 107 times for 566 yards in what appeared to be his final season, which came at Kennesaw State, his third school in four years after Northern Arizona and West Georgia.
Once that season concluded, however, following his career-best performance in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, Belcher kept training. He didn’t get a job.
“I didn’t think my route was anywhere else but playing football,” Belcher said, “so I was training for (the United Football League) combine, or just training for an opportunity just in case I got a call for anybody. I never stopped.”
His approach was validated by the end of the summer. When Belcher saw the ruling — since overturned — in the state of Colorado that gave all four-year players from the class of 2022 a fifth season in light of new NCAA eligibility policies, he thought, “OK, this is serious now, it’s real, it’s a possibility that could happen.”
Not long afterward, Belcher joined a Monroe County, Indiana, lawsuit, earned an injunction against the NCAA and found his way to a Kansas squad in dire need of help at running back. A few weeks later, Belcher debuted on Saturday against Baylor with six carries for 24 yards, and on Monday he and Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman were listed as co-backups to Dylan Edwards on KU’s weekly depth chart.
“He ran hard,” KU coach Lance Leipold said. “Again, getting him caught up in this type of situation’s pretty unique, one I’ve obviously never been a part of, but for the limited reps he was in there, I can see his role expanding. Runs hard, and again, the reps he’s had in practice through the extra time he’s worked with (position coach) Jonathan Wallace, it isn’t like he’s had troubles picking up what we’re trying to ask him to do, so we’ll see where it goes.”
It wasn’t quite as much of a surprise that KU picked up defensive tackle Clifton Thompson from the Indiana lawsuit (in the wake of the basketball team’s addition of Tre White) because legal documents filed in the case had suggested the program was interested in him. But those same documents suggested that Belcher might have returned to Kennesaw State.
He said on Tuesday that in fact, he “wasn’t able to go back and I ended up having to try to get a judge to grant my transfer, and then that’s kind of how this whole process ended up starting.” Asked why he couldn’t return to the Owls, he said he wasn’t sure.
“Mainly because of the roster, I guess you could say, because they did add like six or seven running backs to their roster, so that was probably a big part of it,” he said.
Instead, after the Jayhawks entered the picture about a week before the injunction, Belcher found himself at a power-conference program for the first time in his career. He had some sundry connections to KU. Wallace had recruited him before, linebacker Jaron Willis was from a similar area in Georgia and his fellow running back Edwards had played 7-on-7 with Belcher in high school.
“And college football, it’s a small world,” he added. “So a lot of these people that are here now, you might have played against somewhere else where you were — when I was at Kennesaw or when I was at West Georgia, I might have played against them. You can relate to people with those certain things, and just coming from different places, programs, it’s a lot of stuff that college football brings to you.”
He has certainly had a lot to contend with in recent weeks. Since arriving at KU on Sept. 27, Belcher has had to get up to speed with the offense and work his way into game shape.
“My coaches and teammates helped me on the things I haven’t been here for, because it’s kind of like catching up for fall camp and doing things like that, but it’s been really comfortable,” Belcher said. “Everybody’s made it such an easier experience, especially just transitioning from being home to coming to a Big 12 program. They made it very easy.”
It is, however, virtually unprecedented. Even in this unusual season, there aren’t a lot of teams — Michigan is one — bringing aboard new players who haven’t previously been with the program midway through the year.
“It definitely is strange, but I don’t see it any other way, I just see it like I came in and I’m just ready to do whatever I can for this team, honestly,” Belcher said. “I stayed prepared for the opportunity, and of course I had to get conditioned up to where everybody else was, but I don’t think I see any real difference besides just the speed of how everything is going.”
The speed of preparation is one thing, but the speed of the game at this level isn’t entirely unfamiliar for Belcher. As he points out, he faced the Arizona schools when he was at NAU and Indiana and Wake Forest when he was at Kennesaw State.
And he’s benefiting from the trappings of a power-conference program, noting that he has gained 15 pounds “in a good way”: “It’s like a lot of resources that I still haven’t even found out about,” he added.
Belcher will have more work to do down the stretch. With three backs likely out for the season and Jalen Dupree currently occupying a minimal role, he may well be the primary backup to Edwards during the second half of the season — and Edwards won’t get 30 carries every week like he did against Baylor.
Belcher was grateful to make his debut with his six carries in that game, as part of the unit that ran for 209 yards against what had been a stingy Bears defense.
“It brought a sense of comfort to me,” Belcher said. “Like I told my coach the same thing, just being back in that situation, back in that environment, made me even more comfortable and it gave me a feeling of what I came back to college football for.”
Now he just has to stay in college football. The NCAA has attempted to appeal the Monroe County injunction in several ways, but none has borne fruit for the association yet.
“I keep my faith in God and just keep my feet where I’m at,” Belcher said. “I just attack every day the same as if it’s still in place — like it is.”
Kennesaw State running back Chase Belcher scores a touchdown against UTEP on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Kennesaw, Ga.
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