Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman didn’t need much time to realize Kansas had a problem in the backfield.
With Kory Amachree and Justin Thurman already out for the long term and Yasin Willis possibly finished for the season too, the redshirt sophomore defensive back saw a path open. After KU’s loss to Arizona State, he decided to make a pitch to Lance Leipold: let him try offense.
“I spent that whole flight literally sitting there, I was like, ‘Man, I got to build up the courage,'” Cummings-Coleman said. “‘What is he going to say?
What is this going to look like?’ And I just texted him and he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s have a conversation.’
I was like, ‘OK, this is going to open the door.'”
The idea wasn’t a wild leap. The Minneapolis native had been a high school wide receiver who set records, and he’d kept working on the offensive scout team at Iowa State, where his college career started. Kansas also had some history with him on that side of the ball: the coaches had once offered him a scholarship as a prospective offensive player out of high school.
So when he asked for a shot, the staff already had a pretty good sense of what he might bring.
“It was like they already know kind of the capabilities that I have,” Cummings-Coleman said. “And I had belief in myself and I felt like they had belief in me at one point - why not try it again?”
Leipold said on Saturday that Kansas gave him a two-day look during the bye week. Cummings-Coleman described the assignment simply: he “got in, took care of the ball, ran hard and that’s kind of the biggest thing.”
A little more than a week later, that tryout turned into real production.
Against Middle Tennessee, Cummings-Coleman got work as KU’s third-string running back and delivered a 19-yard catch, four carries for 48 yards and a rushing touchdown. He called it an “ecstatic feeling.”
“It was amazing,” Cummings-Coleman recalled on Tuesday. “I love that feeling right there because going through those two weeks before the game, I’m talking to my teammates like, man, everybody’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re going to score!'”
The touchdown itself came with some clean help and some hard running. He got blocks from pulling tight end Quinton Conley and left guard James Livingston, then forced cornerback Devan Carlisle to miss in space before powering through Andrew Cross-Adams and reaching the pylon.
“The place was going crazy when Khi scored the touchdown,” associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki said. “I don’t know if you guys saw our sideline, you know what I mean? It was awesome.”
Cummings-Coleman didn’t linger in the spotlight for long.
“I didn’t even want to celebrate,” he said. “I just wanted to get straight to the sideline because I knew everybody was going to love it.”
Whether there’s more of that ahead will depend on how he handles the ball and keeps learning the offense. He said he’s picking up Kotelnicki’s system quickly, and he credited running backs coach Jonathan Wallace and teammate Dylan Edwards for helping him settle in.
“All the terms and stuff, to people outside, they’ll think that’s (very) difficult, but no, when you sit down and actually take time to study the game and understand it, it’s a pretty simple offense, especially at the running back position.”
Kotelnicki said Saturday that he expects the “bigger guys who were just very linear” - Jalen Dupree and Cummings-Coleman - to help shoulder the load going forward. Edwards, meanwhile, had three touchdowns against Middle Tennessee.
Cummings-Coleman said he already felt comfortable with the running backs group because he came in as a transfer alongside many of them.
“I’m starting to group in with a lot of the younger guys because I’m kind of in the same boat as them, trying to learn the offense, trying to fight for an opportunity like the rest of them.”
For now, he’s just ready if Kansas needs him again.
“We haven’t had any discussions about that, but once again, just like with this opportunity, I’m a dude that’s ready to help the team in any way,” he said.
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