LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas Jayhawks open its 135th season of football when they host the Long Island Sharks to David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. CT. The season opener will air nationally on ESPNU with Mark Neely (play-by-play) and Jeff Woody (analyst) on the call.
The Jayhawks enter year six under Kansas head coach Lance Leipold as the Jayhawks finished with a 5-7 record in 2025. The Jayhawks graduated 37 seniors from a season ago and added 32 transfer portal additions who combined for over 10,000 snaps last season.
Among Kansas’ top returners are redshirt senior linebacker Trey Lathan, a Bednarik Award Preseason Watch List honoree who led the Jayhawks with 86 tackles a season ago. Along with Lathan, the Kansas defense returns five starters in junior defensive end Leroy Harris III, cornerback Jalen Todd, defensive tackle Blake Herold, cornerback Austin Alexander and safety Taylor Davis, and welcomes a number of impactful transfers in redshirt senior linebacker Bam Crouch (Boston College), redshirt senior safety Corey Gordon (Louisville) and more.
Offensively, Kansas returns three starters in tight end Carson Bruhn, guard Amir Herring and tackle Calvin Clements. The Jayhawks added playmakers throughout the offense including redshirt junior running back Dylan Edwards (Kansas State), junior running back Yasin Willis (Syracuse), wide receiver Nik McMillan (Buffalo) and more, while adding quality depth to the offensive line with Nick Morrow (Cal) and Kasen Carpenter (Oklahoma State), among others.
Long Island enters Friday night’s matchup after dropping their week 0 game against North Dakota on Aug. 27, 42-21. The Sharks fell behind 42-0 at halftime but scored 21 second half points behind quarterback Luca Stanzani who threw for 173 yards on 12-of-16 passing and a touchdown. Long Island finished the 2025 season at 6-6 under head coach Ron Cooper.
Friday’s meeting will be the first in program history between the Jayhawks and the Sharks, while it will be the first of six home games at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium for the Jayhawks this season, including Missouri (Sept. 11), Middle Tennessee (Oct. 3), Baylor (Oct. 24), UCF (Nov. 7) and BYU (Nov. 21).