Bryce Foster injury update: Lance Leipold reveals Kansas' All-Big 12 lineman had medical procedure

Big 12 Media Days are in full swing and Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold was in attendance on Wednesday. However, he was there without a notable Jayhawk, as star offensive lineman Bryce Foster wasn’t able to make it to Dallas.

While there, Leipold revealed that the reason Foster wasn’t able to go to Big 12 Media Days was that he’s battling an injury. He suffered what “Leipold” described as a “tweak.” That tweak was bad enough, however, that he did need a medical procedure and couldn’t fly to the event. Otherwise, he would have been there, as he was originally supposed to be. At the same time, he did not share what that tweak and medical procedure were on.

Luckily, Lance Leipold also shared that Bryce Foster will return to action midway through Fall camp. He should be ready for the start of the season as well.

Bryce Foster could be the best player that Kansas is bringing back from last year’s team and there are some massive expectations for him. The transfer from Texas A&M is going into his second season at Kansas. In that first season, he’d be named a Second-Team All-Big 12 performer. Now, he finds himself going into the 2025 season after being named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the conference.

A center largely responsible for calling out protections, Bryce Foster is going to be vital for keeping Jalon Daniels upright. Daniels, a quarterback who has been excellent at times but injured often, is going to need that help from his offensive line. Any amount of time missed by Foster is going to hurt that unit as a whole and put Daniels at risk.

Kansas is coming off a frustrating 5-7 season where the Jayhawks went 4-5 in Big 12 play. That was good for a 10th-place finish and was a major step back after finishing ranked in the AP Top 25 the year before and going to two straight bowl games. So, now, Kansas is looking to bounce back. Of course, to do that, they’ll need to avoid too many injuries.

The Jayhawks are set to open their season early this year with a Week 0 game. That’s an added challenge for Bryce Foster to both get healthy and ready for the season a week early. That will be a home game against Fresno State and is one of two games before the calendar turns to September. Kansas will later open Big 12 play on September 20th against West Virginia.