LAWRENCE — Kansas football received arguably the most significant news it has to date during this transfer portal cycle on Thursday.
Trey Lathan , a redshirt junior linebacker with the team in 2025, revealed in a social media post on X that he will be back with the team in 2026. Lathan had previously posted that he would enter the transfer portal, but it appears KU convinced him not to play elsewhere next season. During a video with highlights from his season with the Jayhawks, the words "Locked in" appeared toward the end.
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Lathan arrived at Kansas as a transfer from West Virginia ahead of the 2025 season. His Big 12 Conference experience proved vital, although the Jayhawks fell short of their goals with a 5-7 record. Lathan finished the year as KU's leading tackler, and ended up with 86 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception.
Lathan will surely be looked to as the leader of a linebacker position group that'll look much different next season, as well as the defense as a whole. Kansas aims to reach its first bowl game since 2023. After reaching back-to-back bowl games in 2022 and 2023, the Jayhawks have gone through a pair of disappointing 5-7 campaigns.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association's sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: 'Locked in': Trey Lathan reveals he'll stay with Kansas football
