The Kansas Jayhawks are unique in the current transfer environment: 67 Days

Not too long ago, college football programs who brought in a lot of transfers in recruiting could be classified as one of two things: desperate or bad at evaluating talent.

The cycle was well known to Kansas Football fans who suffered through the dark period from the hiring of Turner Gill through the debacle that was the David Beaty tenure. First with Charlie Weis, and then with Beaty, the coach would talk about building the roster "the right way", with four-year players out of high school. Then because of failings on the field, the coach started getting uneasy about his job status. Combined with player losses through transfers out and graduation, that led to the need for a quick talent infusion.

That usually came by way of graduate transfers or junior college recruits. These players would typically only have one or two years of eligibility, which led to a vicious cycle of constantly needing to replace players. Combine that with a 25 player recruiting class limit, and it was a recipe for disaster. The Kansas scholarship situation was infamous among anyone who followed college football to any degree.

A lot of that changed when the NCAA changed the rules surrounding transfers and removed the recruiting class limits. Getting rid of the class limit made it much easier for teams that ended with a large scholarship deficit to work to replace players and avoid dangerous levels of scholarships.

But more important was the increase in player movement. With players now being able to transfer without sitting out for a season, it meant that there were many more players with multiple years of eligibility. And coaches could target players that met the needs for the upcoming season instead of having to wait a year and hope the situation didn't change drastically.

All this has led to a very fluid situation surrounding roster management. Players who don't like their role on their current team are quick to move on after the spring, and much of the summer is now spent trying to find pieces to fill holes that recently appeared.

But even with all this change, Lance Leipold and staff are still relying on what made them successful at previous stops: development of players. Instead of chasing the top transfer prospect who is probably only going to have one more year in school, Kansas has overwhelmingly focused on players with two or three years of eligibility when plugging holes through the portal.

In his time at Kansas, Leipold has brought in a total of 27 transfers. Only four of those players came to Lawrence with just a single year of eligibility left. And in each of those situations, those players came in with the understanding that they were a proven player to help fill a significant gap.

In 2022, Lorenzo McCaskill was a super-senior, coming in at the linebacker position that was decimated by player departures. Even Lonnie Phelps had two years available to use if he chose.

This year, the 2023 class has three more. Patrick Joyner and Devin Phillips are proven options at the defensive end and defensive tackle positions, respectively. Kansas lost their top-end talent to graduation and the NFL in the offseason, and so there was an immediate need for a baseline of production. But they also brought in three players for the position via transfer that all have multiple years remaining.

The final player with just one year left is kicker Seth Keller, one of the top transfers available at the position. Kansas struggled mightily in their kicking game last year, to the point that you could argue that it directly cost them a game and could have cost them another.

This approach is rare in college football today, where most teams just look for players that can help them immediately or prefer to recruit from the high school ranks. In discussing the Kansas roster with a Big 12 analyst, he noted that Kansas is one of the few teams that truly targeted players with multiple years of eligibility in the transfer portal.

The numbers bear that out, as you don't get such a large proportion of those players on accident. And pairing multiple years to improve with the track record of the Kansas staff, and it's easy to see why so many people who follow the program are willing to entertain the idea that this team could still make another leap this year.