Blake Herold didn’t just hear his name called after practice - he heard the payoff for a year of pushing himself into a role that didn’t always come naturally.
When Lance Leipold gathered the team to announce its captains, Herold was one of the players hoping to make the cut. KU’s players had already voted, and Leipold had counted the ballots. Herold wound up among the group chosen to represent the team at midfield on game days, a nod that meant more because it came after a season of work on and off the field.
“I can't say I was expecting that. I was hoping for it for sure,” Herold said.
“I think taking a leadership role is what I wanted. I did all that work leading and that's what I wanted to take on. ...
So I wouldn't say I was expecting it. But it's a great surprise.”
Herold joins Calvin Clements, Cole Ballard, Rino Monteforte and Trey Lathan as captains. KU has usually gone with four, but Leipold said there was a clear top five in the voting, so the team decided to carry five captains this season.
“It’s an honor for sure,” Herold said. “Just the history of this program in this state, I know I'm not from Kansas but being able to be in this program and follow in the footsteps of everyone before me is a big deal.”
That honor didn’t come from being loud by nature. Herold started the year being pushed to become more vocal, moving beyond the lead-by-example style he’d leaned on before. Coaches challenged him over the winter, and he responded by stepping into a bigger voice with the group.
D.K. McDonald saw that growth from the defensive side.
“Blake has to lead that [defensive line] group,” McDonald said. “He has to continue to do what he's doing. Another guy who earned the respect of everybody.”
Herold said two former teammates helped shape the way he thinks about leadership now. One was Landon Nelson, the walk-on safety who spent five years in the program and overlapped with Herold for three of them. The other was Caleb Taylor, a defensive tackle Herold played with for two seasons.
“I think [Nelson] was one of those guys. He just showed to work every single day, no matter what, where he was on the depth chart.
None of that mattered to him. It was all about being a good teammate and being authentic. ...
And then [Taylor], he might not've been perfect on the depth chart or always leading stats or that kind of stuff. But he led our group when I first got here.
He showed me to be myself, and if people like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't.
But we've got football games to win.”
Leipold has made the point before that offseason leadership and camp leadership are one thing, but game day is where it really gets tested. Herold sounds ready for that next step, and he says the team is in a good place too.
“I’m confident for sure,” Herold said. “Especially with all the work we put in this summer and the changes we've made to the schedule.
Our bodies are feeling better, our minds are where they need to be at too. But across the board, I think we've got great depth and we've got really good playmakers on offense and defense.
I'm ready to see what we can do. I'm super proud of the guys and the work we've put in.”
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