Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - GAMECHANGERS: Kansas Football’s Best for 2026—Trey Lathan, Blake Herold, and Top Talent UNVEILED

Starting point is 00:00:00 Still some ways to go with the transfer portal, but who are going to be KU's best players 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 with Locked on Jayhawks, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast. Gas Network. And on today's edition of the show, we're going to rank the top 10 KU football players in store for the 2026 season. And obviously, KU needs to hope to retain these guys

Starting point is 00:00:42 from the transfer portal. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com. It's your place to get NFL live bets all season long. All right. So we're going to rank the top 10 players for KU football in 2026 pre-transfer portal, right? Like, obviously, ideally, you're adding some influx of talent. You're adding some players that will be top 10 players for you out of the transfer portal. But these are the players that I guess we could add Debril Condi into the mix here since he's an early transfer edition, but basically the returners or I guess incoming freshmen that could be a part of this list.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Let's start right here. Who is the number one player I have for 2026, assuming you can get these guys to return? I have Trey Lathen as the top players. player for KU. He was an all big 12 honorable mention pick this past season. He had 86 tackles. That was top 10 in the big 12. He had seven tackles for loss. He had one and a half sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception. He did so much for this team. He's a heck of an athlete, former like receiver in high school that eventually converted to linebacker had to deal with like a torn ACL, I think at one point at West Virginia, played a lot his last year at West Virginia

Starting point is 00:01:53 and then got way better at Kansas another year off the ACL. He was fantastic for KU. He had a 74.9 PFF grade. That was 11th among 55 qualified Big 12 linebackers on PFF, including third best tackling grade of those 55 and the fifth best coverage grade of those 55 linebackers. So this is a really, really good linebacker that KU needs to try to retain. And, like, we've talked a lot about the follies at the linebacker position that KU has had in the Leipold era.

Starting point is 00:02:29 This is now an opportunity for you to have, I guess you could argue, I don't know, like J.B. Brown would be in the conversation. Cornell Wheeler before he had the injury was in the conversation. But J.B. Brown would be in the conversation. But like the best linebacker season of the Leipold era, it's not often you get the player to have a good season and then get them back. for another year. That's what you would have the opportunity to do here with Lathen. Our number two player in the list, we're going to go with Blake Harold. I went back and forth a lot between the guys at two and three. So we got Harold in at number two, 43 tackles, five tackles for loss. Actually, we went back and looked. The five tackles for loss by Blake Harold

Starting point is 00:03:06 are the most by a KU defensive tackle in the Lance Lippoldera. So you're talking since 2021. The most was for loss that a KU defensive tackles had. I think previously it was like four, four and a half um he got five and that was as a sophomore two sacks a full more recovery as well he had a 72 pff grade which was 13th among 54 big 12 defensive tackles and again you're talking about a sophomore here who theoretically is going to get better he was 12th for pass rush grade he was seventh among big 12 defensive tackles those 54 qualified in pressures and he was ninth for defensive tackles in pro football focuses productivity grade which is basically a combination of all those things, sacks, pressures, and the like.

Starting point is 00:03:53 He was really good for KU this season. Now, you're looking at him to get even better against the run, but as a pass rushing, gap shooting, defense tackle, he's already really good. And if he's already good now and you can be good as a redshirt freshman, too, what is the Richard Jr. version in 2026, potentially going to look like for Blake Harold. Number three on the list, guy I mentioned that, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:12 I thought about, and honestly, you might be able to interchange any of these guys, top three, is Leroy Harris. Leroy Harris was a Big 12 honorable mention pick. He had 31 tackles, six and a half TFLs, four and a half sacks. And that was not quite as a part-time player, like that's overselling it, but as a player who wasn't playing, you know, 500 snaps, like you're rotating. And KU does rotate, and most teams rotate their defensive linemen. So, like, you're not going to have those guys play too many snaps.

Starting point is 00:04:38 But I would imagine it goes up in 2026. He was top 10 in the Big 12 in sacks. He was top 20 in the Big 12 in pass breakups. he was really aware in getting his long, lengthy limbs on passes, which was helpful because KU's secondary struggles. Any pass you could knock down on the line of scrimmage that isn't testing your DBs as a win for obviously any team, but KU. He had a 74.6 BFF grade that was 11th among 69 qualified Big 12 defense events.

Starting point is 00:05:05 He was eighth among those 69 in pass rush grade. He was eighth in pass rush productivity among those defense events. Really good player. And this was his first year of FBS football. So again, as you're projecting out not just what they did this year, but what they can be next year with another year of improvement, I think sky's the limit for Lero Harris. And he's one of those guys that, no, would not surprise me at all if he ends up being an NFL draft pick, right? And then fourth on the list here, I've got Jalen Todd. So Jalen Todd had 30 tackles this past season, which I don't know why I'm reading the tackles.

Starting point is 00:05:38 Because theoretically, like for a corner, like on one hand, you want a good amount of tackles because that means they're getting up in the run game. but on the other hand, you don't want many tackles because that means that they're giving up catches. So two sacks, four pass breakups. And he had a very interesting season because he started the season on the outside, then KU moved him to kind of the nickel playing more of the slot. And he got snaps kind of all over the field, both inside and out for KU. He had a 70.7 PFF grade. That was 63rd among, or 23rd, sorry, 63rd would not be very good. 23rd among 63 big 12 corners so you know that's a solid place to be it's it's not like elite but it's solid especially considering again just a sophomore he was 18th though in coverage grade so

Starting point is 00:06:24 that number goes up among the 63 and here's the big one here eighth in yards per target allowed so he was he was not somebody who was targeted a ton and when he was like he did a very good job eighth among those 69 corners or 63 corners in yards per target allowed. I also found this interesting. You can go and take a look at his numbers as a man or a corner in man versus a corner in his own coverage. And I don't know that KU has been utilizing things the best way. We'll just leave it at that.

Starting point is 00:06:58 But think about this. Jalen Todd was targeted 14 times in man coverage this past season. He only gave up eight catches for 64 yards. That means he only gave up 4.6 yards per target. That is very, very good number there, right? When he was in zone coverage, he was also targeted 14 times, but he gave up 114 yards on 11 catches, a much higher completion rate, more yards, and the number of yards per target goes up to 8.1,

Starting point is 00:07:31 not quite double, but not far away from being double either. I mean, that's three and a half more yards per target that he gave up in zone compared to man. I think there's a couple things there. One, you know, some guys are better in man than zone. Some guys are better than man. It's entirely possible. It's better in man than zone. It's also possible, like, how much of that is a scheme thing?

Starting point is 00:07:51 Is the scheme and the types of zones and coverages they're running and the alignments, the D.K. McDonald's asking of them, is it putting them in the best position to succeed? Because I see the man coverage numbers, and I'm like, Jaylen Todd's pretty good, man. Can we utilize him in a little bit better of a way? But again, as you're talking about projecting, played a little as a freshman, showed some flashes, got better as a sophomore.

Starting point is 00:08:15 There's no reason to believe that he won't get better as a junior after getting some experience in the back end. Let's move on to players number 5 through 8, and then we'll finish up with 9 through 10 and a couple honorable mentions as well. This is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show was brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:09:21 live betting this season, visit fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Thanks again for joining us here on Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. And thanks also of making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. Also check out our Everydayer Club. You get access to an ad-free audio feed for Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:09:49 So no ads on Apple or Spotify or whatever major podcast app you're listening to and an invite to the members only Locked on Everydayer Club Discord server, which includes a group chat just for listeners of the show. So you can tap the link in the show notes or visit us at lockdownpodcast.com slash every day. Okay, number five through eight on the list for KU football. We're going to go with number five. We've done all defensive players one through four.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Does that give people some hope about it'll be better next season? Or does it just mean that the offense has a lot of questions? Who knows? Number five is going to be Amir Herring. Amir Herring is, again, as we look at guys that aren't just coming off good seasons but have reason to make you think they can be even better in 2026. Herring's a former four-star recruit and a former Michigan Wolverine.

Starting point is 00:10:37 And why does that matter? It's not always like this, right? We see unranked for kids get drafted. We see three stars get drafted. But if you look at the numbers, right, it's always funny because people will be like, oh, well, there were more three stars drafted in the NFL draft than five stars. Well, that's just because there's a bigger quantity of three stars. If you look at the percentage of players who are five stars that turn in NFL draft picks,

Starting point is 00:11:00 percentage of four stars that turn an NFL draft pick, percentage of three stars that turn in NFL draft picks, it's, again, it's not a 100% process thing, but it does kind of funnel down like a waterfall. So the idea of being that doesn't guarantee anything. And in fact, we've seen some highly recruited guys come to KU and struggle and not play well. We've seen all the ones have success. But it does indicate if you are having success and you, had that former highly ranked recruiting profile, a lot of times that can indicate a higher ceiling.

Starting point is 00:11:29 Again, it doesn't always work that way, but leads me to believe there is another level there for a mere hearing. He had a 70.1 PFF grade, which was already good. That was eighth among 49 qualified big 12 guards. So already you're in the top 10 there, right? In your first year as a starter, he was the number eight run blocking guard, number 26 and pass blocking. So that'll be the area. Can you get better? Because you're kind of slightly below average there on the past blocking, but very good on run blocking. If you can get better with the past blocking, which you would think another year could be helpful there in the run blocking, you know, continues to kind of improve there. He can be one of the best guards in the Big 12. And that's the other thing too. KU has done a really good job coaching up

Starting point is 00:12:07 that guard position. I mean, you think it just recently, like Kobe Baines had a good year for KU. I guess Armage Reed Adams had an excellent year, Texas A&M. And he started to develop at Kansas, right? You think of what Michael Ford did, where he was like one of the highest rated guards for like back-to-back seasons at Kansas. They've had really good success at the guard position has KU. Jack Brinkley is our number six player here. Only 15 tackles. So you're like, there's a little bit of projection here. It's more the chaos making plays for Brinkley. Five tackles for loss, one and a half sacks with all of those sacks and three and a half of those TFLs coming over the final three games. You also have four pressures over the final four games after having

Starting point is 00:12:46 four in the first eight. So this is a player who was young, came in as a four-star recruit, redshirted his first year. He also was coming off an injury and starts to play a little bit this year. And as the season goes on, he gets even better, which makes you think that he's going to continue to go on that upward trajectory and be even better next year. But in his limited playing time, which I do think it is important to note, like, it's going to be easier to succeed in a specific role. But boy, did he succeed. 75 PFF grade, ninth among 69 Big 12 defense events, including ninth and run defense, seven, in tackling, 13th in pass rush.

Starting point is 00:13:24 Now, he was just 67th of those 69 qualified defensive ends in snaps. So again, you're looking at a more limited role. You're looking at a smaller sample size. Can he carry that over in a bigger sample size, right? Can he

Starting point is 00:13:39 carry that over when he's asked to play more? I think he can. I think he's going to improve. And I think he brings another level of dynamism that that really you could pair in tandem on passing downs with Leroy Harris, and it would be really fun and exciting. I think the Twitch is there.

Starting point is 00:13:58 I think the pass rush is there. I'm excited to see what Dak Brinkley can do this season. Can you get up to being a handful of Sacks guy? And then he comes back another year, and maybe he's a double-digit sack guy. I think that could be the trajectory there. Cam Pickett is number seven on the list for KU. 45 catches, 476 yards, three touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:14:15 67.2 pro football focus grade that was 23rd of 46 qualified big 12 receivers right in the middle there he was 15th though in yards per route runs that's even better there and he was also 10th in receiving grade among the 20 qualified slot receivers also kind of in the middle there um the big question for me here is can they use him more in tight window throws you're going to be the veteran receiver you're going to have younger quarterbacks who do you go to in the tight window throws I just Do you think there were times where, like, it's funny because you think of the Utah game and Jalen's throwing too many ill-advised throws and it's getting intercepted. I think over the first portion of the season, there were moments where if he wasn't wide open, Jalen wasn't throwing it, right? And it kept the interceptions down and he was having a good season to certain points, but it also limited you in certain areas that you weren't making tight window throws all the time. And that wasn't, you know, all the time and every time. but I guess point being here he had zero throws to him in contested target situations zero that seems impossible right um so is that something that you can use a little more of this season where he can be that vet to do that that'll be interesting i also find this interesting too picket finished seventh

Starting point is 00:15:33 of 40 receivers in the big 12 in yards per route we're on against man coverage so again going back to the Jalen Todd stuff like I mean you can't really dictate this you can't hey defense please run man coverage on me so I can get open like that's not going to work out though hey um but what that shows me is that he really can separate and really can win and that tells me that there is kind of another level there against seventh of 40 receivers in the big 12 qualified in yards per route run against man coverage our number eight player on this list is not a specific player it's a shadow player what do I mean by that starting running back okay I'm putting this here for now because I I just think that Kansas is going to be able to find something here.

Starting point is 00:16:14 I really like Harry Stewart that stinks he transferred away. But Justin Thurman, very limited, but four carries, 32 yards, albeit three for 33, came against Wagner. So tough to gather too much there. He was over five yards per carry in his high school career. He's got a little bit of breakaway speed. It seems like he could be in line for a big role. I mean, with Stewart and Thompson transferring out at the very least, maybe being the second string running back,

Starting point is 00:16:40 If you know, KU really rotates two guys, could it be Corey Amokri, who is it, I couldn't find Corey Amokri's senior season stats. I don't know why I'm that, but I did go back and find his junior season stats, which are bonkers. You only played six games for an injury, hit 1100 yards and 18 touchdowns in six games. That is ridiculous there. And then it could be a transfer ad, right? It could just be you make a transfer edition, which I think is likely. I think at this point they're going to have to add probably a couple guys be the transfer

Starting point is 00:17:08 portal. Can you add like one stud possibly here? But part of this comes from the success that Lance Lightwold has had at this position in his different stops. Jordan Johnson ran for over 1,000 yards in 2016 at Buffalo. Jared Patterson ran for over 1,000 in 2018, over 1,700 in 2019. He also ran for over 1,000 in 2020. Kevin Marks ran for over 1,000 in 2019. He would have ran for over a thousand in 2020 had it not been a seven game season. This is amazing, by the way. Patterson and Marks combined for almost 1,800 rushing yards in seven freaking games in 2020. Can you find a way to do that this year?

Starting point is 00:17:48 That'd be pretty cool, right? They also had two more 800 plus yard runners at Buffalo in 2015 and 2017. So consistently, you're finding success there. Then at Kansas, Devin Neal gives you three straight seasons of 1,000 plus yards. That means that over 11 seasons as a Division 1 head coach, Lance Leipold is at 8,000 plus yards. rushers coming from four different running backs. So I feel confident that they're going to figure out this position, probably from the portal.

Starting point is 00:18:16 Maybe it's a young guy, like we saw Devin Neal play as a young guy, and be able to get really good production from the running back position. So depending who they would add in the portal, this position could move up, move down, but I did want to give it representation on the top 10. Let's finish up with our 9th, 10th, and honorable mention picks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game time. You'll be able to get tickets to KU football season next year with game time. Tailgates, packed stadiums, being right there in the middle of it all, the energy, the bands, the moments

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Starting point is 00:19:19 Well, you can check them out of game time. So you can see the view from your seat before you even buy them. So you know exactly what you're getting. So take the guess we've got to buying college football tickets or college basketball tickets or whatever tickets with game time. Download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase, Terms apply. Again, code Locked-on College, L-O-C-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-E-G-E-E-E-G-E for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Game Time. Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. You can make Locked-on College football or Locked on College Basketball, your second list in every day.

Starting point is 00:19:51 Check out some of our other episodes if you haven't already. We talked a little about Jordan Peterson earlier this week. We did a player power rankings for K-E basketball. We talked about the Darren Peterson situation. And thank you, the everydayers, if you already caught each and every one of those episodes. All right, number nine, on our top 10 list, just a quick run through recap reminder. We had Lathen, Harold, Harrison Todd, one through four, Herring, Brinkley, Pickett, and starting running back, five through eight. Our number nine on the list is Carson Bruin.

Starting point is 00:20:18 So, Brun's going to have to come back from the season ending injury, which, oh gosh, what was it? Was it like a dislocated hip or something? It was something bad that kept them out of the season. I think it was like a 12-week recovery. At the very least, though, it's not like a 12-month recovery, right? that I would imagine, maybe he'll be limited, but at least he'll be there for spring ball would be my guess. I don't know that for sure, but five catches for 55 yards this year in eight games, the

Starting point is 00:20:42 little modest numbers, but he got thrown into the fire as a redshirt freshman because some of the upheaval at the tight end position. And he wanted up holding his own. He had a 60 PFF grade, which, again, that doesn't sound great, but like, I've noticed this, pro football focus does not grade tight ends very well. Like, he get dinged a lot, especially at the college game, because 59. 5.9 pf grade at like a lot of other positions it'd be like oh that's that's you know on the bottom half he was 25th of 59 qualified big 12 tight ends so that's on the upper half and I always remember

Starting point is 00:21:12 I would go over like certain numbers with like when Jared Casey where I'm like oh my gosh Jared Casey was so good blocking this game and he sprung a lot of big plays for KU big blocks and then I look at the pff grade and it's like oh Jared Casey had a 63 like that's fine I just don't think they grade tight end well so anyway the better way of looking at it he's 25th of 59 big 12 tight ends so above average as a retro freshman, right? If you look at, and that's just one who, among the 59 tight ends who took a reception snap, if we look at the 93 tight ends in the Big 12 that took a blocking snap in overall grade, he was 42nd. So still slightly above average there, right? And then if you look at just run blocking grade among those 93, he was 28th. So the receiving game still needs to come

Starting point is 00:21:57 along, but he's a big target. And that's going to be friendly for a young quarterback. You already showed himself a bit as a run blocker. That's going to get better with another year. I think Prune will continue to be the lasting gift that Andy Codolnicki helped provide for you. Joseph Sip is our 10th guy on the list here. He played just 18 snaps this year for KU due to injury. So why is he ranked 10th? Well, a season before, he was at Bowling Green. And he was a big time addition for KU out of the transfer portal. He was a first team on Mac performer at Bowling Green. He had 79 tackles. Boy, was he productive with getting, you know, tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Starting point is 00:22:36 11 and a half TFLs, seven sacks, seven sacks, seven sacks, 79 tackles at Bowling Green. J.B. Brown, who was a all big 12 honorable mention pick at KU in 2024. He was at Bowling Green. He had 26 less tackles, seven less tackles for lost five and a half less sacks during his junior season comparatively to Sip. Now, a little bit of a different role that Brown was being asked to play compared to SIP. Also, Brown, I think athletically had a little bit more that played up to the power four level. The point being SIP has been even more productive than him. And Sip also had a 67.4 PFF grade of Bowling Green that was sixth among Mack linebackers in pass rush grade.

Starting point is 00:23:22 And he was top 15 in tackling grade. So this is a productive linebacker. I think the coverage grade is going to kind of be the coverage skills are going to be the biggest question. for him. It is with most linebackers. But if you can bring Trey Lathen back, who can cover from the linebacker spot, and you have more of your run-stuffing linebacker and SIP, who I think he's a better tackler than Bengali Camara, not as athletic, but a better straight-up tackler. And you pair that with Lathen. I think that's a really good match for each other. And here's the other thing, too, like Rich Miller was one of KU's more productive linebackers during the Leipoldera.

Starting point is 00:23:54 He came to the, from the Mac to KU, just like J.B. Brown. And Sip has better production in grades coming from the Mac, then Miller does. So while he was hurt, he did get to learn the defense. I'm expecting big things from Joseph Sip this year. Our honorable mentioned ones, can Austin Alexander played a lot as a retro freshman, like, did he struggle just because he was young? Because if it was learning experience and he's going to get better, the fact that you were even on the field as a young player, like I think sometimes we, like, you're almost

Starting point is 00:24:25 better off not playing as a young player because once we see you if you struggle as a young player, we just are like, oh, they're going to struggle forever. When it's like, okay, but if they would have just never got on the field this year and then all of a sudden started playing as a junior and we're good, it wouldn't surprise you. So I was like, you know, but can Austin Alexander make a jump and be a top 10 player? Can Calvin Clements make a jump and be a top 10 player? What about Marcus Calvin? He showed some nice flashes throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:24:52 And the other one that I think could be sneaky. I'm not going to put on there because he struggled this season. But I do think it's important to remember Taylor Davis was playing. out of position. He was playing more of the free safety role and he's more of a strong safety type. I think Lyric Rawls leaving puts Davis back in his natural position, which I think he's going to help him a lot. And then what about Tavaki Tuukalovatu? He had really good numbers in limited sample size. If he's a starter and can up that sample size with the same amount of efficiency, he would be in the running for the top 10 here too. But I do think this is interesting,

Starting point is 00:25:24 like one big takeaway before we go here. Five of our top six on this list, And, you know, some people are going to have different lists than me, obviously. But five of the top six that I have are defensive players, which, again, means one of two things. Either the KU offense is not going to be very good or the KU defense actually has a chance to be pretty good. We mentioned that stat earlier this week. KU has not had a single defense in the Lance Light-Boldera, finished in the top 70 for the season in yards allowed per play. Can this be the first one? Got a lot of talent.

Starting point is 00:25:58 I mean, it wasn't very good this past season, but you did play a lot of young guys. So, tough to say right now. All right, that'll do for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page or you can like and subscribe to the show. I hope you had a wonderful Merry Christmas or anything that you celebrate. Happy New Year upcoming here. And we're going to have some more episodes coming up.

Starting point is 00:26:17 We're going to do some self-scouting talking a little individual player breakdowns for the KU basketball players and plenty more coming at you as well as kind of some resets as we get ready for Big 12 play for KU hoops as well. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - GAMECHANGERS: Kansas Football’s Best for 2026—Trey Lathan, Blake Herold, and Top Talent UNVEILED

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