He scored 9 TDs last season at Ivy League school. Now Bryson Canty has one at KU
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- Bryson Canty scored his first Kansas touchdown after nine games, shifting momentum.
- Quarterback Jalon Daniels completed 13-of-19 passes and drove six scoring possessions.
- Canty battled hamstring setbacks, rehabbed, and finished with nine catches for 149 yards.
It took nine games for former first-team all-Ivy League receiver Bryson Canty to score his first touchdown as a senior transfer with the Kansas Jayhawks.
His TD catch of five yards from Jalon Daniels on Saturday provided more than a source of relief for the 6-foot-2, 205-pound native of Pfafftown, North Carolina, who had nine touchdowns last season at Columbia University.
It was pure joy, he said with a big smile after the Jayhawks’ 38-21 Homecoming Day victory over Oklahoma State at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
“That feeling is always different. I don’t really have words to describe it,” Canty said of pulling in the pass that gave KU a 24-7 lead with 6:55 left in the third quarter.
“I was ecstatic. It was good. My parents made the trip here (from North Carolina) and were able to see it. I felt the love from all the boys coming back on the sideline, dapping me up telling me, congratulations. I feel like they wanted it for me, just as bad as I wanted it.”
Canty and running back Leshon Williams (77 yards, 14 carries, one TD) performed a brief “rock the baby” dance in the end zone after Canty caught the fade-route toss from Daniels.
“Hopefully I’ll keep scoring. You all will come to see I don’t have very many celebrations when I score,” Canty said. “It’s straight adrenaline. I get a head rush. I was just super happy.”
Canty finished with two receptions for 29 yards. His first catch of the day from Daniels was for 24 yards.
Senior quarterback Daniels completed 13 of 19 passes for 110 yards and two TDs. He directed KU on six drives Saturday and the Jayhawks scored on all six.
“I’ve said this before, but up to this point in my life, that’s the most talented quarterback I’ve ever had the honor of playing with,” Canty said. “He’s a great leader on and off the field, and he makes it easy. He threw me a perfect back shoulder ball. All I had to do is open up.”
The fact he would be a teammate of Daniels’ for one year was a big reason Canty decided to transfer to KU.
“I knew about him,” Canty said of watching highlights of Daniels in the past. “I sat down with my old OC (offensive coordinator) at Columbia, coach Seitu (Smith). We got on PFF (analytics) and we were just watching his reps. I saw the first three passes, and I was like, ‘Yeah I want to play with that guy.’’’
Canty explained: “I think I hopped in the portal either right before our last game or after that. So when KU offered, obviously I know I’m a guy who only has one year left. I like to pay attention, make a good choice about where I’m going. Got to have the quarterback and who else but No. 6?”
He explained the history of an injury that limited him earlier this season. For the year he has nine catches for 149 yards.
“I battled a little bit with it during the summer, my hamstring. I kind of tweaked it during the summer,” he said. “I’m trying to rush back before (preseason) camp, because I’ve got to show them. I’ve got to put something on tape for them to build confidence in me, and then probably came back a little too early, retweaked again, and then really sat down with the training room, built a plan, rehab, all that good stuff.
“After that it’s just coming back, easing my way into it, and then building up the strength and confidence mentally as well. I think after week two I was 100% for sure, more so physically, then mentally, being able to run the plays and put that on display.”
A good athlete, Canty also played basketball and lacrosse at Reagan High in Pfafftown, North Carolina.
“He’s a big physical receiver,” KU coach Lance Leipold said, adding, “as you know he was slowed in camp. The first catch was a great catch (vs. OSU). Then the touchdown (as well).”
Canty said he enjoyed his time at Columbia and has had a great experience at Kansas.
“I think it is definitely rigorous academically,” Canty said of Columbia. “What I will say though is I know people don’t think much about a little school up in New York playing football, but the people who I play with, and especially my graduating class, man, shout-out to those guys. I think we truly changed the way people look at Columbia football and being able to win the Ivy last year. But school was hard. School was definitely hard. At times it had me stressing.
“I feel KU is a great fit,” he said. “I’m from North Carolina originally, so this feels a little bit more like home for me. I wish I could put the red and white back on (at KU another season), but this is the last one.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM.
