LAWRENCE — Each reaction by a Kansas football player as they entered the new-look Anderson Family Football Complex in late July effused joy and appreciation.

There was redshirt junior quarterback Jalon Daniels, pointing to how much different the facility looks as soon as you walk in the door. From the players’ lounge to the glass and more, it all seemed futuristic.

There was senior running back Devin Neal, highlighting the sauna and the cryotherapy chamber. He mentioned how much it meant to the older players on the team, like himself, to be able to see tangible improvements that their efforts on the field in recent years helped make possible.

There was senior cornerback Cobee Bryant, alluding to a wish he could experience it all for longer than just his last year. In addition to thanking everyone who made the upgrades possible, he talked about how much time he’s going to spend in the game room and training room and how he doesn’t intend on leaving.

Head coach Lance Leipold anticipated how anxious those players and more would be to see the progress that’s being made. He’d seen the reaction the team had in the past to the new locker room, and the new weight room. And considering how well everyone has handled the inconveniences of working around the renovations that have been ongoing for months, he couldn’t say enough about how much he appreciates them, too.

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“It’s great to be able to see their faces,” Leipold said July 30, after the first practice of fall camp. “It’s like a Christmas Day type of thing. You can see they’re excited in some of the areas, and it was important for us to address the areas that they’re going to be in the most first as we continue to get things kind of finished off in this building here in the next few weeks.”

As Leipold noted, the renovations haven’t been completed yet and there’s more to do as the overall and multi-phase Gateway District project unfolds. But to be able to get into the building to the extent they are now is a significant step. It’s another boost for a program that’s looking to contend for a Big 12 Conference title, and at that point a spot in the College Football Playoff, in 2024.

Maybe Leipold could have gone for a plan for the renovations that would have sought out something different, that would have taken up a much longer timeline. He said he told the team’s leadership recently that’s something that could have happened, including a different look to the weight room. But then there would have been players on this team that never would have been able to see it, and that’s not something Leipold wanted to happen.

The players on the team, from Leipold’s perspective, are setting examples for the younger and future players on how to carry themselves both on and off the field. One of those veterans, senior defensive end Jereme Robinson, volunteered he can’t even imagine how the facility used to look. He’s excited to see how David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium looks in the end, too.

“It’s important for them to be rewarded for what they’ve done for this program, athletic department and, again, campus and community,” Leipold said. “And to see them kind of do those things and spread out and grow is, I guess, is unfortunately one thing that we don’t talk enough about when you’re in this role anymore. That’s very fulfilling as well.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football players praise Anderson Family Football Complex