When I first heard that Colin Gunhard was transferring to Kansas to finish his college career, one thought went through my head.
There was no way his father, former Kansas City Chiefs center Tim Grunhard, would have let him come to KU if he did not believe the football program was in a better spot today than it was when the elder Grunhard was an assistant coach at KU for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
I never got around to writing that then, but the thought never left my mind.
On Tuesday, with Colin in attendance as one of the 25 KU players made available at this year’s media day, I decided to ask him what role his father’s past experience at KU played in his decision to join the Kansas program after four seasons at Notre Dame.
“He was very instrumental,” Colin said Tuesday. “And my mom was, too. My dad’s a great football mind and I can always lean on him for things like that.”
Colin said the process of picking Kansas was “kind of like when I was going out of high school.”
Both of his parents helped him weigh the pros and cons of his options and then left the decision to him.
Asked, though, if his father would have said “don’t go there” if he believed a particular school or program was not a good place or fit for his son, Colin didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Absolutely,” he said.
The fact that those words never came from his dad’s mouth helped cement Colin’s belief that coming to Lawrence was a good next step.
“He can kind of see past the BS or all the recruiting talk and all that because he, you know, was kind of a part of doing both sides of that,” Colin said of his father’s assistance this spring. “He was very helpful.”
So, too, were his own memories and experiences of his dad’s time at KU nearly a decade ago.
“I was here, too,” Colin said. “I would go to every home game in Lawrence and I went to a couple away games when my dad was coaching. It was fun being around the team.
“I really loved it. I would play tackle football on the hill when I was in like seventh or eighth grade. I watched the games, I looked up to the players and I just really enjoyed being around Kansas. I love being here.”
Now that he is, Colin gets to see if he can do something more at Kansas than he did as a four-year walk-on at Notre Dame.
With the Irish, for whom his father starred during his college days, Colin appeared in 13 games in three seasons while playing exclusively on the scout team as a freshman.
His early work with the KU offensive line has shown the kind of versatility that could make him a factor at any one of the three interior line spots, and Colin said he prides himself on being able to play more than one position.
With KU adding Buffalo transfer Mike Novitsky at the center position following Colin’s decision to join the team, his immediate future could be at either guard position and as a reliable back-up center.
On Friday, KU O-Line coach Scott Fuchs said he was encouraged by Colin’s growth and development at guard and that he prefers for his interior linemen to know a little bit about all three positions — if not all five spots — because it increases KU’s chances of putting the five best offensive linemen on the field to open the season.
“I do like him there,” Fuchs said of Colin at guard. “I think he’s done a really nice job there and I’m pretty excited about that.”
