Kansas may have turned over a chunk of its offensive line after a 5-7 finish in 2025, but Lance Leipold sounded plenty confident about one of the younger pieces waiting in the wings.
Asked earlier this month which tackle had made the biggest jump during fall camp, Leipold singled out redshirt sophomore De’Andre Harper and made it clear the Jayhawks may have a hard time keeping him off the field.
“DeAndre Harper's a guy that is going to be, as we continue to go through this, it's going to be hard to keep him off the field.”
At 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, Harper brings the kind of frame Kansas wants on the edge, but Leipold’s praise went beyond size.
“You know, when he gets on people, they have trouble getting off of him, and he's versatile and athletic enough to play inside or out. So, he's gonna continue to make his impact in this as well. We're going to have to find ways to get him some snaps.”
That kind of endorsement carries weight, especially with Kansas trying to rebuild up front after moving on from Bryce Foster, Enrique Cruz and Kobe Baynes. According to Ourlads, the projected line now features Calvin Clements at left tackle, Amir Herring at left guard, Kasen Carpenter at center, Connor Stroh at right guard and Nick Morrow at right tackle.
Those five may be the clearest starters, even if the final alignment still has some moving parts. The bigger question is who else can step in and matter when Kansas rotates through the season.
Harper’s path to this point has been a winding one. He was unranked coming out of Omaha North High School, then began his college career at Northwest Missouri State, a Division II program.
In his lone season there, he started four games and appeared in nine total. After Northwest Missouri State finished 6-5 in 2024, Harper entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and quickly landed at Kansas, where 247Sports rated him the nation’s 53rd-best offensive tackle transfer and the 642nd-best overall player.
His first year in Lawrence was mostly quiet. Harper played in just one game, which came in Kansas’ 46-7 win over FCS opponent Wagner in Week 1.
He’s now developing under Darryl Agpalsa, Kansas’ offensive line coach, who is entering his third season with the program. Agpalsa’s unit was one of the best in the country in 2024, allowing just 0.83 sacks per game, the fewest in the Big 12 and the fourth-fewest nationally.
Kansas gave up only 10 sacks all season, the program’s lowest total since at least 1996, and the line also surrendered just 47 tackles for loss, good for 13th nationally and second in the Big 12. Agpalsa has also helped develop Bryce Cabeldue, Logan Brown and Enrique Cruz Jr. into NFL players.
For Kansas, though, the bigger picture is still about getting back to a bowl game. Leipold has reached two bowl games in his five full seasons, and after years of being the doormat of power-conference football, the expectation around the program is no longer just progress - it’s consistency.
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