Lance Leipold and his staff are coming into new territory this spring as they welcome 26 newcomers to the program.

This is by far the most they have brought in after an offseason of winter recruiting for spring football.

The players have their first practice today and there will be a lot of new faces. But Leipold is excited to get spring football underway with an afternoon practice.

“You get reports from the coaching staff, from the strength staff about what the guys are doing and had a chance to get around them on some of these days,” he said. “It’s exciting, and it’s different.

There will be several positions up for grabs through spring football and heading into fall camp. Gone from last year’s roster are 17 starters and that will give players an opportunity to earn a spot.

“We lost a lot of good players that have been part of this program for a long time,” Leipold said. “But it’s exciting to see these guys come together and work, and as they’re excited for their new opportunity. We’re going to start seeing that here, and I’m excited to see what we have.”

Last year the team played their home games at Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium while the stadium renovation was underway.

Leipold is glad to have those games returning to campus as progress has been made on the facilities and stadium.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “We’re moving along in a way that hopefully here in the next couple weeks to a month we’ll be able to access more of the building, and more the operations center for our guys on a daily wave.

“We’ll never know exactly the impact of not having games here in Lawrence played last year. I don’t want to. It’s not an excuse. I said it last year, and I’ll say it again, that we’re not going to use it as an excuse, but I’m sure there were some parts of that really has put its toll on this program, for over 18 months of adapting and doing some things.”

When more of the project is complete Leipold believes it will be a benefit to the players and the program.

“When we’re able to get in and be fully functioning the way we want, I think it’ll pay dividends quickly,” he said.

Last year Leipold and his wife, Kelly, had their 25th wedding anniversary. It was July 24th when they were able to celebrate before the season. Now, with the way the schedule plays out his team will be practicing at that time.

Since they open early in week zero against Fresno State, fall camp will get the earliest start ever at KU.

“Obviously, it’s unique,” he said. “We’re going to have our first practice on July 23rd. Everything is getting more condensed and more condensed. And a week zero game does that to you. With three open weeks, it makes a long season. We have to make sure we keep our guys fresh. At the same time, that can be positive if you’re banged up and you’re trying to get guys healthy. So, we’ll see. We’ll manage it. I think we’ve come up with some good ways to work our practices.”

In one strength of schedule report from 2024, the Jayhawks finished with the most difficult. They were followed by Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma and Alabama.

Leipold said he liked the way the team fought through adversity and several close losses.

“I’ve said it at some speaking engagements, I think it’s disappointing in many ways based on the season and the start especially,” he said about last year. “I think it shows up that what was once viewed as a very manageable schedule turned out to be one of the more difficult schedules in college football. That’s not me, that’s people in your world kind of putting those things together by past formulas.”

He pointed out wins over BYU, Colorado and Iowa State who were all ranked near the end of the season. Although there was a disappointing start the team stayed together.

He hopes that culture moves forward.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is the resolve and the leadership of our football team that we had,” he said. “We stayed together, we kept working and we found a way to have those really nice wins in that part of the year. And we hope that remains part of our culture here as we move forward.”