Kansas running back Dylan McDuffie fitting in well with new team this spring

Matt Tait

Kansas running back Dylan McDuffie chats with reporters after the team’s seventh practice of spring football on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

One of the biggest indications of the turnaround Lance Leipold is building with Kansas football surfaced during a recent interview with new KU running back Dylan McDuffie.

A 6-foot, 220-pound redshirt senior from Buffalo, New York, McDuffie came to Kansas to rejoin the head coach and coaching staff for which he played from 2018 to 2020 at the University of Buffalo.

But it wasn’t just the familiar names and friendly faces that enticed McDuffie to join the Jayhawks.

“I would definitely say winning was a big factor for me,” the running back said during a media session following the seventh practice of the spring on Monday. “That’s something I want to do. I’ve experienced winning with coach Leipold before so I know the possibilities of what he can do when it comes to putting a program and putting a team in a position to be successful.”

For years, players of all shapes, sizes and talent levels revealed that they chose KU because they hoped to be part of the group that restores winning in Lawrence. Now, players are coming to Kansas because of the winning that has taken place.

There’s still work to be done in that area, of course. Leipold and McDuffie, along with the other 100-plus people associated with the program today would say verbatim that this program is nowhere near where it wants to be.

But it’s closer to that point today than it was before Leipold arrived, and McDuffie has seen that firsthand in his reunion with his former coach.

“I think the coaches did a great job of getting everybody already assimilated to the culture by the time I got here,” he said Monday, when asked if players on the current Kansas roster have picked his brain about how this coaching staff works.

Buffalo running back Dylan McDuffie (8) scores a touchdown over Coastal Carolina safety Alex Spillum (10) during the first half of an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 in Amherst, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Leipold on Monday said that adding a player like McDuffie has been helpful in more ways than one. In addition to already knowing the playbook and the personal styles of several KU coaches, KU’s newest running back arrived on campus already familiar with the expectations within the program.

While that helped him dive right in, it also has served the team well while McDuffie has, at times, been the only fully healthy scholarship running back available for spring drills.

“His work ethic,…