Kansas football senior safety Kenny Logan Jr. announces he’ll return to Jayhawks in 2023

LAWRENCE — Kenny Logan Jr. announced Friday he will return to Kansas in 2023 for his fifth season of college football.

Logan, a senior safety for the Jayhawks in 2022, had a few different options when it came to what’s next after this year. The veteran talent could have turned pro, or even chosen to play his last year of eligibility with another program. But in a video he posted on Twitter he said he’s staying in Lawrence.

“Jayhawk nation, for four years you made a kid from North Florida feel at home,” Logan said. “You packed the Booth and helped us get this thing rolling. But I came to Kansas to turn around the program, and we’re just getting started.

“I have one more year, and I’ll be playing right here in Lawrence, Kansas. Rock Chalk.”

Logan’s decision adds further depth to a secondary that figures to bring back more players who’ll be upperclassmen next year, like safeties Marvin Grant and O.J. Burroughs and cornerbacks Cobee Bryant and Kalon Gervin. It’ll create more competition for playing time, both on defense and on special teams.

Logan may not have had quite as successful a season individually in 2022 compared to 2021 in coach Lance Leipold’s first year at the helm, but he is once again leading the team in tackles. He’s been a part of an effort that’s propelled the Jayhawks to their first bowl game since 2008. Kansas (6-6, 3-6 Big 12) also has more wins this season, overall and in conference play, than Logan’s first three years in Lawrence combined.

Leipold wanted Logan to come back. So did defensive coordinator Brian Borland. And both coaches are getting their wish, as preparation continues for the Liberty Bowl matchup on Dec. 28 against Arkansas (6-6, 3-5 SEC)

“A lot of guys have decisions that they have to make and that’s part of the world we live in now, especially working through whether it be a guy that redshirted and can leave, a guy that (has) the COVID extra year,” Leipold said. “There’s a lot of things there. But Kenny Logan’s done a lot for this program for a long time, a lot during the transition, he’s played extremely well.”

Logan has started 11 of 12 games this season after starting 11 of 12 in 2021 and eight of nine in 2020. Back as a freshman in 2019, he appeared in all 12 games. He’s in line to play more than 50 games for the Jayhawks by the time his career comes to an end now that he's electing to come back with the extra year of eligibility granted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second half of that run will surely be more memorable than the first, or at least more enjoyable, for himself and those around the program to look back on. And in 2023 there’s still more he could help Kansas accomplish. The Jayhawks haven’t earned trips to back-to-back bowl games since the 2007-08 seasons.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football senior Kenny Logan Jr. announces he’ll return in 2023