On KU basketball’s recruiting prowess, plus football issues: Kansas Jayhawks Q&A

Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self and his staff are on quite the heater in recruiting.

KU landed five-star recruit Taylen Kinney on Sunday and four-star Trent Perry on Wednesday.

Class of 2027 recruit Javon Bardwell will pick between Kansas, Texas, USC and Louisville on Friday night. Meanwhile, four-star center Davion Adkins will choose between KU, Rutgers and Houston.

Sources close to both situations told The Star that each player is likely to pick the Jayhawks.

If KU were to land both players, the Jayhawks would already have three players in the class of 2026, with Bardwell potentially reclassifying.

Not to mention, Kinney is personally recruiting the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2026, Tyran Stokes.

So, even he is not off the table.

With that, it’s time for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A. Thanks, as always, for the questions!

Why does the KU defense play so much soft zone/prevent D throughout games? Just asking to consistently give up big chunk plays. @JAndrew_Cochran

I think it's a combination of several factors. First, the Jayhawks are afraid of dual-threat quarterbacks finding lanes to run and they’d rather prevent that than give up big yardage on runs.

Second, the defense tends to follow the philosophy of bend, but don’t break. So it’s almost like KU’s defense would rather give up multiple big-yardage play and try to get a stop rather than let one home-run play where the opposing team scores.

Lastly, I think there’s a lack of trust in certain parts of the defense. KU’s secondary and linebacker room is pretty young, so a zone puts less pressure on both those groups. I also don’t think this defense is quite as a talented as past years, when KU had players like Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson roaming in the secondary.

So, there’s more zone.

When will Daniel Hishaw return? We could have used him last week @fretrman

Hishaw is certainly missed. Unfortunately, he will be out for the game against UCF.

Kansas coach provided a bit more detail about his injury this week.

“It’s slightly different than what he’s had before,” Leipold said. “It’s not a recurrence from that. Something that had slowed him earlier this year and has now kind of magnified itself. Not really sure a timeline there yet right now.”

In regards to KU football, why don’t we know better by now? @iHarveyKU

Listen, there’s a lot of season left. I get how KU fans are feeling — even I was surprised by the heartbreaking loss to Cincinnati. This team is clearly talented and QB Jalon Daniels is having a special season, but sitting at 3-2 is a bit disappointing, especially given the wide-open nature of the Big 12 after Texas Tech.

Let’s see if KU football can find its stride. It all starts with a win on Saturday vs. UCF.

Given that bball likely takes a large portion of rev share compared to what it would at a more football focused school (as it should), is 5/6/7 wins all KU football can reasonably expect every year outside of some magical season where the stars align (like 2007)? @wayniackc

I get the disappointment with how the season has gone so far, but the Jayhawks are just two years removed from winning nine games — primarily with a backup QB at the helm.

I spoke to KU athletic director Travis Goff about revenue sharing this summer. Yes, the basketball program is receiving a good amount of revenue sharing, but football is getting more (the most, by far).

Goff has clearly invested in football — the stadium and raises for coach Lance Leipold are proof of that. I think the if KU can get to the point where its making a bowl game every season and build off that, that will be huge.

I don’t think it's out of the realm of possibility that Kansas can build a sustainable winning program that contends for Big 12 titles more years than not.

This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM.

Shreyas Laddha

The Kansas City Star

Shreyas Laddha covers KU hoops and football for The Star. He’s a Georgia native and graduated from the University of Georgia.