Ron McGee was slated to arrive at Kansas as a senior when he first transferred to the school.
That was in the summer of 2021, and McGee was a defensive tackle. Three years later, he is still in Lawrence and ready to play one more year of college football as a defensive end.
“You never know how your journey’s going to start, it’s all about how you finish,” McGee told the Journal-World at KU’s media day. “So I’d say it’s been a blessing. Of course, through the injuries, through the transferring and stuff like that, of course that’ll take a toll. But honestly, I feel like it’s just been a huge blessing.”
The native of Sumter, South Carolina, actually began his career in the state of Kansas at Highland Community College. Between one year there and one more at Buffalo, McGee played in 23 games.
In the four years since, McGee has appeared in just 17.
His final year at Buffalo, the pandemic-affected 2020 season, was also marred by injuries, as defensive coordinator Brian Borland said shortly after his arrival. Then, McGee was part of an initial vanguard of transfers from the Bulls who joined Lance Leipold at KU, along with players like Michael Ford Jr., Rich Miller and Mike Novitsky. But after one year as a consistent contributor for the Jayhawks, and with an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic, he redshirted in 2022 to delay that lone year further.
Then came fall camp in 2023. He promptly suffered a season-ending ACL injury during practice.
“I’m not going to lie, that thing, it kind of took a mental toll on me, you know,” he said. “I was having a great fall camp, everything was going well. You know, with this sport, injuries come with it. You just got to be prepared for whatever comes your way. You just have to persevere through it.”
KU applied for and was granted an injury waiver for McGee, allowing him to play as a seventh-year senior. He’ll now be at a new position — at least, new compared to the last time he saw significant action three years ago, if not necessarily new to him at this point — though he says defensive end is basically the same thing as defensive tackle but with “more space.”
At end, he figures to play into an extremely experienced strong-side rotation behind fifth-year senior Jereme Robinson and sixth-year transfer Dylan Wudke. On the opposite side of the line, meanwhile, the Jayhawks are largely relying on young players, including three freshmen.
“It’s like a huge melting pot,” McGee said. “You got the young guys, you got older cats like me and Jereme Robinson, guys like that. I feel like that’s what makes us our room, just different personalities and people just bringing different things to the table.”
McGee said that he’s still recovering from the ACL injury, but he’s now fully participating in practice. Leipold, who had previously alluded to a setback for McGee early in camp, said on Tuesday that he’s healthy.
McGee is going to emerge from his long hiatus onto a roster projected to contend for the Big 12 title, after the last team on which he played significant snaps finished 2-10. He said that “it’s definitely been a pleasure, seeing Kansas from what it was to what it is now.”
He added that it might not sink in that he’s actually going to get to play a game until he gets on the bus, or even until kickoff at Children’s Mercy Park.
“I can’t wait to be a part of it,” he said.
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