Kansas may have lost Tre’von McAlpine for the season, but the Jayhawks still have a 335-pound answer waiting in the middle.
Eamon Smalls, the defensive tackle better known as “Big E,” looks set to become a key piece of KU’s front after McAlpine’s season-ending ACL injury. At 6-foot-2 and 335 pounds, Smalls gives the Jayhawks the kind of body they need to anchor odd fronts, and he could also be in line to start next to Blake Herold in even fronts.
“It’s really just an opportunity for other people to step up and be able to play,” defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald said.
“Some things we’re going to have to do, probably, might be different just because (McAlpine)’s not there. We tried to really recruit and get some big guys, so it’s good to have another guy like Eamon who might be able to fill a little bit of that void there to help us out.”
The nickname fits. “Big E” came from a UAB coach last year, and Smalls said it simply lingered. His Instagram presence even reflects it.
“It just stuck,” he said.
Smalls arrives in Lawrence with a strong résumé from his 2025 season at UAB, where he started on the interior line and piled up 50 tackles. For a tackle, that’s a hefty number, and Smalls said the production came from one thing above all else.
“working my butt off every day.”
He expanded on that approach, describing a style built around constant pressure and no wasted snaps.
“Taking no plays off, just having a dominant mindset that I’m going to try to get in there every play,” Smalls added. “Every tackle, every play, I want to be in on it.”
Kansas liked more than just the tape. Smalls said the KU staff laid out exactly how they believed he could grow, from his stance to his pass-rush work, and that consistency mattered to him.
“They never change, never switch,” he said, “and I wanted somewhere where I could go and I could develop, just grow more as a player and stuff like that and they’ve done a hell of a job of doing that.”
His first months in Lawrence, though, were not spent doing much on-field work. Injury kept him out of spring practice for the most part, so he leaned heavily on mental reps while getting used to the system.
That off-field grind has impressed Jim Panagos, KU’s defensive tackles coach.
“The one thing about Eamon I’m really impressed with is he’s played a lot of football and he meets me every single day,” Panagos said. “Since he’s come into this program, he’s probably done a thousand meetings, a thousand extra walkthroughs, a thousand individual drills. For someone to have that type of work ethic who’s played a lot of football, it’s really refreshing in today’s world.”
Smalls, who was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, and starred in high school in Fulshear, Texas, said that mentality traces back to his mother and the example she set.
“I never watched my mom quit on anything,” he said. “I watched my mom get up every day and work.
And if she could get up every day and work, then I could for sure get up every day and bust my (butt) here. So that’s where that comes from.”
He has also had to shake off some rust after spending the summer building conditioning for his return. The adjustment to KU’s alignment has not been a problem, since UAB moved him around as well, but he said the focus now is on getting sharper.
“I would say right now I’ve just been working on getting that quickness back, getting back in that groove,” he said.
Panagos said that process has been moving in the right direction, with Smalls steadily increasing his reps and growing more comfortable.
KU will need that progress to continue, because McAlpine’s absence leaves a real hole. Smalls acknowledged that too.
“It was tough because Tre’s one of those guys, you know what I’m saying, big leader in the room, and not just in the room, just on the defense,” Smalls said. “But you know, football, that happens all the time.”
The full rotation is still taking shape, but Smalls, Herold and Marcus Calvin appear positioned for major roles. Jibriel Conde, a transfer from Grand Valley State, and Kevin Oatis Jr., who came from Arkansas, are also in the mix, along with junior-college player Jalen Atkins and underclassmen Josiah Hammond and Nakwaine Carter.
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