Greg McElroy identifies Kansas’ breakout star entering 2023 season

ESPN’s Greg McElroy named Kansas defensive lineman Tommy Dunn as a breakout candidate for the Jayhawks in 2023.

Kansas needs a defensive lineman to step up after losing depth from the 2022 squad. Going into the fall, Kansas wants to build upon a successful Year 2 under Lance Leipold.

Dunn could be a key to doing so, at least from a defensive perspective.

“Tommy Dunn, defensive lineman,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “Now they lost their top three defensive tackles off of last year and Dunn is coming off a season in which he got some playing time, played about 10-12, 15 snaps a game. And remember, this is a guy that has a high school recruit, he had one power five offer and it was Kansas.

“And now he’s kind of growing and maturing, and Lance Leipold and company do a great job of developing players, getting them in the rotation and then allowing their role to increase as they earn it. 

“That’s what we can expect from Tommy Dunn this year and knowing the vacancy that’s there in the middle of that defense, he needs to play big and does have a chance, I think, to breakout against some of that Big 12 competition.”

Over the course of 12 games last season, Dunn finished with nine total tackles, seven solo tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack. Expect the numbers to increase if he breaks out, as McElroy suggested.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Dunn was a three-star recruit out of Garland (Texas) Naaman Forest, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 231 overall prospect in the state, the No. 84 tight end prospect (before switching to DL) in the class and the No. 1,483 overall prospect in the class.

After going 2-10 in his first year, albeit in an immense rebuilding job, Leipold went 6-7 last year and got Kansas to the postseason. Guys like Dunn are developed the way Leipold wants and it leads to success.

“I just think finally we’ve been able to build some routine and trust, first of all, within our program, for us to be — our young men had gone through a lot of transition,” Leipold said of he turned things around at Kansas. “I think the daily process of getting better and really holistic development has been a key for us as a program.”