Kansas

Kansas Starts Spring Football with 29 new players

Published

1 year ago

March 3, 2025

Kansas Starts Spring Football with 29 new players

LAWRENCE, Ks. (KCTV) — The Jayhawks completed their first of 15 spring practices on Sunday, as they look to put last year’s disappointing season behind them. This spring, a big theme for KU is “finishing” because they feel like they didn’t finish a lot of football games a year ago.

Last year, the Jayhawks finished 5-7 – with five of their losses coming by one possession. KU wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“I think we are going to put more emphasis on situation football,” head coach Lance Leipold told reporters on Sunday. “We have to be better in certain areas. We know that was an area we did not excel in last year.”

The team knows the margins of winning and losing football games is razor thin. The players and coaching staff know the big picture is made up of a thousand little things.

“Our biggest job is not letting up; staying with our details,” said defensive lineman, D.J. Withers. “We have to be detailed the whole game. There might be some parts where we are doing good, then we might drop a pass or miss a gap, not be in our right place, whatever it is. Those little mistakes can mess up a whole game.”

The Jayhawks have a lot of new faces on this year’s roster. 29 new players arrived for spring and more will come in the summer.

“This is almost like our first year where you’re starting to learn a bunch of names again, getting those guys together, getting opportunities, get them evaluated, try to figure out where it’s at,” Leipold said. “We’ll need all 15 practices to make some of those things,”

With all the new players come a lot of guys looking to secure jobs. The coaching staff says all the fresh faces have changed the energy of the program.

“There is a competitive edge again in this program,” said KU Football’s Director of Sports Performance, Matt Gildersleeve. “That on a daily basis, these guys know there are no solidified spots on this roster, and they’ve got to go compete.”

KU will close out spring on Friday, April 11 with their Spring Showcase. Leipold said he is not sure when QB Jalon Daniels – who is recovering from offseason knee surgery – will be able to return to practice.

Source link

Related Topics:29 Featured Football kansas New players Spring starts with

Click to comment

Kansas

Kansas man sentenced to 4 years in connection with 13-year-old Linn County boy’s death

Published

4 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Press Room

Kansas man sentenced to 4 years in connection with 13-year-old Linn County boy’s death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Bates County Circuit Court judge Friday sentenced a Linn County, Kansas, man in connection with the December 2025 death of Airen Andula, 13.

Damon Leonard, 47, was sentenced to four years in prison for abandonment of a corpse, according to court records.

He pleaded guilty to the charge of abandoning a corpse on May 22.

Andula disappeared from his Pleasanton, Kansas, home on Dec. 21, 2025. A day later, law enforcement found the boy’s body in a ravine in Bates County, Missouri. He had died from multiple dog bite injuries.

Police were led to the boy’s body after a phone call from Leonard.

Court documents said Leonard “admitted that he transported the deceased child from Kansas to Missouri and left the body in the bottom of the creek” before he returned home.

KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva spoke with Andula’s family earlier this week — after the guilty plea and ahead of Friday’s sentencing.

His family shared that the guilty plea brought a small sense of justice, but it didn’t do much to ease the pain of their loss.

READ MORE | Family of Airen Andula speaks out ahead of sentencing

“We’re missing our kid every day of our lives,” the boy’s father Charles Andula told Silva.

Leonard received credit for time served of 158 days in his sentence, per court records.

—

Source link

Kansas

Gas, diesel fuel prices down over past week across nation, Kansas

Published

16 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Press Room

Gas, diesel fuel prices down over past week across nation, Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – It may not seem like a lot of relief, but gas and diesel prices have declined over the past week.

Friday morning’s national average for a gallon of unleaded gas was $4.39, according to the Automobile Association of America.

That’s down three cents from $4.42 on Thursday; down 16 cents from a week ago; but was up 17 cents from $4.22 a month ago and up $.23 from $3.16 a year ago.

Gas and diesel fuel prices are down this week in Kansas and across the nation, according to the American Automobile Association.(KALB)

In Kansas, AAA says, unleaded gas on Friday was averaging $3.96 a gallon — down four cents from $4.00 on Thursday; down 13 cents from $3.96 a week ago; but up 26 cents from $3.70 a month ago; and up $1.07 over $2.89 a year ago.

Diesel fuel also was dropping in price. AAA says Friday’s national average for a gallon of diesel was $5.52 a gallon — down three cents from $5.55 on Thursday; down 12 cents from $5.64 a week a go; but up six cents from $5.46 a month ago and up $1.98 from $3.54 a year ago.

Kansas diesel fuel prices, according to AAA, checked in at an average of $4.98 on Friday. That’s five cents below $5.03 on Thursday; down 16 cents from $5.14 a week ago; but up 24 cents over $4.74 a month ago; and up $1.72 from $3.26 a year ago.

In Topeka, GasBuddy.com on Friday morning showed unleaded gas prices ranging between $3.77 and $4.09 in Topeka, with diesel fuel going for between $4.94 and $5.29 a gallon.

Source link