16 August 2023
LAWRENCE (KSNT)- Jayhawk football is in a new era.
Entering year three under Lance Leipold, KU Athletics announced more details on huge changes coming to its football stadium and the surrounding facilities on Tuesday.
Several legendary Jayhawks were in attendance, including the man with the stadium named after him: David Booth.
27 News spoke with a couple of former Jayhawk players who can’t help but smile when seeing how far the program has come. Legendary Jayhawk quarterback Todd Reesing even got a chance to work out in the new weight room.
“Bit of an upgrade from the facilities that I remember lifting in when I first came to campus as a freshman,” Reesing said. “Really, to see that first phase of the renovation- the locker room really isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen before. To have such an amazing renovation for these players, what a huge selling point for recruiting as well. They did an amazing job and I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do with the rest of this project over the coming years.”
Reesing, along with former KU cornerback Chris Harris Jr. were both in attendance for the ceremonial announcement on Tuesday. Lance Leipold, Travis Goff and others spoke to the crowd.
These two Jayhawk football alumni say the upgrades will impact the program.
“For KU to compete at the level we all want them to compete at, to win championships to go to bowl games, you have to have facilities that match that,” Reesing said. “So I think the fact hat we’re putting that as a priority from the chancellor down to the athletic director shows that is an important driver for Kansas.”
“More resources are hopefully going to make you better,” Harris Jr said. “When you have more weight room things that they have in there, better coaching, you expect these guys to come out and have a great year. So I think with everything new that we have, you’d expect KU to be better.”
Lance Leipold says the upgrades will show both recruits and current players that this program delivers on its promises. He also said the current players, many who will never even get to play in the upgraded stadium, are still excited and understand the impact they’ve had in making this happen.