On Tuesday, Lance Leipold and the Kansas Jayhawks added a familiar face through the transfer portal.
That player is former Auburn defensive lineman Gage Keys, who left Kansas in 2023 to join the Tigers.
Keys has now spent time at three different college football programs and two stops at one of them. In 2022, Gage committed to Minnesota, where he spent his freshman season before transferring to Kansas. After a solid sophomore season, the Ohio native departed for Auburn, where he did not see the field.
Keys made the executive decision to return to Lawrence as a redshirt junior and spoke about the decision with 247Sports’ Michael Swain.
“It just means a lot,” Keys said. “I’m grateful that they’ve given me the opportunity to finish my career the right way and just be around positive energy and make the most out of my last year.”
Through two seasons of college football, Keys has recorded 26 total tackles. 21 of them came in his sophomore season at Kansas and five at Minnesota as a freshman.
Keys finished his thoughts by mentioning what he was most excited about. “Really everything, mostly the guys in the locker room,” Keys said. “Just the whole program in general, how positive everything is and like the relationship with the coaches is just different from everywhere else. I’m just mostly excited about that.”
