Perhaps the best part of Big 12 Football Media Days is asking those awkward questions that otherwise may go unaddressed or buried through the go-go nature of fall camp and buildup to Week 1. Earlier this week in Frisco, Texas, Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson and running back Joe Jackson fielded one of those questions about their former teammate.
Derby, Kansas, native and former Wildcats running back Dylan Edwards transferred to Kansas this offseason following a disappointing end to his second season at Kansas State. Sustaining an ankle injury early during the Dublin, Ireland, game with Iowa State, Edwards never got right and appeared just four other times last season before hitting the transfer portal for the second time since leaving Colorado for Kansas State in 2024.
Kansas State’s QB/RB duo answered the Edwards question briefly on Wednesday. The Wildcats host Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
The Edwards timeline was already erratic as a four-star recruit out of Derby High School. Then the No. 12 running back in the land, Edwards, flipped his commitment three times from Kansas State to Notre Dame and finally to Colorado. After his second year with the Wildcats fell below expectations, Edwards announced he’d stay in-state with Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks.
Now in somewhat of a rehab assignment, Edwards is part of a mixed backfield at Kansas. He’ll bring uncontested speed to a room bolstered by 225-pound Syracuse transfer Yasin Willis and Jalen Dupree, who led Colorado State with 508 yards on 102 touches last year during the school’s final season in the Mountain West. At best, Edwards adds a breakout threat to a Jayhawk offense that needs a lot of answers and fast, with a pending quarterback battle turning the corner as we enter eight weeks from Week 1.
Moreover, Edwards will return to a rowdy Manhattan environment in Week 7 wearing arguably the least-appropriate uniform on such a campus, as Kansas enters the season having lost 17 straight contests since 2009.
