How Kansas football RB Devin Neal is giving back — to the community and his teammates

Already a fan favorite after playing a monumental role in helping Lance Leipold turn around Kansas football’s fortunes the past three seasons, senior running back Devin Neal continues to contribute both on and off the field in his hometown of Lawrence.

The former Lawrence High standout, who as a blue-chip prospect chose KU over virtually every other school in the Midwest in March of 2020, then reaffirmed his commitment after program-builder Leipold took over in late April 2021, on Sunday used his own money to undertake a charitable effort in the community in which he was raised.

Neal, two days before the first practice of his senior season, sponsored “Devin Neal’s Back 2 School.”

It was a 3-hour giveaway of school supplies to boys and girls grades K-5 held at local Prairie Park Elementary School.

Neal — he turns 21 on Aug. 12 — says it was his pleasure to help fill the backpacks of young students the day before the start of the fourth and final preseason camp of his collegiate career.

“It was amazing, giving out a bunch of supplies for students,” Neal said Tuesday. “It was one of those things I felt obligated to do, just giving back to this community that’s given me so much. It felt really good for sure.”

Some of the youngsters who benefited from Sunday’s event wore Neal’s No. 4 jersey in recognition of the player who after gaining 707 yards and scoring eight touchdowns for a 2-10 Jayhawk team in 2021, gained 1,090 yards and scored nine TDs for a 6-7 team in 2022 and then gained 1,280 yards with 16 TDs a year ago for the 9-4 Jayhawks.

“It’s crazy understanding it,” Neal said of the improvement in a KU program that in his tenure competed in the Liberty Bowl his soph season and Guaranteed Rate Bowl after his junior campaign.

“I remember going on my (campus) visit. It’s crazy where we are at,” Neal said. “Now when you say ‘Kansas,’ everyone has enthusiasm around it. It means more now. You don’t say it with a smile or joking. That feels good.”

Prior to Neal and Leipold’s arrival, KU had stumbled to a 3-18 record during the two-year Les Miles era, a 6-42 mark in the four-year David Beaty era, a 7-29 mark in the three-year Charlie Weis era and 5-19 mark in the two-year Turner Gill era. That’s a lot of losing dating to the end of the successful eight-year Mark Mangino era in 2009.

Now, Neal and a large senior class of 30 players (as listed on the roster at kuathletics.com) not only are hoping to compete for a Big 12 title this season and a spot in the College Football Playoff, but help make sure the program is strong for years to come.

“I mean it’s important for us to leave a great impression for the younger guys so they can step up and be leaders for next year,” Neal said. “Not only that, but for this year. We have a ton of experience, a ton of maturity. We’ve got to lead everyone on the team because we have new faces on both sides of the ball. We’ve got to communicate with them (younger players). We have to bring them along. It will be a fun ride for us. As leaders I know we have already stepped into that role.”

Neal, who could’ve but didn’t enter the 2024 NFL Draft — another reason for the love affair between the player and Lawrence natives — said it is the older players’ responsibility in fact “to understand, yes we are losing 30 people this year. We don’t want this program to go in the state it was when we got here. We want it to keep on building, keep getting better. What we understand is we were the young guys at one point. Those young guys are going to step up into bigger roles. We have to pass on the knowledge, what we know about leadership, how to go about it the right way.”

The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Neal realizes full well not so long ago he was just a freshman, not a seasoned veteran leader.

“Harry Stewart and Johnny Thompson … they are learning,” Neal said of the freshman running back duo. “I can see them competing, having fun and just asking a lot of questions to get better each and every day. Both really remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, soaking everything in and building on it every day. I’m excited to see what their future is like for sure.””

Neal said a lot of work counseling the newcomers was accomplished during summer drills.

“When you get into the season and bullets starts flying, it gets lot more challenging to bring guys along,” Neal said. “You try to answer any questions. I think for the most part it’s about going about it the right way every day and passing that on.”

Neal, a first-team all-Big 12 player after last season, not only is in a position to mentor but to produce big-time on the field in his last go-round.

“I mean for me, accolades, whatever, none of that matters to me now. It’s about finishing what I started,” said Neal. “Why I came here was to win a Big 12 championship, setting out to do all the goals I have personally and for the team.”

For Neal, what’s ahead is four weeks of hard work in preparation for an Aug. 29 season opener against Lindenwood.

He acknowledged after the first practice of the season it’s hard to fathom this being his final season competing as a Jayhawk right in his hometown.

“Coach Wallace (Jonathan, running backs coach) said right before (practice Tuesday), ‘This is the first of last.’ I was like, ‘Oh man,’’’ Neal said. “It feels good being back enjoying this last year. I think we have a lot of great things ahead of us for sure.”

Leipold is certainly happy to have Neal, who is 764 yards shy of June Henley’s school record in rushing yards, embarking on a final college campaign.

“He’s still hungry and determined,” Leipold told Rivals.com this past offseason. “I’ve said this to Devin, I’ve said this to (KU AD) Travis Goff, I’ve said to others: ‘I sure hope that when Devin Neal is done playing that he is somehow connected to the University of Kansas as an ambassador or something for the rest of his life,’ because I think he’s that type of person. I think he represents everything that is still excellent about college football and about what guys do through work ethic and humbleness and hard work.”

The humble attitude may have been best on display at Sunday’s school supply distribution. It’s an attitude that can encourage teammates no matter their year in school.

“It happens over the summer. You get an email about one of our guys doing an internship in the community or something and you see them really growing as people and doing things and passing things on and representing,” Leipold said. “... To see them do those things and spread out and grow is unfortunately one thing we don’t talk enough about when you are in this role anymore. That’s very fulfilling as well.”