Here’s what Earl Bostick Jr.’s decision to spend 6th year at Kansas football could lead to

ARLINGTON, Texas — There’s a moment that still sticks with Kansas football coach Lance Leipold when it comes to how motivated veteran offensive lineman Earl Bostick Jr. is.

It came back on Sept. 10, 2021, during the Jayhawks’ game on the road against Coastal Carolina.

Leipold said Bostick had suffered some sort of injury and was begging to be put back into the game despite the score being out of reach for Kansas.

It showed just how much of a competitor Bostick is, that he didn’t resign himself to just starting the process to be ready for the next week, Leipold said.

Fast forward to the Big 12 Conference’s media days for football earlier this month in Arlington, Texas, where Leipold shared this story inside AT&T Stadium, and Bostick was there to represent the Jayhawks alongside Leipold and some teammates. A super-senior in 2022, Bostick is approaching his sixth season with the program. With his presence and on the field this fall comes multiple opportunities.

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For one, Bostick, who started all 12 games last season at left tackle, has a chance to show NFL scouts he can be consistent enough to earn a shot at the professional level next year. Secondly, Kansas is able to have its anchor on the left side.

What comes next, is whether or not together they can enjoy the success they’re working toward.

“He’s a very intelligent young man,” Leipold said about Bostick. “And I think he was perceptive, my guess, perceptive enough, that how he was being coached, what was being done, was going to be positive than what it would have been for him to think about leaving again and then going through another head coach, another position coach, another new set of surroundings.

"I think looking at it and the way things went he was very confident in being part of us.”

What Bostick has learned, and how he can help others

Leipold described it as unfair, that a Jayhawks athlete like Bostick is on his third head coach and has had more positions coaches than that.

Bostick went another route, and said he’s glad this business has allowed him to play for the various coaching staffs he has. Bostick said each one has its own philosophies and techniques, so he has more knowledge to pull from than he would have otherwise.

Kansas offensive line coach Scott Fuchs and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki are two people that Bostick feels help slow the game down for him and his fellow linemen. Bostick said he and his teammates aren’t thinking about things as much as they used to. The detail with which Fuchs breaks things down allows Bostick to have a complete handle on what he’s being asked to do.

Considering the starting experience that returns for the Jayhawks along the offensive line in 2022, there may not be the same need to rely on Bostick’s play and leadership as there would have been otherwise. But Bostick, who called himself the “old head” of the offensive line, remains a valuable resource in both avenues.

Leipold will be looking in August for more answers along the offensive line when it comes to how things shake out beyond his starters, and Bostick can help.

“I definitely appreciate Earl for sticking around,” senior safety Kenny Logan Jr. said. “This is his sixth year, so he done been through it all. He done been through multiple coaching changes.

"And just to see what — the steps he has taken so far is definitely exciting … He’s working at an all-time high, since I’ve seen him. He’s more confident in himself. Coach Leipold, and the other guys on the team is helping him grow in that aspect.”

Junior quarterback Jalon Daniels said, “I believe Earl came back because he has faith in our program … He wants to be somebody who’s able to say that they helped the peak of this turnaround. He has faith in Kansas. He has faith in being in Lawrence. He loves being in Lawrence. He loves our team and he loves the people that are there.

"With Earl, he’s not somebody who will talk a lot. But … when he talks, you know he means it. And that’s exactly what I love about big Earl — his confidence in us, his confidence in himself to make it to the next level.”

Bostick looks to the future

Bostick has seen collegiate athletics change significantly, since the days he first arrived at Kansas ahead of the 2017 season.

Recently, there’ve been the conversations swirling around conference realignment and an athlete’s ability to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness (NIL). But at the end of the day, Bostick said for him it’s just about taking the field and playing football.

Doing so well in the months ahead will put him and his team in better positions to realize their goals. Bostick wants to be a part of the turnaround with the Jayhawks. In year two of Leipold’s tenure, Bostick points to the stability Leipold’s staff has implemented as one reason it might happen.

“I wanted to leave the legacy, not for me, but for KU,” Bostick said. “There’s a bigger picture than me. Like, I want to play a part of … the first steps of changing the program around that leads to winning seasons, bowl games, stuff like that.”

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: Earl Bostick Jr. spends 6th year at KU. Coach Lance Leipold optimistic