Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ALARM: Kansas Loses Tyler Mercer to Portal, Projected Starting Center in 2026 for Jayhawks Football

Starting point is 00:00:00 Right another tally. K, you lost another player to the transfer portal in football. This time, it might have been their projected starting center in 2026. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here, this is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it. your first listen every day and thank you for making the locked on podcast network now the number one

Starting point is 00:00:34 sports podcast network on today's episode of the show little bonus episode Tyler mercer is entering the transfer portal and it is one of the bigger losses that k u suffered in the transfer portal so far we'll break down why and where it leaves kU plus we're going to touch a little bit on uh how past transfers out of kU have done for the j hawks elsewhere right what does it tell you about has kU actually been okay about some of the players they've lost so we'll get to all that on today's episode of the show. Let's just start right here with the news. So this comes from Chris Hummer, who is the coach football writer,

Starting point is 00:01:07 does a transfer portal for 24-7 sports. He tweeted out earlier today. Kansas offensive alignment, Tyler Mercer, plans to enter the portal and yada, yeah, yeah, some more info and stuff. This is a big deal because KU's losing Bryce Foster. Bryce Foster was all-big 12 second team two years ago. This year had a bit of a slower start, but still actually finished with a solid season for KU.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Good two-year player for KU. A very good edition that KU made out of the portal. Well, Mercer was expected to be the starter coming into 2026 with a spot lost by Foster. And it's not just that he was expected to be a starter. It's that you spent, I don't know, whatever you can call it, time, assets, money to bring him in last offseason to be a guy that would develop and learn the system and then become the starter. It's not just that you like just added him and now he's flipping or whatever. Like this was the plan. It seems like for, you know, over a year at this point.

Starting point is 00:01:57 He's a 6'4 300-pound offensive lineman from Prosper High School in Texas. He began his career at North Texas, and he played in eight games as a true freshman at North Texas, started six games. He was named a freshman All-American by On Three, and he was somebody who had a solid PFF grade, 67.2 pro football focus grade in 565 snaps. Obviously, we saw what North Texas did this past year. So, you know, I don't know, that makes you think at least even more highly of it, I guess, even though a slightly different season. But he had a 77.7 pass block grade and a 62.3 run block grade in that 20, 24 season on North Texas when, again, he was a freshman.

Starting point is 00:02:41 So it comes to KU's a sophomore red shirts this season. He did still appear in three games. He played seven snaps against Fresno State, 64 PFF grade in that one, 27 against Wagner, 57 grade there, West Virginia, 10 snaps, overall 44 snaps this year. 66.5 PFF grade, tough to take too much, though, from from the grade when you're talking about that limit. It snaps. But basically, he was able to gain a year in the system. He would be a redshirt sophomore in 2026. And it's not just that you're losing the guy who's projected to be your starting center in 2026. It's that you potentially lost a bunch of years of it, right? Like Mercer

Starting point is 00:03:14 could have been your starting center for three seasons at KU. And that makes this a brutal loss. Additionally, like, I think he's a pretty good player, too. So that one hurts. And so I don't know what the I don't know what the roundup is here like is this something where okay he wants to reunite with his former coach at north Texas who's now at oklome state and um now they have a little bit more money to spend there like either way it certainly hurts for k u now if he does end up at another big 12 school and and ends up there then it's going to hurt even more especially if he does end up having a good season and a big season um for whatever team that he goes to that you're kind of playing up against and now puts you in a position where i think the only center i kind of well

Starting point is 00:03:52 okay so Anderson cop came in as a true freshman last year. He'll be a retro freshman this year. I don't know if the idea was to make cop a future center for KU or if he's going to be more of a guard position. But right now, that's kind of the one. And then outside of that, it's like, do you move one of your returning guards to center? Is that something that any of them can do? Is that something that Tobaki Tuoko Lavatu? Is that something that James Livingston, who's been kind of a longtime veteran, but hasn't been a starter for KU can do? What about a mere herring? Right. Mayor Herring had a good season for KU as a guard. Could that be something that you move him over to center? You're going to have to get creative now and figure out what you want to do.

Starting point is 00:04:24 you might even have to go into the transfer portal and get a starting level center. And that's unfortunate because it felt like you had a pretty good one with Mercer who had multiple years off to play, who now had a year under his belt in the system. And it just, it's a little frustrating too from a standpoint of like you feel like you bring in kids who you're trying to develop to set up. Like it's one thing to bring in a high school kid and try to develop him and be like, yeah, we think he'll eventually be something with any transfers before you get there. It's another to bring on a kid from the portal who you expected to have a starting level

Starting point is 00:04:54 role or a big role come next season and they they you know spent a year at your program or something and left obviously for whatever reason you know he wanted to make this move who knows you never know nowadays is it a money thing is it an opportunity thing is it wanting to be closer to home thing is it you know you never entirely know but this one really stings for kU we earlier this week kind of had an episode about the top five transfer portal losses so far for KU this would clearly be in the top five and off the top of my head I think you'd be in discussion with with David McComb, John John Camar, and Lyric Rawls in your top three. Rawls was a starter in 2025. Mercer was more, he could have been a starter in 2026, but

Starting point is 00:05:32 theoretically, I might even have Mercer higher on the list because you get multiple years out of it. Then it's just a question of where you put in with like Kamara and McComb. And those are both guys that depending on how things shook out, could have a big role, could have bright futures. That would be kind of the same area for Tyler Mercer. So this is a pretty big loss for KU that they're going to have to overcome now in the portal and maybe have another offensive alignment, starter level offense alignment they're going to need to add in the transfer portal this year. All right.

Starting point is 00:05:59 I want to talk a little bit more about some of the previous losses that KU has had in the transfer portal in previous years and how some of those players have done at other schools. So we'll get to that next on Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Rocket Money. Ever feel like your money just disappears each month? It happens fast. A few subscriptions here.

Starting point is 00:06:20 an impulse buy there and suddenly the numbers in your bank account don't match the numbers in your head. Rocket money helps you get clarity, track every dollar, and stay in control of your finances because managing your money shouldn't feel like a second job. Rocket money does the heavy lifting for you so you can save more and stress less. Rocket money find subscriptions you forgot you were paying for and helps you clean them up quickly. You see all your spending on one dashboard makes it easier to understand and comprehend where exactly your money is going. Having the app too, it allows you to kind of save each month and keep your consistent goals that you want to set for yourself. So take control of your finances and cancel your unwanted subscription, especially as we start

Starting point is 00:06:58 the new year here, right? Like make that your New Year's resolution with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com slash locked on today. That is rocketmoney.com slash locked on. RocketMoney.com slash locked on. Today's episode of the show was also brought to you by Wayfair. The holidays always show up faster than we expect. And now we're past the holidays, but that doesn't mean they're.

Starting point is 00:07:19 you can't get ready for next holidays or maybe you've got somebody who's got a birthday coming up or you got Valentine's Day coming up and whether you're having, you know, a watch party for the Super Bowl coming up or or whether you're having a watch party for, I don't know, something going on. Wayfair has you covered. Whether you need a quick room or fresh, new betting or those final seasonal touches, Wayfair makes it easy to get what you need fast. Wayfair truly is your one-stop shop for everything home, decor, furniture, kitchen essentials and gifts for every style and every budget all delivered quickly and easily the selection's huge betting decor kitchen gear kids room updates you can find everything you need in it just one place no massive delivery fees

Starting point is 00:07:56 no stress get last minute hosting essentials gifts for all your loved ones and decor to celebrate this upcoming new 2026 for way less head to wayfair.com right now and shop all things home that wayfair.com waifair f a ir.com wayfair every style every home Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget and check out our Everydayer Club, Lockdown Podcast.com, slash every day or get ad-free versions of the show and join our Locked-on Everydayer Discord Club. Okay, so I wanted to get in a little bit on this. This was a segment request, so to speak, from Grant.

Starting point is 00:08:33 So shout out to Grant for requesting this. Kind of wondering, like, could you go back and take a look at how have some of the past losses under Landslide pulled into the transfer portal? How have they done at their other schools? Like, what are we looking at here? And I think this is a good lesson to kind of look at and say, you know, now that KU is up to, what is it, 18 transfer portal losses. And some of them that certainly sting, Tyler Mercer, would go into that group. Over the long haul, KU is actually not typically lost a lot of players that have

Starting point is 00:08:58 gone on and done big things at other school. There's a few that we'll get to here in a second. So that should, A, give you a little confidence about what they've lost, but also B, at the same point in time, you could say, well, it feels a little different right now. So is that a sign of the times or where things have gone, right? that maybe this year's different. So anyway, 2022, we'll start here, 22 losses in the portal for 2022.

Starting point is 00:09:21 There were really only two that I pointed to that were like losses that stung. That's how I kind of just defined this kind of a vague way of doing it. Corey Robinson was an offensive lineman who redshirted at KU. He ended up transferring to Georgia Tech where he made 24 starts, 36 appearances, then spent his final season at Arkansas this past year, 12-game starter in the SEC, 65.7 PFF grade, 69.8 pass block rate as a left tackle.

Starting point is 00:09:46 That would have been nice for KU to hold on to him. But then again, that early in the light pulled era, was he just a less miles guy that, you know, wanted to be a part of something else and repig his coach. Stephen Parker, kind of same thing here. Like Parker, less miles guy, like, I don't know, it's hard to blame too much for having a different coach in transferring in. But he ended up going to incarnate word at the FCS level,

Starting point is 00:10:08 which was one of the best FCS teams when he was there. He was all conferences first year. Then he was all-American. in his next year there. And then he ends up transferring back up to the FBS level, goes to an eight-win Texas State team, where he had nine tackles for loss, five sacks, and a 77 PFF grade.

Starting point is 00:10:21 It would have been nice to maybe hold on to that one, too. But overall, it's not a ton of losses that I think hurt KU from the 2022 class. There were a few guys that had decent years or seasons at smaller schools, solid, not spectacular. Side note, did you know, Velton Gardner ran for 26 yards on last year's Texas team? I had no idea on that. But yeah, two solid losses or two losses that sting, so to speak, of 22 players, especially considering you brought in Kobe Baines, Marvin Grant, Dom Pony, Lonnie Phelps,

Starting point is 00:10:53 Kaelan Gervin and Craig Young, among others, like that offsets the losses. That was actually a great net positive what KU got out of the portal in 22 that really contributed to back-to-back bowl games. What about 2023? 2023, you lose 14 players in the transfer portal. There's kind of one loss that stings. And even then, like, I don't know, I go back and forth on this. So the loss that stings, I think, would be Stephen McBride, because you went to Hawaii and had a really good season.

Starting point is 00:11:16 63 catches, 1,024 yards, and nine touchdowns. And it stinks that KU was never able to tap into the potential to that level. But also the reason that I was hesitant to not put this one here is just like, okay, but even if he was at KU, is he playing above Luke Grim, LJ Arnold or Quentin Skinner? Like, that was a solid group of three receivers for KU. So maybe it deepens your depth and gives you four really good receivers on that KU team. And maybe that helps a little bit more. that's the difference of one extra win. Who knows? But also, like, it worked out for him because he might have been the fourth string at KU. So it's hard to point to that one.

Starting point is 00:11:52 Side note, remember Ethan Vasco, like he was seen as, who knows, maybe this will be what ends up happening with David McComb. Obviously, I think people would typically say that they were higher on David McComb at a high school than Ethan Basco. So it's a little different here. But Vascoe was seen as somebody who had a bright future for KU in the quarterback room. He transfers and going out to coastal Carolina this past year he was at liberty had more interceptions than touchdowns 10 to 12 there also have note kai thomas transferred away in 2023 he just finished his career 3.2 yards per carry at washburn and then Gavin potter had some decent production at arkansas state and Tulsa but i don't think he

Starting point is 00:12:25 would have been an upgrade for kU in the linebacker room um overall in 2023 if you would say ku didn't lose that much that hurt them and again what they brought in was better than what they lost Logan brown devon phillips was a solid detail tackle. Seth Keller was a starting kicker. Austin Booker, obviously a pro player. Gage Keys gave you, you know, a solid year in rotation the one year before transferring out and then boomeranging back. Dylan McDuffie was solid for KU as a third running back. J.B. Brown had an all big 12 season in there was good for two years. Patrick Joyner was a rotational defense event for you, all guys who, you know, either had varying levels of success from role player to stud player. But I think, again, like a huge net positive in what KU brought in the transfer portal in 2023 versus what they lost out. Now, you look at 2024. This is when things start to turn a little bit here. Armage Reed Adams was a huge loss. I think that's the biggest loss that KU has suffered through the transfer portal in the Lance Light Poldera. Sixty-eight and a half and 79.7 PFF grades in his

Starting point is 00:13:26 two seasons at Texas A&M, including this year for a team that made the college football playoff. He gave up two total sacks in two seasons with the Aggies playing SEC ball. And he was just actually named this past year an AP All-American. because second team guard. So one of the best guards in the country, right? The other one you would look at is Will Huggins. And again, this one kind of depends which way you want to look at it. Like he was kind of buried on the KU Dept jar, had some injury stuff,

Starting point is 00:13:53 ends up going to Pitt State, plays so well in 2024, that he ends up transferring up to Oklahoma on a college football playoff team this year. He only played 87 snaps at Oklahoma. But it's one of those things where it's like you look at some of the injuries, some of the depth concerns. KU had a tight end this year. And it's like, okay, if you only played it, 87 snaps for a top 10 team, but he was good enough to be on Oklahoma and earn a spot on

Starting point is 00:14:13 Oklahoma. With that, have at least been good enough to upgrade KU's backup tight end spot this year, probably would have been. So that one a little bit different. I don't know if he still has another year and we'll see what happens there. You could maybe point to Tanaka, who had 935 receiving yards in two years combined at the FCS level. Maybe he would have been an upgrade this past year over like Keaton, Quebec or Doug Ameleon, but it's not for sure. He of the off-the-field incident too. Davy on Westmoreland had a solid year in 2024 at an FCS school. But even if we counted like Scott, Westmoreland, and Huggins,

Starting point is 00:14:45 that's four of the 14 losses you had as being ones that bothered you at least a little bit. And even then, it's really just the one huge loss with Armage Reed Adams. Now, what she added in that year, Deshaunica, who, you know, was a good player for KU, just sucked, he had the injury stuff. Dylan Woodke, who was a solid defensive end for KU, Devon Dye, Bryce Foster, or All-Big 12 player, Layton Cure, Amir Herring, notably. And I think this was actually not really easy to distinguish if it was net positive or negative because you would say Foster had a good two years for KU.

Starting point is 00:15:19 But Armadreed Adams was the second team All-American, right? Huggins, is that an upgrade or downgrade from what you've gotten from Leight and Cure? You look at Hanukkah better than both, but not healthy the whole way, right? Like Wood, Wood, Key, Dye, Herring, all solid role players or starters. And there's more meat on the bone still with herring. It definitely adds up that like KU's most murky transfers in and outs is this year compared to 2020 and 22 and 23 or 2024 when I say this year. And you had a five and seven season. I think it's very easy to see.

Starting point is 00:15:50 Hey, when KU nailed the portal in 22 and 23, that led to back-to-back bowl seasons for KU. And they didn't in 24, they go five and seven. So there is that big correlation there. And then the last one here is 2025. 17 losses, losses that sting. Demarius McGee ended up being one that I think stung, and I don't know exactly what happened there. That felt like one where, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:16:13 things were just lining up this way, but he goes to Florida Atlantic, 31 tackles, four past deflections. He had a good year for FAU, 68.3 PFF grade, a 70 coverage grade. And he did play against a Big Ten opponent, Maryland, in the opener. They kind of went after him, five targets against him,

Starting point is 00:16:29 but they were not successful targets. five targets. He gave up just 28 yards with 18 of the 28 coming after the catch. I think coaches noticed that on film the rest of the year. He was only targeted four times in a game twice the rest of the season, including at South Florida, which was one of the more high-powered offenses in the country. He gave up four targets for four yards against South Florida. Now, it doesn't fully translate back to the Big 12. Like DJ Graham obviously did better at Utah State than he did at Kansas because the competition's a little lighter. With some of the issues KU had in coverage this year, I don't know, that one, at least in hindsight, hurts a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:17:06 DJ Warner, if you're just referring to 2025 production, this one doesn't sting, at least yet. I'm kind of counting this one more in the long-term sting. He did actually take a step forward in 2025. He actually only played five more snaps in 2025 than 2024, but he's playing five more snaps for SMU in 25, what, eight-win team compared to what he played at KU, who was a five-win team from the year before. His pro football focus grade, the efficiency went up. He was a 52 PFF grade in 2024 for KU. He was a 64 PFF grade for 2025 in SMU. His pass rush grade went from a 56 to a 67.

Starting point is 00:17:41 His pressures went from a 5 to an 18. His sacks from zero to two, his pass rush productivity grade from a 2.6 to a 7.4. So he got better. And for a guy who was a top 100 recruit, I wouldn't be surprised with 2026, wherever he winds up because he's back in the portal, is a breakout year for DJ. Warner, and that would certainly make it sting. Caleb Purdy would be the last one here. He was kind of buried on the DB depth chart for KU after coming in as a relatively

Starting point is 00:18:07 highly rated three star. Goes to Tennessee Tech at the FCS level for an 11-2 team that made the postseason, plays over 500 snaps. And again, going back to KU's coverage, not being very good this year, he had over 300 snaps with an 80 coverage grade on ProVable Focus, an 82 overall grade. He was targeted 23 times. He only gave up 12 catches. He only allowed just about 4 yards per target.

Starting point is 00:18:28 he had an interception and zero touchdowns allowed. He also only missed three tackles compared to making 36. He's actually back in the portal now too. So I don't know, do you reunite with him there? But I think that one hurts a little bit in hindsight as well. And if you wanted to argue by Job, he had four sacks, 26 pressures at Miami of Ohio, plus as the long-term factor, you could. But I kind of view it as like losing him directly led to adding Leroy Harris,

Starting point is 00:18:50 which worked out for KU. Also 63 PFF grade in the Mac doesn't jump out. Here's who you brought in. Lishon Williams, good year for KU, Bengali Kamar, good year. You just wish the tackle grade was up a little bit more. Finlapin, good punting year for KU, best punting year, Lance Leipoltad, Lyric Rall's, starter for you, DJ Graham, Laf Margin, Cam Pickett, Justice Finclay, Emmanuel Henderson, Trey-Layfin, Bowden, Grun, Leroux, Lerner, Lerner, Lerickick, Reyes, and Ruehru, that's actually a decent crop of players. Now, in the long term, there's some other guys to keep an eye on, like Jack Tanner, Jal Hearley, DeAndre Harper, Joseph Sip, Tobacut, Tuolovatu, Saeed Gibbs, Alex Bray, Jaden Das, players who could have

Starting point is 00:19:27 you know, multiple years for KU. Tyler Mercer was on this list until that transfer. But it's kind of time I got lost first game there because just by pure volume, you had more gains, but you brought in a lot more players. If you look at it per player, maybe this one's a little murkier too. But I think overall in going through this list compared to how many players KU has seen transfer out over the years, there's not a ton of like D1 all conference players here. There's some serviceable guys.

Starting point is 00:19:53 There's players who would be fine starters or fine depth pieces. But the overall rate actually is relatively low. I'll say this. I do have some questions about, I guess, player evaluations of high schoolers because it feels like that that success rate has been a little lower than you like for this staff. But I actually don't have a ton of player evaluation questions for the guys in-house. And it feels like with our Marjoriebathoms,

Starting point is 00:20:14 that wasn't a, hey, we don't think he's very good. We'll let him go at A&M. It was just a bigger school outbid you. And you had some changes on the offensive staff with Scott Fuchs leaving and Andy Kodlinicki leaving. So I don't know. I think KU has done a good job with evaluating what they have in-house. Overall, we'll see that this class and we'll see some of the long-term players in that last class and what those end up being.

Starting point is 00:20:41 And if anybody ends up, you know, being a little bit more hits and misses from here on moving forward. But I did think that it was at least a little bit encouraging to make you feel at least a little bit better about what to this point KU has lost. All right. Let's finish up with a little on KU women's basketball. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is a bonus episode, and you can find our full episode, right here with Locked on Jayhawks. We have a preview coming out as well for the KUUCF game on Friday. So KU women's basketball fell to West Virginia.

Starting point is 00:21:12 There's a game they're projected to lose by 10 on Bart Torvik. They lose by seven. They were up at the end of the first quarter, and it was a 79, 72 final score for the Jayhawks. But the good news for KU, even though they lose, West Virginia is one of the better teams of the Big 12th. ranked 19th on Bart Torvik coming into this game. And the good news for KU is that they were able to get Julia Davis back. Julia Davis is their five-star freshman who came in, had a good start to the season, but then she had an injury and was out for some time. Not only was Julia Davis back, shook the rust off. She had 21 points with nine of 14 on two-point shots. She was

Starting point is 00:21:52 8 of 10 at the rim, did a really good job of kind of slithering in to the rim and kind of hanging back and hitting some of these different layups, she was really impressive for KU. And if KU can continue to get a healthy version, and right now they're without Reagan Williams, too, so like that hurts not having her in a game like this. But if they can have just a healthy Jolia Davis and Samaya Nichols, is that enough to take care of some of the upcoming opponents, UCF on the road, who's outside the top 100, that becomes a must win game now for you if you want to be an NCAA tournament team, you look at the game after that's going to be huge. Utah is just inside the top 50 on Torvik. KU is just

Starting point is 00:22:25 inside the top 60 on Torvik. That'll be a measuring sick game for KU. And then you're at Baylor, you're at home against Oklahoma State, you're at Arizona State, at Arizona, home against K State. This stretch of these next seven games for KU women's basketball, all against teams who are ranked somewhere between 31st and 122. So can you go 5 and 2? Can you go 6 and 1 if you're KU? If you're an NCAA tournament, this is your opportunity. to get it done because the back half of the schedule gets more for KU women's basketball. Back half of the schedule at TCU, who's a top 10 team. You have Texas Tech on the road, who's the top 25 team.

Starting point is 00:23:01 You have Texas Tech back at home. You have Oklahoma State on the road who's a top 40 team and some other difficult road venues in there as well. So that'll do it for this episode of the show. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page or you can like and subscribe to the show. Thank you for joining us on this bonus episode of the show. Again, shout out to Grant for that segment idea.

Starting point is 00:23:19 and we'll see you tomorrow for a KUUCF preview right here on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ALARM: Kansas Loses Tyler Mercer to Portal, Projected Starting Center in 2026 for Jayhawks Football

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.