Kansas Football Transfer Report: Where Did They Go? (Update)

Over the last couple of weeks, I have presented a brief look at each of the new players coming into the program for the 2023 season. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at where those who left the program via the transfer portal went. Below is a recap of those that left the program since the beginning of the 2022 season.

A few on the list may be missed, namely Velton Gardner and Corey Robinson II, but one of the truths of life is that everyone is replaceable. So to all those that have departed via the transfer panel, I wish you all the best because the new coaching staff has excelled in replacing you.

Looking at the current destinations of those leaving, I believe the coaching staff made it clear to many of these players they did not fit and/or did not have the talent to play for the Jayhawks in the future. Case in point, Conrad Hawley exited the portal not as a football player but as a basketball player at Iowa State. On the list of 22 players transferring out:

• 5 enrolled at an FBS school (SMU, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, New Mexico, and Texas State).
• 8 enrolled at an FCS school (Northwestern State, Northern Iowa, Abilene Christian, McNeese St., Florida A&M, and Incarnate Word).
• 1 enrolled at a JUCO (Iowa Western CC).
• 1 enrolled at a Division II school (Concordia University in St. Paul).
• 1 has an offer from an FCS school but has yet to commit (Incarnate Word).
• 1 has enrolled at an FBS school to play basketball (Iowa St.).
• 5 have no landing spot at this time.

Of the 5 players enrolling at FBS schools to play football, only 3 moved to a football team equivalent to or better than KU (SMU, Texas Tech, and Georgia Tech). This means of the 22 entries into the portal, 19 currently find themselves in a worse football situation this season than in 2021 (14 on teams not equal to KU and 5 without a team).

The new regime has done an excellent job getting talent to transfer into KU as evidenced by the current 247 Sports transfer class ranking of 21. Almost as important is getting rid of players that do not fit with their vision of the team. I am not sure how one would rate a school’s transfer-out class doing the least harm for the number of players lost, but I will suggest that KU would look good in those rankings also.

Update (7/21/2022): Duece Mayberry has found a new home. He has transferred to Louisiana-Monroe to play for second-year coach Terry Bowden. He joins his brother Kyle at Monroe. Kyle is a former KU player and was recently hired (as of July 14) as a defensive backs graduate assistant coach. This changes the bullet points above. There are now 6 transferring players moving to FBS schools, and only 4 remaining without a landing spot.