Kansas football: Jayhawks defense further along than expected

The Kansas football defense has been one of the few bright spots for the program the last ten years. It won’t show up on the stat sheet so much, but without them there were many games that could have been massive blowouts.

And the blowouts that did happen weren’t as much on the defense as it was on the offenses inability to move the ball.

But that doesn’t mean new Kansas defensive coordinator, Brian Borland, won’t have his hands full.

Having worked with new HC Lance Leipold for 15 years, Borland has an understanding of his head coach’s coaching style that not many coordinators get to experience. He knows what Leipold expects of him and he knows his head coach trusts him to do his job.

This year will be especially tough because of the timing and some of the proven big names on the Kansas defense that entered the transfer portal.

A few notables are cornerback Karon Prunty and two defensive linemen, Marcus Harris and Dajon Terry, all three of which headed to the SEC, arguably the most competitive college football conference in the league.

To help offset those transfers Borland brought a few players with him from his Buffalo defense, linebacker Rich Wilson, and defensive linemen Eddie Wilson and Ronald McGee. The Kansas defense also landed a few other notable transfers in linebacker Cornell Wheeler from Michigan and edge rusher Zion Debose from Virginia Tech.

Kansas football finding help from new faces

All of these transfers are projected to make an immediate impact, which will be helpful for a Kansas defense that has so many question marks.

But speaking to the media just three days into fall camp, Borland seemed optimistic about where the Kansas defense currently sits.

"“It’s probably better than I would’ve even anticipated, based on not really having any kind of (typical) preparation beforehand.”"

What has made this transition so much smoother, given the unusual circumstances, is Borland not only provided literature on his defensive style for the players to study, he also provided game film so they could study during the summer while they weren’t allowed to practice with the team.

"“I give those guys a lot of credit, because that wasn’t easy from their perspective, either,” the former Buffalo defensive coordinator said. “But I can see it’s paid off, because stepping on the field a few days ago and up until now, I can tell they’ve really embraced those things. And we’re picking up some of the concepts for sure.”"

According to Benton Smith with KUSports.com, Borland describes his defense as a “four-down front with multiple coverages, featuring some zone, some man and other combinations that combine the two.” He continues that he’ll occasionally throw in some blitzes, but the concepts for the most part will stay the same.

Although this won’t be an easy transition for the players, it’s still hopeful that Borland can visually see they’ve taken advantage of the information he’s given them. NCAA regulations limit the amount of contact coaches have with players, so what the players are able to accomplish during the summer is important.

As fall camp progresses and the defense starts to take shape, we’ll know more about how Borland sees the defense. But if he’s already optimistic and believes the team is further along than he expected, that’s a great start.