The Jayhawker

Kansas forward Jalen Wilson is a veteran in the Jayhawk locker room as he enters his third season with the program. Personally, he's also a veteran of the game of basketball. Both his father and mother played collegiately, and he's thankful they have been able to guide him through his playing journey.

Perspective on college basketball came early for Wilson. In his first game as a Jayhawk, injury struck and wiped out his freshman season. As hard as the injury was to accept and overcome, Wilson came away from the experience with the attitude and approach of a veteran. After testing the NBA waters, Wilson is back to take care of some unfinished business in Lawrence.

New Jayhawk women's golf coach Lindsay Kuhle is ready to hit the ground running in Lawrence after being hired this summer to take over the Kansas program and she feels that this is the perfect place to achieve some lofty goals. Kuhle comes from a golf background in Colorado, where her father and brother taught her the game she loves, a love that has spurred her passion to coach and to lead women to success, both on and off the course. Lindsay, her husband A.J., a former Division I basketball player at Air Force, and their two children have always been a sports family. Now they are a part of the Jayhawk family.

If you know former football player Keon Stowers, it's hard to fathom how difficult his upbringing was in Rock Hill, South Carolina. There was not much to look forward to in his environment, and it was even harder for him to trust others who wanted to help him. Stowers escaped a challenging family situation at home through football, where he found a family who cared, mentors who challenged him, and a place where he felt like he could make a difference.

He found success on the gridiron, and after two years at Georgia Military College, he found his way to Kansas, where he played two seasons for the Jayhawks and graduated with a degree in Sociology. Stowers has now found a home in Lawrence and is the Development Director for the KU Endowment, where he shares his story with others in the community and on campus.

Learning. Growing. Maturing. That 400 meters, that one lap around the track, caused Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Kyle Clemons to do some deep thinking about his athletic career and his life. His rise to the top of the track and field world did not come easy. However, to a young Clemons, this whole thing was supposed to be a breeze. Highly rated out of high school, he'd spend a year or two in college and then go pro, and then the medals and money would come. But his times at Kansas failed to reflect that and he struggled. Suddenly, a mental switch flipped for Clemons, and with the help of Kansas track coach Stanley Redwine, he dropped the expectations. And found beauty in the grind.

Jayhawk women's basketball great Danielle McCray has enjoyed a fruitful career on the basketball court. But for McCray, who concluded her time at KU ranked in the top 10 in nine different categories, her basketball journey almost ended before it got started. How did she persevere In Lawrence and earn second-team All-America honors and become the highest WNBA draft pick in Jayhawks history in 2010, when she was selected 7th overall by the Connecticut Sun? We'll also explore her international basketball career, which has taken her to over nine different countries, and how she has established herself as a successful businesswoman and developed an urge to help others with their careers when the ball stops bouncing.