Daniel Hishaw, The Comeback Kid

If ever there was a player who deserved recognition for making a comeback, it’s Kansas running back Daniel Hishaw. We profiled Hishaw this summer, but let’s rehash a couple of the highlights. After starting the season well last year, Hishaw’s season came to a close in just the fifth game of the 2022 season, a chronic hip injury sidelining the Moore, Oklahoma for the remainder of the season. He had a similar injury in 2021.

Now, after impressing in the first six games for the Jayhawks in 2023, Daniel Hishaw has been shortlisted for the 2023 National Comeback Player of the Year award which, “Since 2018, the award has recognized college football student-athletes from all divisions of college football for overcoming injury, illness, or other circumstances.” College football writers from around the country will decide on three winners at the end of the season and if he keeps up his current pace, Hishaw’s name will be taken into deep consideration as a recipient of the award.

Through six games this season, Hishaw has 413 yards on the ground on 60 carries. That’s an average of 6.9 yards per carry, good enough for second best in the Big XII (behind teammate Devin Neal’s 7.7) and twelfth in the country among rushers with 60 or more carries. And his six rushing touchdowns are tied with Neal for most on the team and also tied for the most in the league.

And statistics aside, Hishaw has won over many Kansas fans with his old school style of running. He bowls over opponents like they're not even there, bulldozes through the defensive line, providing the ultimate Dr. Jekyll to Devin Neal’s elegant and pacy Mr. Hyde. Sure, the brute force, the yardage accumulated, and the touchdowns scored are the main attractions of a runner like Hishaw, but the determination and desire to come back from two big injuries will have him in consideration for the Comeback POY award come January. That’s especially true if he and the Jayhawks continue as one of the nation’s top rushing teams.