Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - RIVALRY SHOCKER: Jayhawks LAND Dylan Edwards, BOOSTING Explosiveness in Kansas Running Back Room

Episode Date: January 18, 2026

Kansas Jayhawks shake up the Big 12 landscape by landing speedy running back Dylan Edwards from rival Kansas State. Can Edwards’ explosive playmaking rewrite KU’s offensive game plan and upset expectations in the coming season?Derek Johnson breaks down the surprising transfer, dissecting Edwards’ fit alongside Jalen Dupree and Yasin Willis in a dynamic running back room. Key topics include Edwards’ breakaway speed, his past performances at Colorado and Kansas State, and the potential for KU’s offense to unleash new triple-option sets. The episode explores Edwards’ role as a home run threat, his impact on special teams, and how Lance Leipold’s strategic decisions could shape the Jayhawks’ fortunes. Is KU’s backfield now among the most versatile in the conference? Tune in for expert analysis of Kansas football’s high-stakes roster moves.Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, this is an interesting edition for Lance Leipold. The former Kansas State running back and speedster Dylan Edwards is a Jayhawk. 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 with Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. And thank you the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. are your first listen every day, hopefully, and thank you're making Lockdown

the number one sports podcast network. On this bonus episode of the show, another commitment for Kansas out of the transfer portal. This time, a very interesting one because it comes from, I guess, behind enemy lines, so to speak, with a former Kansas state player who left the team in season to preserve a red shirt,

and now he winds up at Kansas Jayhawk and all sorts of interesting storylines with this edition for KU. So let's just start here with the news. Then we'll get to a scouter, port and then the position room breakdown for kansas which i've kind of been saying all along i thought kansas needed a speedy back to bring in well this is about as speedy of a back as you could bring in so kansas adding dylan edwards he visited k u on uh friday night when k u blew out baler on the basketball

court and this is just kind of wild from multiple standpoints right mainly because he was with k state and um it's just it's you know it's one thing you get used to the transfers and the n i sands and everything crazy with college sports. I still don't think you really get that used to when a player goes from one rival to another. But of course, KU recruited him out of high school. He was at Derby High School. Actually, I forget if his Lawrence Higher Free State went down there

and I did the game and he was very good in high school, as you would imagine. And so he winds up going to Colorado, eventually Manhattan, played in four games, then leaves the team to preserve his redshirt. And kind of a controversial edition here for KU. probably the most controversial of the off season. But if we're just talking on-field production here and fit, like this is a stellar edition from that standpoint for KU. Obviously, the other stuff is going to probably determine

how much that on-field presence is going to help KU or not. But overall, you look at it. Dylan Edwards will be a redshirt junior in 2026. It gives him two years left to play. Maybe you view it as a one-year thing because you're like, hey, if this goes really well, he might try to transfer up to, you know, to have a bigger opportunity or even go pro. If this doesn't work out, maybe he transfers to a smaller school.

And, you know, I think that, I don't know, maybe this is the wrong way of looking at it, but like, are you buying low on this situation? Like if you're Dylan Edwards, you had a lot of opportunities to go to different schools and a couple of these different points. But maybe this offseason with how things went last year at K State, maybe the stock was a little bit lower. Maybe the offers weren't there as much as you might have hoped. And so you come together with an in-state school that you go to with KU.

And the two sides kind of come to an agreement. They're like, hey, we're going to make this work for a year and see what happens from there. But again, like I said, I've kind of repeated that I think KU needs a home run hitter at the running back position. You have your power back and you've seen Willis. You have somebody that I'm very high on after watching some film and Jalen Dupree. But now you have that home run hitter. And you're not going to find a better player for that specific role than Dylan Edwards. So let's get to a scouting report and the running back room next.

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Fanduel and official sports partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks yet for joining us. Don't free you can join the Everyday or Club for the ad-free version of Lockdown Jhawks. Lockdownpodcast.com slash everydayer. Our Kansas ads, Dylan Edwards, he was a 92 rated four star out of Derby High School, flipped originally from Kansas State to then Notre Dame, only to flip again to Colorado, where he ends up enrolling and going with Dion Sanders,

where he was a freshman in 2023. And he started out with a bang. He had like four touchdowns in their opener against TCU and that crazy first game for Colorado. And then things went a little downhill. But year one, he had 321 rushing yards, 4.2 yards per carry. He also had 36 catches for 299 with four more scores. They are 744 all-purpose yards for Dylan Edwards.

Then he transfers to Kansas State, 2024, and he had 546 rushing yards, really impressive, 7.4 yards per carry, five touchdowns playing behind a pro and DJ Giddens. And then 19 catches for 133 yards, two touchdowns, and you include the return yards. he had 1117 all-purpose yards. Then he was supposed to break out for the Wildcats in 2025, but he gets injured. The rumor was that he was upset with something and he, like, kicked a bench and it got him hurt.

So that's not the way you want to get injured. He ends up playing four games. He ends up, you know, six yards per carry. So the efficiency looks good. Two under five rushing yards, two touchdowns, three catches for 17, no return. yards. But it's interesting, some of his game logs from this year are wild. Like, it's a fumble on, it's a fumble against Iowa State with no carries. It's four carries for 13 yards against Arizona. It's 10 carries for 26 against Baylor. So none of those are great. But then he explodes for 166 rushing

yards against UCF. And then, of course, you look at some of the highlight moments of his career in the, in the, that first ever game for Colorado against TCU. Six carries for 24 yards rushing. And then five catches for 135 yards with four total touchdowns receiving. You look at the bowl game, the rate bowl that he played for Kansas State in 2024, where it felt like, hey, this guy's taking over, Giddens has opt out, he's getting ready for the pros, you know, Dylan Edwards is going to take over this game, and this is going to be a glimpse of what you're going to see in 2025. He goes for 18 carries for 196 yards and three touchdowns.

And at that point, you're kind of like, oh, this dude's going to be the next, you know, really good Kansas State back. but then some of those things just don't end up happening. But you look at the on-the-field stuff. This is as an explosive of a running back as you could possibly add. I know this is a dumb way to do a scouting report. Like there's a lot of like you could look at like ratings of certain players on EA sports, college football 26 and like I think Leroy Harris is like a low 70s or something.

It's like, okay, this is stupid. There's a lot of like that. But just to give you an idea, he's a 95 speed there with a 98 acceleration, right? And that's pretty accurate because Colorado actually had like a pro date. thing. That's just something I guess Dion Sanders does. And this was as a freshman at Colorado. He ran a 438 40 yard dash. So this dude is going to be as fast as anybody on the team, right? And that leads to some really strong yards after contact numbers. He's not somebody that I think you're going to give, you know, 30 carries in a game or give a bunch of carries to up the middle. But he can break a

home run ball, right? And it's different because it's like some guys are, you know, so he was at four 4.53 yards after contact per carry in limited action in 2025 and then 4.15 yards after contact per carry in 2024. Those numbers can come differently though. Like Daniel Highshaw was around like three there, right? Which like Daniel Highshaws is, oh, he turned consistently, he keeps turning a three-yard run into a six-yard run, a two-yard run into a five-yard run. With Edwards, it might be okay. Two-yard run is a two-yard run. Then a four-yard run. is a four-yard run, and then a five-yard run is a 15-yard run with the explosiveness, right? It's just a little bit different in how you go about that. But among 31 Big 12 running backs with at least 50 carries in 2024, he was third in yards

after contact per run. Didn't qualify for that number in 2025. But if he would have, he would have ranked first there, if you just based it on the small sample size he had. He's also got a career 46% breakaway run rate. that ranked fourth for his number that he had in 2024 among Big 12 backs with 50 plus carries. Again, he didn't qualify in 2025, but he would have been second based off what he had. So this is a super explosive running back that can be a home run threat.

I mean, if we're just talking home run threats, right? Like Devin Neal is the cream of the crop running back KU has had here recently and in the Lance Leipold era and obviously most career rockin yards in Kansas football history, right? But if we're just talking explosive running back, home run threat running backs, right? I'm not saying he's better than Devin Neal. Devin Neal, again, better than Dylan Edwards. But if we're just talking home run threat, this is probably the best home run threat, Kansas has had at the running back position since probably Pucco Williams. If we're just looking at that one aspect.

And for a running back room that has some different players, which we're going to get into next, they kind of needed that. So let's get to that on the other side. This episode of the show is brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever to just hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax full service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert, start to finish without the stress or guesswork. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out your forms, you can meet with a local TurboTax expert in person or connect online. It's a huge time saver and give real peace of mind knowing an expert is handling things.

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to throw it to. I mean, it wouldn't even surprise me if they use him at times like motion out to the slot. We know Koldeniki likes to motion a lot of guys and, you know, it would not shock me if you see him motion out to receiver at different points. And then return on all purpose yards. You lost Emmanuel Henderson, their kick return guy. Wouldn't surprise me if you see him back on kick return, right? And so you look at the position room. I don't know. Are we actually going to see like a true running back one? I don't really think so.

I think it's going to be a 1A and a 1B. I think you're going to have two guys every game who are getting somewhere between 10 to 15 carries, both of them, each game. The question is, will Edwards be one of those two guys? Or will he be a guy who's getting five carries and three catches and kick returns every game? I think that'll be the question. But it basically to me comes down to those three guys. And if you want to toss the youngsters in there as well, but I think the favorites are now,

Jalen Dupree, Yacine Willis and Dylan Edwards, two of those will rise to the top, and then the other will be the spare. And maybe it even ends up being a three-headed monster for KU a little bit, right? The fact that Edwards can be kind of your speed guy and all-purpose back and receiving back.

Willis can be your power back, and then Dupree can kind of be a little bit of everything. Like I said, I was watching some Dupree film, and I actually am very impressed with what he brings to the table. So I think it's actually a very good running back room now for KU. Like I like the diversity of different options you have. You can go to different areas.

You have some depth there. You have potential for guys to break out. Like I really like the room now for KU. And here's another part of it too. Like if KU is going to steer into running some more like Veer option or speed option stuff or triple option stuff, you're going to have multiple running backs on the field at once. And so that's where this comes into play as well. So as long as the non-football stuff doesn't come into play here, which I guess we don't know all of the full stories from the Kansas State stuff.

But as long as that doesn't come into play as much, the on-the-field fit, I think is really good here. And I do think this is a good home run swing for KU and Lance Leifold. All right. That'll go for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. So you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. Check out all our other commitment episode and videos as well. next time on LOJ.