With Big 12 media days now well in the rearview mirror, another key offseason milestone will arrive soon enough when the Kansas football team begins its fall training camp on Tuesday, a month ahead of the Jayhawks’ Sept. 4 opener against Long Island at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
On the practice fields around the stadium in the weeks beforehand, the Jayhawks will compete to resolve the offseason’s numerous position battles. KU’s coaches have an unenviable task as they attempt to sort through a roster on which head coach Lance Leipold has said the starters and reserves are closer in quality than ever before.
Fall camp presents no shortage of opportunities for players who might be on the fringes to stake their claims — consider the way Amir Herring asserted himself as the starting left guard last year, for example. And some Jayhawks were inhibited in the spring to such an extent that the month of August may be their only chance to prove their worth.
Here are six Jayhawks who have a lot to prove during camp.
Jibreel Al-Amin: The former Jacksonville State and Marshall linebacker has a bit of an uncommon body type for his position at a listed 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds. Teammate Trey Lathan recently called him a “freak of nature,” and it’s easy to see how he could help KU in its efforts to be diverse on defense; he should be able to acquit himself well in coverage in situations when the Jayhawks want to put a third linebacker on the field. However, they’ve done that vastly less since D.K. McDonald took over as defensive coordinator. And even after Landyn Watson was ruled ineligible, it certainly appears that Al-Amin’s fellow transfers Bam Crouch (Boston College) and Quincy Davis (Boston College) are the favorites to play alongside Lathan in two-linebacker sets this year.
Jalen Dupree: The good news for KU is that it does not necessarily need Dupree to play a major role this year; the Arkansas native is only a redshirt sophomore. However, the other transfer running backs alongside whom he arrived at Lawrence in the spring — Dylan Edwards (Kansas State) and Yasin Willis (Syracuse) — both have additional eligibility beyond 2026, and both seem set to be among the Jayhawks’ most important players overall, let alone at the running back position. That would still leave open the possibility of some stray carries for Dupree here and there — after he got 102 at Colorado State last season — but he’s going to face competition from fast-rising freshman Kory Amachree. While Dupree missed the spring due to injury, Amachree impressed after enrolling early and has undoubtedly placed some pressure on his veteran teammates.
Mason Ellis: Ellis was one of the primary beneficiaries of McDonald’s addition of a third defensive back to KU’s defensive scheme, and he entered the 2025 season as the Jayhawks’ starter at that nickel position. Then, perhaps unsurprisingly for a player who has consistently ranked among KU’s fastest and proportionally strongest during his time in Lawrence, he showed promise in the first few weeks. But he suffered another injury, which derailed his season for the second year in a row. On this occasion he was able to come back, but never reclaimed a large role and mostly dropped back to safety rather than nickel. The Mulvane native is now a redshirt senior with his last chance to shine. He was limited during the spring, when KU brought in a boatload of new acquisitions at his position. His versatility will be an asset, but he’ll be one of numerous players who could figure in at the nickel spot along with the likes of safeties Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman (an Iowa State transfer) and Brandon Schmelzle (a former eight-man football player at Axtell) and cornerback Syeed Gibbs.
Matthew Gill: Why not throw the new punter on this list? Gill, KU’s latest Australian punter, is the overwhelming favorite to punt for the Jayhawks this year in his first-ever American football action, but it’s at least worth noting that he spent the entire spring as the Jayhawks’ only punter on the roster, a situation that required special teams coach Taiwo Onatolu to “put him in bubble wrap.” The opportunity to practice alongside newly added freshman walk-on Ben Shipley, of Houston, will at least provide an opportunity for Gill to set himself apart more definitively as the right option for this year’s team.
Roman Pearson: Cornerback is one of the positions at which the Jayhawks have the greatest level of continuity from last year with the likes of Jalen Todd, Austin Alexander, Gibbs and Jahlil Hurley, so it might be difficult for newcomers like Pearson or fellow transfer Elijah Cannon (Mississippi State, injured in the spring) to make a dent. But then again KU’s secondary was not particularly effective last season, part of the reason bringing a player like Pearson to Lawrence was worthwhile in the first place. He is an experienced three-year starter between Bucknell and Ball State and has more career interceptions (five) than the rest of KU’s cornerback room combined (four, three by Gibbs and one by Cannon). But then on the other hand it’s his final year of eligibility and there isn’t exactly a starting spot open for the taking — barring an exceptional preseason showing.
Connor Stroh: The 6-foot-7, 335-pound guard who spent three years at Texas, including a brief stint as a starter in 2025, is perhaps the most obvious example of KU’s efforts to get bigger on the offensive line in 2026. But Tavake Tuikolovatu, a former UCLA transfer who is like Stroh a redshirt junior, is by all accounts reaping the benefits of a full healthy offseason in KU’s program and is not going to give up easily in the fight for the starting job at right guard. The Jayhawks are known to rotate at guard and both Tuikolovatu and Stroh will surely play notable roles in the fall even if Stroh doesn’t start. But a hierarchy established in August 2026 could be difficult to upend by August 2027 if both players remain in the program next offseason.
Marshall linebacker Jibreel Al-Amin is pictured during a game against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Huntington, W.Va.
Colorado State running back Jalen Dupree (2) runs the ball against Washington during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Seattle.
Ball State defensive back Roman Pearson (5) defends during the first half of an NCAA football game against Auburn on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025 in Auburn, Ala.
Texas guard Connor Stroh lines up against San Jose State on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
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