Kansas football assistant coach Taiwo Onatolu shares his spring update
Check out what Kansas football defensive ends coach/special teams coordinator Taiwo Onatolu had to say Thursday as the Jayhawks’ spring continued.
LAWRENCE — The way Finn Lappin tells it, playing college football in the United States wasn’t always the path he intended to take.
Lappin, who’s from Melbourne, Australia, grew up playing Australian rules football. Then, taking the professional route there didn’t pan out. So, he went for a tryout with Prokick Australia, which trains Australian athletes in how to play American football, and things took off for him from there.
But regardless of how Lappin ended up at Kansas, after previously playing at McNeese State, the redshirt senior punter is grateful for the opportunity to be playing for a Big 12 Conference program. Playing for a power conference school wasn’t the be all and end all for his decision to transfer to KU, but he wanted to get the most out of this chance and this helped make his choice a “no-brainer.” He called this his last year, and finding a place like Kansas was important to him.
“It was sort of like a challenge to me, last year, was to be the best punter I could be and to just see where it could take me,” Lappin said in April during spring ball. “And, like, in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have imagined being able to play at Kansas. But, here we are, and I’m loving every second of it.”
Kansas found itself in need of a punter after Damon Greaves elected to transfer to another Big 12 program, Colorado, and in Lappin brought in someone defensive ends coach/special teams coordinator Taiwo Onatolu praised for seemingly never being flustered. Greaves finished the 2024 season with 33 punts that averaged 42.3 yards per attempt, with a long of 58, six attempts of 50-plus yards and six being inside the 20 yard line. Lappin finished last fall with 61 punts that averaged 46.1 yards per attempt, with a long of 68, 21 attempts of 50-plus yards and 19 being inside the 20 yard line.
In addition to the level of football Lappin would be at with Kansas, as he has also moved up from the FCS level of Division I to the FBS, he was also intrigued by the wide array of educational opportunities KU could provide, its alumni network and the people around the community. Kansas wasn’t the only school recruiting him, but it was the one that stuck out. He recalled how he wasn’t able to take an official visit, and how special teams analyst Aaron Miller made the effort to take him on a tour of the facilities over FaceTime.
However much Lappin ends up punting for the Jayhawks, and he acknowledged he has dabbled in using both feet in the past, he thinks he brings a lot of versatility in how he can place the ball and the styles of kicks he can perform. He’ll be looking to aid a team that’s looking to bounce back in 2025 after a disappointing fall in 2024. And it’ll be the next step in a journey for him with American football that found some inspiration in one of the best team’s college football has seen in recent memory.
“It was the 2019 LSU Tigers, watching Joe Burrow,” Lappin said, explaining how he got into American football. “I love that guy, love Ja’Marr (Chase) and Justin Jefferson, watching coach (Ed Orgeron) yell at the boys.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
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