Kansas Jayhawks Football

The Kansas Jayhawks are 5-0 on the season following Saturday's win over the Iowa State Cyclones, and they're being rewarded with the College GameDay treatment.

ESPN announced Saturday night that its College GameDay broadcast is headed to Kansas for next weekend's game against the 4-0 TCU Horned Frogs. It marks the first time that College GameDay will be live from Lawrence, Kansas.

The Jayhawks are rolling with wins over Tennessee Tech, West Virginia, Houston, Duke and Iowa State. It is Kansas' first 5-0 start since 2009, when it finished 5-7 under head coach Mark Mangino.

Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels is having a solid start to the season, completing 71 percent of his passes for 890 yards and 11 touchdowns against one interception. He has also rushed for 320 yards and four scores.

As for TCU, the Horned Frogs are off to a 4-0 start following an upset of No. 18 Oklahoma on Saturday. They have also defeated Tarleton State and SMU.

Next weekend's matchup between Kansas and TCU will mark the 39th all-time meeting between the two teams. The Horned Frogs lead the series 25-9-4, and they last beat the Jayhawks 31-28 on Nov. 20, 2021.

Kansas walk-on Jared Casey has signed multiple name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts since his game-winning catch on a two-point conversation in the Jayhawks' 57-56 upset of Texas on Saturday.

Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star reported Thursday that Casey inked a deal with a local Applebee's, which included an $800 cash payout and $1,000 in gift cards for the restaurant.

"My go-to is just a regular bacon cheeseburger. My friends always make fun of me because wherever we go, I'm like, 'Yeah, I'll take a cheeseburger,'" Casey joked.

The freshman fullback/tight end told Newell he'll use a portion of the endorsement money to treat some of his teammates to a meal.

Casey is also working with the Lewis Automotive Group, which owns two car dealerships in Kansas. His brother, Justin, told ESPN's Chris Low any type of NIL deal that includes getting to use a new car would be a major help.

"He's put a lot of miles on that little Kia of his going back and forth from Plainville to Lawrence," Justin said.

In addition, Casey has been contacted about a potential shirt deal, per Low.

His sudden surge into the spotlight will include feature stories on both Fox's Big Noon Kickoff and ESPN's College GameDay before Saturday's college football slate kicks off, according to Newell.

Casey and the Jayhawks (2-8) visit TCU (4-6) for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff Saturday afternoon.

One of the biggest upsets of the college football season featured one of the most unlikely heroes.

Jared Casey caught the game-winning pass on a two-point conversion to help Kansas earn a 57-56 overtime win over Texas. This wasn't just the biggest catch of the fullback's career—it was the first:

Quarterback Jalon Daniels still found him in the biggest moment for a walk-off win:

Kansas entered the day with eight straight losses and just one Big 12 win since the start of the 2019 season.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a surprising 35-14 halftime lead before Texas stormed back to tie it 49-49 in the fourth quarter. The Longhorns scored the opening touchdown in overtime before Kansas responded with its own touchdown.

The 31.5-point road underdogs decided to go for two and the win, allowing Casey to come through with one of the biggest plays of the year.

He'll now be remembered for a long time in both Kansas and Texas.    

The Texas Longhorns were on the wrong side of history in a 57-56 overtime loss to the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday night, marking their fifth consecutive defeat. 

Texas had not lost five straight games since 1956, per Yahoo Sports College Football. 

With the loss, Steve Sarkisian also became the first Texas coach to start his career 4-6. Sarkisian was hired in January to replace Tom Herman. 

As for Kansas, it was the Jayhawks' first Big 12 road win since October 2008 and ended their 56-game conference road losing streak. 

While Texas scored a touchdown in overtime to take a 56-49 lead, the Jayhawks answered on their possession and went for a two-point conversion to win the game instead of settling for the extra point.

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels was impressive in the win, completing 21-of-30 passes for 202 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He added another 45 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Running back Devin Neal also had a great game, recording 169 total yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns.

As for Texas, quarterback Casey Thompson completed 30-of-43 passes for 358 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. Wide receiver Xavier Worthy caught 14 passes for 152 yards and three scores in the loss. 

Saturday's win was just Kansas' second victory over Texas dating back to 2000. The only other time the Jayhawks had beaten the Longhorns came in 2016 when they won 24-21 in overtime.

Another interesting note: Texas has 52 players rated as four stars or higher as recruits. Kansas has one. In addition, only four teams have lost multiple games to Kansas since 2011: Central Michigan, South Dakota, Southeast Missouri State...and Texas. 

Kansas is now 2-8 on the season. The team's only other win this season came in September against South Dakota.  

The unranked Kansas Jayhawks held a surprising 17-14 lead over the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners entering the fourth quarter of Saturday's game at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Kansas hadn't been in such a close game against Oklahoma for decades. The Jayhawks decided to waive the ticket requirement for most of the second half to encourage fans to enter the stadium and get loud:

Kansas also sent an email to the student body to encourage people to show up to support the team:

Jayhawks fans didn't disappoint. ESPN showed the stadium before and after the announcements, and there were significantly more fans.

The Sooners rallied, however, scoring 14 unanswered points to take a 21-17 lead with 12:35 remaining in the game.

Kansas hasn't beaten Oklahoma since October 1997.

University of Kansas linebacker Alonso Person was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery and kidnapping, according to Jesse Newell of The Kansas City Star.

He has since been suspended indefinitely by first-year head coach Lance Leipold and has yet to appear in any of the team's eight preseason practices. 

Person is currently being held without bond by the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. 

“Any allegations of this magnitude are not taken lightly,” Leipold told the Star, “and we will continue to gather the facts to determine the next appropriate steps.”

A redshirt freshman out of Harbor City, California, Person was arrested Thursday afternoon at a housing unit just off campus.

Person is a three-star recruit according to 247Sports and was ranked the No. 80 outside linebacker in the country for the class of 2020, holding offers from Arizona, Oregon, Illinois and Arizona State before signing with Kansas. 

The Jayhawks open the season Sept. 3 at home against the South Dakota Coyotes. 

The University of Kansas athletics department paid former fullback Caperton Humphrey nearly $50,000 in benefits to sign a non-disparagement agreement and leave the program in 2019 after reporting four unnamed defensive players for allegedly threatening violence against him and his family as well as selling marijuana, according to Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star. 

Humphrey's family is looking to pursue legal action against former Kansas head coach Les Miles, former athletic director Jeff Long, compliance director David Reed and KU Athletics after Caperton developed anger issues and depression following the school's actions. 

Miles reportedly suggested Humphrey and the players settle their dispute through full-contact drills in practice. As the situation continued to escalate, Reed offered an agreement for Caperton to leave the program as Miles continued to use the four defensive players on the field. 

“Les Miles and Jeff Long swept this under the rug and tried to buy our silence,” Jamie Humphrey, Caperton's father, said. “This is how they operated while representing Kansas.”

Per the Star:

The deal, in essence, would be this: If Caperton left Lawrence, took KU online classes in West Virginia, and he and his family agreed to not talk about his experiences with the football team, he would continue to be paid his tuition and monthly stipend money from spring 2019 through his expected graduation date in May 2020. 

Specifically, the document stated that the Humphreys “understand and agree they will not make or publish, directly or indirectly, any materially negative comments verbally or in writing, on social media or in any other forum” about KU and KU Athletics employees “that might cause an individual to reasonably question the integrity, quality, character, competence or diligence of the University of Kansas, its Athletic Department, or its administrators, coaches, faculty and/or staff.”

The value of Caperton’s tuition total with the offer would be slightly higher than the $28,431.08 the Humphreys paid during the 2017 spring, summer and fall semesters combined before he was put on scholarship. The stipend checks of roughly $1,289 per month also would add up to $18,331.20, according to an email sent to Jamie by KU’s assistant athletic director for student services.

Additionally, KU reimbursed the family 58 cents per mile to take Humphrey back home to West Virginia while providing stipends for food, lodging and transportation as well as agreeing to ship his personal belongings back to him from Lawrence, Kansas. 

The agreement was signed by Reed, a long-time family friend of the Humphreys, which an anonymous Big 12 compliance official told Newell was "unusual." 

The fullback lived in an apartment above the four players during his time in Lawrence. As the situation continued to play out, the Humphreys traveled to Kansas to move Caperton to a different apartment when the players burst into the unit, threatened Caperton, his parents and his 15-year-old brother. Jamie Humphrey called 911. The player left before police arrived.

Humphrey said previous altercations before and during practice escalated when he noticed the lug nuts on his car's tire had all been loosened. Despite reporting the abuse to Reed and asking for a meeting with Miles and his family, the head coach would only meet with the players, reportedly asking both sides to apologize to each other. 

“I came out of that meeting, and I was like, [forget] this,” Caperton said. “They don’t want to talk to my family. They don’t want to do anything to help me. Why sit in this misery and fear for my life over something dumb?”

An open records request by the Star to recover Jamie's 911 call was denied by Lawrence police because it was "part of the criminal investigative record." The department did not respond when asked by the outlet why no offense report was created after police responded to the apartment unit. 

Miles was fired in March 2021 following an investigation into sexual misconduct during his time at LSU. Long, who oversaw the hiring of Miles, was fired a day later. Neither responded to the Star for comment. Both KU Athletics and Reed, who still serves as compliance director, declined to comment. 

University at Buffalo head football coach Lance Leipold has agreed to a contract to take over the same role at the University of Kansas, the school announced Friday.

Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel first reported Friday the deal has been "finalized" for Leipold to replace Les Miles. The other finalists were Army's Jeff Monken, Louisiana Tech's Skip Holtz and Texas A&M's Mike Elko.

The hire marks the second time in 11 years Kansas has turned to Buffalo in the hope of revitalizing its football program. The Jayhawks brought in Turner Gill, who'd led the Bulls to the 2008 MAC title, in 2010. He posted a 5-19 record across two seasons at KU.

Leipold's tenure in Buffalo can be viewed through a couple different lenses.

On one hand, he rebuilt the Bulls into a consistent contender in the MAC after the program had struggled to remain competitive after Gill's departure. UB compiled a 37-33 record during his six seasons, including a 24-10 mark over the past three years.

Yet it felt like Buffalo should have accomplished more in recent seasons.

The Bulls blew a 29-10 second-half lead in the 2018 MAC Championship Game against Northern Illinois and gave up 28 second-half points in a bowl loss to Troy that year.

UB fell short of the MAC title game in 2019 and laid an egg with the conference championship on the line in December, losing 38-28 to Ball State after entering the contest as an undefeated 12.5-point favorite.

To Leipold's credit, the Bulls did win their bowl games the past two seasons.

Before his time in Buffalo, the 56-year-old Wisconsin native guided Division III program Wisconsin-Whitewater to an eye-popping 109-6 record with six national titles in eight years.

In 2019, ESPN ranked Leipold as the 78th-best coach in the 150-year history of college football based mostly on his unprecedented success at the D-III level.

Now Leipold is tasked with turning around a Kansas program that hasn't posted a winning record since 2008. The team's last four coaches—Gill, Miles, Charlie Weis and David Beaty—all failed to win more than three games in a season.

The Jayhawks open the 2021 campaign Sept. 4 when they host South Dakota at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

The University of Kansas announced wide receivers coach Emmett Jones will serve as interim head coach of the football team following the firings of Les Miles and athletic director Jeff Long earlier this week. 

Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod announced booster Kurt Watson would serve as interim AD while Girod searches for a full-time replacement. The chancellor further expressed his desire for the next athletic director to hire a new full-time football coach in a statement released Thursday. 

“I am incredibly grateful to Chancellor Girod and Mr. Watson for the opportunity to lead this program during a critical time of change,” Jones said in a statement. “Since arriving here, I have developed a deep love of this program and university, and it is an honor to be named interim head coach. I will rely on our talented assistant coaches, as well as Ben Iannacchione and the strength and conditioning staff to guide our student-athletes and be there for them on and off the field.”

Jones, 46, is entering his fourth year at KU after serving as the head of player development and wideouts coach at Texas Tech from 2015-18. 

The move follows a public campaign by multiple KU football players to install Jones as head coach for the time being. 

The new coach certainly has his work cut out for him this offseason. Kansas is coming off an 0-9 season and  lost multiple assistant coaches to other schools in the weeks leading up to Miles' firing. However, Jones was considered as important a member of KU's coaching staff as anyone else even before then.

The Dallas native took the lead on recruiting four-star wideout Quaydarius Davis, helping the Jayhawks ink their highest-rated recruit in program history despite competing offers from Texas, Alabama and Arkansas.

Davis played for the same Skyline High School team Jones served as offensive coordinator for from 2006-2013, and his ties to the area have already paid dividends. 

Said Watson:

“Chancellor Girod and I discussed what was in the best interest of our student-athletes, and we came to the conclusion that Emmett Jones is the best man to fill the role of interim head coach. This afternoon, I met with the four individuals we considered for this role including Emmett, D.J. Eliot, Joshua Eargle and Mike DeBord, as well as our entire coaching staff and team to inform them of this decision. Emmett’s relationship with our football student-athletes is vital as we venture through this time of transition within our football program and athletics department. I am confident in his abilities to ensure this program functions at a high level in preparation for the 2021 season.”

This will be just the second time in Jones' career he's served as head coach and his first time doing so in the college ranks. Jones was head coach at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas from 2012-2014 before joining the Red Raiders.