Kansas football used one of its fall camp practices on Friday to get the feel of Children’s Mercy Park, the site of the Jayhawks’ first two home games. Lance Leipold spoke to the media after the game and gave his first impressions of the home of Sporting KC.

“I wondered about the sound system and how the noise will stay,” Leipold said. “How the noise could stay in the stadium, how it creates the environment that I’ve heard so much about. [The] intimacy of it. I think that really stuck to a lot of us pretty quickly.”

Despite Children’s Mercy having a capacity of 18,467 compared to 47,000 at the Booth, Leipold thinks the fans stacked on top of the field will positively impact the crowd atmosphere. He compared it to Oklahoma schools which have a similar setup.

“The ones when you go down to the Oklahoma schools, they’re right on top of you,” Leipold said. “I think hopefully this will be our opportunity to take advantage of something like that, because as we know, the old David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, had the track around it for so many years.”

Leipold doesn’t want Kansas to use not playing at its home stadium as an excuse. He thinks if fans show up and create a home field advantage, it could be a positive.

Practicing at Children’s Mercy during fall camp also allows Kansas to learn how the gameday process will be during the season. The Jayhawks need to learn things such as communication from the press box and player-to-coach communication through sideline tablets, an added element of communication debuting this season.

“Even though it’s only practice four, it’s pretty important for us,” Leipold said.

The Jayhawks also get to learn how Children’s Mercy Park will play on game days. Michael Painter, director of football operations, broke down things like how and when the sun is going to set.

“We have an opportunity within the rhythm of our camp to try to get out here, get some balls caught after sunset, punts, kicks,” Leipold said. “You get a chance to see a little bit of the sight lines, tracking balls, all the little things that we're going to have a chance to work on.”

While Leipold wants his players to stay in the rhythm of camp, he thinks a night like Friday can help boost the team’s energy.

“But even as you've gone through them with the heat this week, we always enjoy these night practices when we have them,” Leipold said. “And to come here and do it, it adds just a little more energy.”

The team is expected to practice at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium later in camp.