Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL COMMIT: Running back Jalen Dupree from Colorado State Helps Kansas Jayhawks Fill RB Room

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU just added a pretty good young running back that Colorado state fans are not happy to lose. 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. Another commitment episode out of the Transfer Portal, KU adding a running back Jalen Dupree from Colorado State. Thank you for making your first listen every day. And thank you for making the lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. On today's episode, we're breaking down Jalen Dupree. What does he bring to the table? What's his scouting import? How does it affect the KU running back room for this year and beyond? And the rest of the

Starting point is 00:00:45 transfer portal, we'll get to all that on today's episode of the show. Let's start right here. So Jalen Dupree is a 6 foot 210 pound running backs, a good size there. Spent two seasons at Colorado State. First is a red shirt, which he played five games, won the bowl game. He played his maximum. Um, so he's going to be a red shirt sophomore in 2026. He gives him three years left to play. He already has some pretty solid production at Colorado State. 6161 career rushing yards. Um, this is a KU running back room that has bodies to fill, right? You think of Harry Stewart entering the portal. You think of Johnny Thompson entering the portal. You think of losing Lishon Williams and Daniel Highshaw to

Starting point is 00:01:22 graduation. Um, so you need to add some players here. And Dupree's a pretty good one. I know, you know, 661 career rushing yards, that's solid. It doesn't jump off the page. I think there's more meat to the bone than even that with Dupree. And, you know, you see some certain things from other Colorado state fans. They think very highly of this guy. And that's not always the be all end all, but usually when a player leaves another program and that program, you know, it can go two ways.

Starting point is 00:01:52 It can be, okay, well, whatever, we'll try to upgrade. It's like, no, we didn't want to lose him. Well, best of luck to him in the future. I think he's going to be a stud somewhere else, right? that's kind of what you're seeing with Dupree. So if you want to judge it off that, it's a real good edition for KU, but what exactly does he bring to the table? Where does he excel? What's his game all about?

Starting point is 00:02:07 We'll get to that next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook, which has NBA Happy Hour every Friday night's given fans a new way to kick off the weekend with that NBA happy hour. Your official pregame, a limited time window where special offers drop right inside the Fandul app before the action starts. Friday is from 5 to 6.30 Eastern, it's appointment viewing with NBA Happy Hour. Plus, you can even get in, if you want, on the college basketball season two over at Fandul, right? I don't know, maybe you're waning a bit on KU's ability to win the Big 12. If you think they can get things together come March, you can still get them to win the, or to make the final four at Plus 900 over at Fandul.

Starting point is 00:02:48 So before tip off, check the Fandual app, see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 5 to 630 Eastern, a little basketball, a little action, a whole. lot of Friday energy. That is NBA happy hour only on Fanduel, the official sports book partner of the NBA. Thanks again for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Making us your first listen every day. And thank you that every day. We're catching each and every episode of the show, including all of our other portal content with commitments abound for Lance Leipold and KU and company. So Jalen Dupree, 24, he played five games for Colorado State. He had

Starting point is 00:03:22 153 yards, over six yards per carry. And a score showed some flash as a true freshman. And then in 2025, he had 102 runs for 508 yards and two touchdowns. He played nine games, 12 catches for 83 yards. The reason he played nine games, the coach got like fired and he entered the transfer portal. He just like left. And one of the impressive things, too, is his two best games were against good teams. San Diego State, who was a bowl team this past season, I think won, what, like eight games,

Starting point is 00:03:52 16 carries for 103 yards against San Diego State. And then his second best was against his best. best opponent, which was 15 carries for 92 yards. That was against Washington. That's a good Washington team, you know. And then his third best was Washington State. It was, you know, a bowl team too. So this is a good running back over his career, 3.41 yards after contact per rush.

Starting point is 00:04:13 That's middle of the pack in the Mountain West. So, you know, fine there. 14th of the 28 qualified Mountain West Conference running backs this past year. So, you know, he's good enough at breaking tackles, so speak. he also has a career 28.9 breakaway run percentage that ranked 21st of the 28 which I think kind of backs up what I saw on some of the highlights like I don't know that he's the most explosive guy or like I don't think he's going to run like a four four or anything like that but he's got enough burst right at the line of scrimmage to get to the hole and then get

Starting point is 00:04:46 to that level that he needs to but he's not going to be running away from a lot of dbs necessarily he's somebody who keeps you on schedule and I think that's something that Lance, well, then the staff really value from a running back. Like, Devin Neal was the king of kings at keeping KU on schedule and falling forward, right? I think Leishon Williams did a pretty good job of that. I think Daniel Hyshaugh was doing a really good job of that over the back half of this past season. I think he kind of fits into that mold of those players where, like, you look at Williams, you look at Neal, you look at Hyshaw, none of those guys are running a 4-4.

Starting point is 00:05:17 None of those guys are running a 4-3 and enough speed to do what they needed to around the line a scrimmage and to get those, you know, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve-yard gains. And occasionally, you know, bust a 20-yard run and something like that. But he's a well-balanced runner. And one of the things I was looking at, too, is you can look at, like, where he has the most successful, like, you know, running off the left end, running between the left tackle and the left guard, running between the center and the right guard, right? You can look at, like, different areas where he's running the football and how many yards

Starting point is 00:05:47 per carry he's averaging. And some of that can be related to, okay, where's your good offensive lineman? like you might just average more yards per carry where the better line than are. But one of the things that impressed me was looking at his profile, it's pretty balanced all the way through in every different zone, like whether you're running in, whether you're running out, whether you're running left,

Starting point is 00:06:05 whether you're running right. It's pretty balanced across the board. And that just kind of tells me that he is just kind of a balanced runner that can do a lot of things to where you don't have to limit yourself. And I think that's the beauty of this edition. You don't have to limit yourself with his game. Like this isn't somebody who, hey, he's a good pass. but he can't do this or like he he's really good at running to the left but he struggles

Starting point is 00:06:26 run into the right so we're going to have to use him more in those formations and then it becomes maybe predictable on film for some teams he he's just solid enough to keep mosing along doing those things so overall I think this is a nice addition um this is one that I do think it would not surprise me if he surprises in people and ends up playing a bigger role than some people expect at the same point in time I still wouldn't be shocked if um do you go for an even bigger swing at running back and view this as, hey, this is a kid who's coming in as a red shirt sophomore to where, you know, he's still going to have years left. And we can view it as like, hey, he can be our, you know, if you have a 1A and a 1B,

Starting point is 00:07:03 we're still looking for our 1A. Dupree can be our 1B. Justin Thurman or Corey McCree or John Kelly can be your, your spare, so to speak, your third string when you need them. I think that would still make some sense for KU. But I do like this edition. I see the vision here with Dupree. He also was a nice pass blocker, which that's going to get you on the field, right?

Starting point is 00:07:24 That's going to get your coach's respect to say, Lee. So let's break down that running back room a little bit more. And what exactly, you know, I think that, I don't know, he could bring to the table projected role that next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. Take the guestwork out of buying college football or college basketball tickets with game time. And sometimes it can be hectic to get tickets. Not with Game Time, baby.

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Starting point is 00:08:47 Check out our other commitments. in episodes because they're coming in hot and heavy for KU football. I did want to touch on one thing real quick before I get more in the position group here. I saw Drew Mestamaker officially committed to Oklahoma State. The, I'll tell you why this is important for KU in a second. Oklahoma State hired the North Texas head coach Eric Morris. Mestemaker had a really good season for North Texas. He comes with him to Oklahoma State. Some of the reported rumors on social media was like $3.5 million. It's a lot of money for Mestemaker. Why does this matter for KU? Well, I mean, I guess first of all, it's a conference opponent, right?

Starting point is 00:09:19 I don't remember if KU plays Oklahoma State this year, but it's a team in your conference, right? Where other matters, though, is as we continue to track, what is going to happen with David McComb in the portal? I am leaning that McComb is gone, but, you know, if there ever is a reunion possible, I know some of the people out there thought that one of the illogical destinations when he entered the portal for an Oklahoma kid was to go to Oklahoma State. Well, now they have a messed maker who's just going to be a registered sophomore, so he's going to, you would, think, be there a little bit and is making a lot of money, are they going to want to spend big dollars on another young quarterback like McComb? So I don't know, maybe it's a 2% increase, 5% increase in the chances that KU could bring back McComb, but I did find that interesting.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Okay, more on the running back room here. How many more is KU going to add? They have four scholarship players right now, Jalen Dupree, who will be a redshirt sophomore, Justin Thurman, who will be a redshirt freshman, Corey, who will be a true freshman, and John Kelly, who will be a redshirt freshman? So do you add a senior here? Do you add a senior in a junior so that you now have one of like every class or are you better off just saying you know what we're just going to add like one stud running back from here i do think it'd behoove k you to still add that one stud and specifically the trait i am looking for in that one said i want somebody who's explosive i like jalen dupree is somebody who can keep you on schedule and do a lot of things well um i like

Starting point is 00:10:39 korea mockery in terms of his ability to break tackles and and you know kind of do the same thing like with Justin Thurman, I think you have some of that explosiveness, but I want to see somebody who's like a fast runner, I guess to be able to give you a different compliment of skills. But then again, if you just get like a really good running back overall and I don't know, like that's not the worst thing either. And we continue to look at these different additions for KU. I think this can be and I want it to be a road grading team.

Starting point is 00:11:05 And I like this addition to that because I think there's a lot of carries to go around. Even if Dupri ends up being whether it's a storter, whether it's the second string, whether there's the third string, I think those top three running backs are going to it run this year for KU. I really do. When I look at, I don't know, the quarterback situation and what you have from personnel situation, I think it makes sense for KU to run the football a lot. And especially at the end of last year, I know they lose the game to Utah, but you see the vision of being a run first team and what that could do when you go back to what they did in 2022. So again, like this edition for Dupree. And if we're talking about the four editions today, check out those

Starting point is 00:11:39 other videos, Connor Stroh, the offense lineman, Jalen Dupree, Landon Watson at the linebacker spot, small as the defensive tackle really like three of the four editions i see the vision for all four of them but uh yeah i think it was a good first day or first day of commitments i guess what third day of the portal being open for lance light pulling company so uh we're going to break down the full idea of that on our monday full show but check out our other commitment episodes as well this has been locked on jay hox

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - PORTAL COMMIT: Running back Jalen Dupree from Colorado State Helps Kansas Jayhawks Fill RB Room

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