Lance Leipold’s sixth preseason camp at Kansas opened Tuesday with a different rhythm, and the Jayhawks are leaning into it.
The KU coach kicked off his 20th season as a head coach on the practice fields southeast of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, where the first day of camp brought sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s. The biggest change, though, wasn’t the weather. It was the schedule.
Kansas is running camp on a three-days-on, one-day-off pattern instead of the more familiar four-days-on, one-day-off setup.
“Just a little bit,” Leipold said when asked whether the camp schedule had been “tweaked” this school year.
He said the adjustment is part of a broader effort to keep the team fresh and healthy, and to keep looking for ways to practice smarter. The calendar, Leipold explained, made this possible. In some years Kansas has reported a day later than it could have, but this time the flow into the first game lined up differently.
“Yesterday is a day that’s an administrative day. We went back to that, but now the way it flows into the first game is that we could be on three-day cycles, and again, our players are excited about it. And as we begin the season, we’ll probably share with you more that we can modify some ways that we practice during the week,” Leipold said.
Kansas opens the season against Long Island on Sept. 4 in Lawrence.
Leipold also used his first team meeting to frame the change in a bigger picture. He pointed out how different practice looks now compared with the start of his coaching career.
“Today really starts my 20th year as a head football coach, and today we are on the field for probably 65 minutes of practice. My first practice as a head coach we had 31 periods of five minutes apiece. So times have changed in 20 years and there are different ways to go about it.
“Any day that you’re too stubborn to want to change, you’re not going to have a chance in this thing. So I feel good about our camp schedule.
I like where it’s going. I think when we approach game week I think our players will feel a little different than they have in the past.”
On the field, Leipold said he liked what he saw from the Jayhawks on Day 1. He described the group as engaged and ready to go after a short break following summer work.
“First of all, it’s great to be back out with the guys with helmets on, getting closer to playing real football,” Leipold said. “I thought our retention level has been great.
With the summer work we were able to get before the time they left last week (for a short break) it’s almost like picking up where you left off and kind of keep moving. I think our guys are excited, extremely coachable.
I was happy what I saw the first day.”
There was also some injury news coming out of practice. Two players are expected to miss the entire 2026 season.
Senior defensive tackle Tre’Von McAlpine, a transfer from Tulane, is out after suffering a torn ACL in the spring, Leipold said. KU has filed paperwork for a waiver to bring him back next season. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound lineman earned second-team all-American Athletic Conference honors at Tulane in 2025 and previously played three seasons at Texas Tech.
Sophomore running back Justin Thurman will also be sidelined for the year. He tore his Achilles last November and then suffered an undisclosed injury early in the summer, according to Leipold. Thurman ran for 32 yards on four carries for Kansas last season.
Leipold also said Monday that there is no timetable for naming a starting quarterback. Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall are the leading candidates.
In Other News...
Former Jayhawk Brett Ballard Seriously Hurt In Crash
Brett Ballard, a former Kansas guard who has spent the past few seasons leading the Washburn mens basketball program, was seriously injured in a car accident on Interstate 470 near Topeka. Ballard was driving a Ford F-150 when his vehicle left the roadway and struck several objects before coming to a stop, turning an otherwise ordinary drive into a frightening situation for a well-known figure around the Kansas basketball community.
Washburn University President JuliAnn Mazachek said the school is concerned for Ballard and asked for privacy as he recovers. The university said it will share additional information when appropriate, leaving the focus now on Ballards condition and the support around him as one of the areas most familiar basketball voices begins a difficult recovery. [Read more 🡒]
KU Camp Roster Offers An Early Hint At Rising Young Talent
Kansas wrapped up its summer conditioning program at the end of July, and the camp roster offers a first look at how much some of the Jayhawks youngest players have changed since arriving on campus. The updated measurements show noticeable weight shifts among high school newcomers and early enrollees, the kind of progress that often tells a bigger story about offseason development than any quote can.
The roster notes include gains and losses across several players, with spring and high school baselines giving the staff and fans a cleaner read on who has added size and who has trimmed down in advance of camp. For a program trying to build depth with younger talent, those physical changes are an encouraging checkpoint, even if the real test still comes once pads go on and the competition starts sorting out who is ready to contribute. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas May Have Found A Faster Way To Rebuild Its Roster
Kansas has spent the offseason trying to make the transfer window feel less like a reset and more like a head start, and strength coach Matt Gildersleeve has been at the center of that effort. The Jayhawks built a more detailed onboarding process for newcomers, starting with early screenings and individual meetings before players ever got into full training, then following up with communication from previous coaches so the staff could better understand each players background.
The point, Gildersleeve said, was to get to the right training plan faster and avoid the kinds of setbacks that can slow a new group down. He credited the approach with helping Kansas recover several weeks of productivity and said it showed up in the teams overall speed, size and athleticism, while also underscoring how important honest medical information is when a roster is being rebuilt on the fly. [Read more 🡒]