LAWRENCE — Harry Stewart III isn’t entering his freshman season with Kansas football this fall with the same pressure Devin Neal did back in 2021.

Stewart, a running back like Neal, has more established players at the position from whom he can take some time to learn. In addition to Neal, for example, there’s a pair of redshirt juniors in Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Sevion Morrison. When Neal arrived on campus, he had to figure things out at a much faster rate because the Jayhawks needed him to play right away.

But just because Stewart has a chance to take his time, and acclimate to the college level, doesn’t mean he will have to wait too long to play. In fact, on the heels of enrolling early in the spring, there’s momentum behind him earning some type of role at Kansas this fall. As fall camp has progressed, he’s continued to impress running backs coach Jonathan Wallace.

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“Harry started out this fall camp — we threw a lot of offense at these guys, which was good,” Wallace said Friday. “So, he was, early on, slow a little bit, playing a little bit slow. But as we have recalled some things now, going into this was, what? The ninth practice? You’re starting to see him play a lot faster, which is pretty typical of young guys.”

Stewart explained it was important for him to enroll early, because it’d provide him the opportunity to get a head start on learning the playbook and adjusting to college life. It was something the Kansas coaching staff brought up to him. Now that he’s in the midst of fall camp, he feels he’s able to have a more advanced look at the Jayhawks’ offense because the spring allowed him to learn the basics.

Stewart has also been able to develop physically while working with Matt Gildersleeve, the team’s director of sports performance. According to Stewart, Gildersleeve has ensured he wouldn’t be complacent and taught him technique that can take his strength to another level. Among other things, Stewart — listed at 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds — said he’s become faster and raised how much he can bench press.

It helps, too, that Stewart has been inquisitive with his teammates. Morrison praised Stewart for not being afraid to ask questions. Morrison mentioned to reporters things have appeared to click faster for both Stewart and redshirt freshman running back Johnny Thompson Jr. than it did for Morrison when Morrison was a freshman at Nebraska.

“I just love their mindset, man,” said Morrison, who transferred to Kansas ahead of the 2022 season. “They’ve got some older guys. They ask us questions. They attack everything they do. I just love them, and they play fast.”

Recalling a recent scrimmage, Wallace said his younger guys were where he expected them to be with their level of understanding of the offense. As the fall progresses, he wants to see them take the next step. That means having the confidence and competence to both take reps and execute them at a high level.

During that time, Stewart is going to continue to lean on older guys like Neal and Hishaw. Stewart is trying to break old habits he has and mimic those two the best he can. He sees it as an advantage to be in a position group with them, and during his freshman year, he wants to just help the team as much as he can.

“I know with Devin and (Hishaw), they’re going to ball out this year, and just learning from them,” Stewart said. “And if an opportunity comes up, I feel like just being ready for that moment. And whatever the team wants me to be, just taking in as much information as I can. Just being humble and just grinding, man.”

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 RB Harry Stewart III keeps impressing coaches