Kansas Jayhawks Lose Two Wide Receivers to the Transfer Portal
Editor's Note: Despite his initial announcement, Kansas wide receiver Lawrence Arnold has not yet officially entered the transfer portal as of Friday evening, as reported by Michael Swain of 247 Sports.
Tuesday was a rough day for many fans of the Kansas Jayhawks football team, as two wide receivers that were expected to take big strides in the offense decided to leave the program.
First, in a tweet that has since been deleted, redshirt-sophomore Lawrence Arnold announced that he would be leaving the Kansas Jayhawks football program to enter the transfer portal, saying, "I would like to thank the whole coaching staff at [the] University of Kansas for giving me the opportunity to grow as a man and showcase my talent on the field." Arnold continued, "I would like to thank Coach Miles and Coach Jones for recruiting me and giving me a chance at KU, and I would also like to thank Coach Leipold and his staff for helping me grow as a person and coaching me. To all my teammates, I appreciate all the love that has been given since day 1. After praying and long talks with my family, I have decided to enter the transfer portal. Thank you, KU, for everything."
Arnold was expected to play a significant role in the Kansas Jayhawks' offense in the coming season. In two seasons with the Jayhawks, Arnold played in 15 games with 33 receptions for 361 yards and three touchdowns. He showed his offseason progress at the spring preview catching some incredible passes from Jalon Daniels and the other quarterbacks.
Also on Tuesday, redshirt-freshman Majik Rector also announced his intention to transfer:
Rector was a three-star prospect coming into the program last season, and was expected to develop into a reliable depth piece with an opportunity to contribute on the field this season.
With the departure of these two, the Jayhawks currently have 10 wideouts on their roster. Several wide receivers will be expected to step up to fill the void, and a few to keep an eye on are Luke Grimm and Tanaka Scott.
Luke Grimm is a local standout wide receiver from Raymore, Missouri, who will likely be called upon to step into the WR1 void. Grimm is entering his junior season and has played in 16 games with 41 receptions for 604 yards and five touchdowns. During spring practices, Grimm talked to the media about becoming one of the top wide receivers inside the Kansas offense, saying it will require, "Continuing [to be] consistent with catching the ball, running good routes, making weight gains, being stronger, getting faster, and kind of just rounding out my game."
Tanaka Scott is another wide receiver that can expect to see an expanded role inside the offense. The redshirt-freshman from Mobile, Alabama, received some big compliments from Grimm: "He's matured a lot. Everyone's a freshman at some point," he continued saying, "As Tanaka's gotten older, he's really matured through this offseason, and through this spring, he showed a lot of gains in his game." Kansas wide receiver's coach Terrance Samuel echoed that sentiment, saying of Scott, "he's one of the most imposing wide receivers I've had probably next to Felton Davis. That type of size can overwhelm a DB. He'll snatch the ball out of the air. I mean, it's just aggressive. It's hard to teach aggressive, and he has that aggressive mind state when he runs and when he catches. So I'm excited about that."
The losses of Arnold and Rector could potentially be big ones, but Kansas fans shouldn't despair too much. Through the development of other wide receivers on the roster and the creative use of tight ends, the Jayhawks should be able to replace some of that production. Plus, given the development that we saw from the Jayhawk roster over the course of the last season, there is some hope that someone will be able to step up to fill in the gaps further down the roster.
