This KU pass-rusher says year with Jayhawks changed him. ESPN’s Mel Kiper is a fan

Defensive lineman Austin Booker doesn’t have to imagine how far he’s come since transferring to play for Kansas last season; he has the photographic evidence.

Booker, a rising prospect and one of two Jayhawks invited to this week’s NFL Combine, said Jayhawks strength coach Matt Gildersleeve is a fan of taking before-and-after photos to show progress. When Booker first arrived at KU following a transfer from Minnesota, he had poor posture. He also didn’t have the definition in his neck and back as he’d like.

Fast forward a year, and Booker says he can barely recognize the person he’s become thanks to his work in the team’s mandatory workouts.

“It was a completely changed picture,” Booker said.

And part of the reason Booker is on an elevated stage this week.

Booker — he measured 6 foot 4 1/2 inches and 240 pounds at Thursday’s Combine — was not on the NFL radar 12 months ago. As a sophomore at Minnesota, he played in six games in 2022, posting two tackles with one tackle-for-loss.

His next decision changed his life. He had to choose between transferring to Indiana (he’s from Greenwood, which is just southwest of Indianapolis) or going to KU.

He ended up picking the Jayhawks.

“I feel like it turned out great. It was also the uncomfortable decision — it would’ve been easy just to go to IU with everyone I knew and all that type of stuff,” Booker said. “But I feel like no one gets better when they’re comfortable.”

Gildersleeve pushed him. Booker said he did more speed-type workouts than he had in the Big Ten. The KU program also thrived on having guys motivate each other, whether it was Gildersleeve giving out “speeding” tickets for players who ran faster than 20 mph or posting a velocity leaderboard in the facility that showed top times each week.

“It makes a sense of competition,” Booker said. “So you just want to get better every week.”

That all set the groundwork for the ensuing breakthrough.

Booker was dominant during his redshirt sophomore season at KU, earning All-Big 12 first-team and Big 12 defensive newcomer of the year honors as part of a 56-tackle, eight-sack season.

“They put a lot of trust in me,” Booker said of KU’s coaches, “and they gave me that opportunity that I’ve always wanted.”

The production also fast-tracked Booker’s pro career.

About a month into last season, he was already hearing from scouts. Booker officially declared for the NFL Draft on Jan. 4.

The last few weeks have only helped his stock. Following a standout effort at the Senior Bowl, Booker is ranked 73rd on Pro Football Focus’ Big Board. Last week, he also received high praise from ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., who labeled him a “Guy you need to know.”

“He’s just scratched the surface of what he can be in the National Football League,” Kiper said of Booker, in a video conversation with ESPN’s Field Yates.

That makes this week important. Booker said he’d had formal interviews with the Panthers, 49ers, Dolphins and Steelers. Booker said he hoped to show through testing that he could maintain his speed after adding some offseason weight (he ran a 4.79-second 40-yard dash time Thursday).

He’s also gotten a little help from family at the Combine. Booker said his mother, Katie, had been hand-delivering him some of his favorite meals since he was so close to his Indiana home. Her food deliveries included turkey-bacon-provolone sandwiches and peanut-butter granola bars — two of his favorites.

As far as a ceiling for where he could be selected? Booker doesn’t want to set any limitations.

“I just hope I get picked as high as possible,” he said. “That’s just been the dream since I was young.”