He transferred from South Carolina to KU football — and made an immediate impact
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- Bangally Kamara recorded four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in KU debut.
- Kamara's defensive pressure helped Kansas force three turnovers without giveaways.
- Coach Leipold praised Kamara's versatility, athleticism and backfield aggression.
Bangally Kamara elected to take a redshirt midway through his super-senior season at South Carolina in 2024, entering the transfer portal so he could be eligible for a sixth season of college football at a place where he might see an increase in playing time.
Suffice it to say Lance Leipold’s Jayhawks are happy they landed the 6-foot-2, 235-pound linebacker from Akron, Ohio, who totaled four tackles with one sack and a forced fumble in the Jayhawks’ season-opening 31-7 victory over the Bulldogs Saturday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
He disrupted the Fresno State offense on several occasions, playing with a reckless style to the delight of a sold-out, newly renovated Booth.
“Bangally ... that’s an athlete. That’s an athlete,” repeated KU senior defensive tackle Kenean Caldwell, who jumped on a fumble by quarterback E.J. Warner early in the third quarter. It was caused by Kamara, who charged in to tackle Warner, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, for an 18-yard loss.
“He’s strong. He’s fast. He can cover. He can rush the passer. That’s one of my favorite players,” Caldwell added.
Caldwell, a 6-3, 325-pound native of Oak Grove, Louisiana, was not surprised by Kamara’s stellar performance after such a long layoff since leaving the Gamecocks.
“I knew. I already saw it coming,” Caldwell said, smiling.
In part because of Kamara, the Jayhawks forced three turnovers while committing none.
“That’s very big. Plus-three on the turnovers, that’s very high percentage of a win. That’s the game,” Kamara said.
Of his effort, he added: “Linebackers … we make tackles, TFLs, sacks. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to get in the backfield. We got a couple sacks today (three), but there was one of ‘em I missed. We’re going to go back and try to play a little lower and attack.”
He acknowledged “that first drive (that ended in a Fresno State touchdown), it was a little rusty. I thought I wasn’t going to be as rusty. Everybody has a little rust. We knock it off. We’ll get back to it next week.”
He was asked if playing so well in his KU debut affirms that he made the right decision to leave SC for a place that on paper he figures to play a lot.
“Sometimes you just take chances on life. You know, that was one of the chances. I just had to bet on myself,” Kamara said. “The dice is still rolling. The season isn’t over yet.”
He said his KU experience has “been fun. It’s a challenge. It’s different. So all that is good for your life, just in life in general, you kind of get better with that kind of stuff.”
He said his goal for the season is to “train and put my head down and try to get better every week. So that’s all I can promise to the fans is that I’m going to get better every week. I’m going to put my head down to get better.”
KU coach Leipold declared after the contest that Kamara “had a very good game. He’s a passionate guy. He’s extremely athletic. He gives us great length at the linebacker position. He’s active. He wants to make plays in the backfield. He can do a lot of different things.
“He’s athletic enough to be great in coverage, but he’s got the ability to blitz and rush the passer and he can be physical. And I think one of the reasons why he came here was he wanted this type of opportunity to be on the field on a regular basis, and he shows that he’s worthy,” Leipold added.
This story was originally published August 24, 2025 at 6:30 AM with the headline "He transferred from South Carolina to KU football — and made an immediate impact."
