The Kansas Jayhawks reshaped their defense after a paltry 5-7 season in 2025.
You could debate that they had to, after the team gave up an average of 409.5 yards per game, all while having several slip-ups that cost them big-time plays in the season’s most crucial moments.
Through this roster rebuild, the Jayhawks had brought in 14 new defensive transfers, as part of what was deemed as the nation’s 53rd-ranked class according to 247Sports.
The portal can often be a crapshoot where the results are unreliable, and the fragility of the relationship can be at an all-time high, leaving most coaches to still prefer the route of developing talent from the high school level and allowing them to flourish for multiple years under one system. However, thanks to the portal, those players are few and far between.
While freshman cornerback Trey Brown still has a long way to go in his career, early indications would make you believe that he is on the right track to becoming a multi-year starter with the Jayhawks.
Trey Brown is doing all the right things with the season nearby
When speaking with the media earlier this month, head coach Lance Leipold spoke highly of the January enrollee.
“Trey Brown's the one that's probably been as consistent and been healthy and been out there and for whatever we call them, true freshmen, but for a guy who just enrolled in January. The moment's not too big for him.”
Brown’s name hasn’t been thrown around in many depth chart projections, likely because of his lack of time at the university, but that didn’t stop the sixth-year head coach from heaping praise on the former 3-star recruit.
“He handles things well. He takes coaching, he learns every day. He's asking questions, it's extremely important to him. So I really like where he's at right now and he's a guy that may have to play.”
Leipold expanded that while Brown was not originally tipped as a possible nickel, when he started with the team, they became intrigued by the idea.
This couldn’t come at a better time for Brown
With the NCAA’s recent switch to the age-based eligibility model, this means that Brown will be able to play this season without having to tiptoe the redshirt line anymore.
Keeping things realistic, of course, while the cornerback position is a spot where younger players can step up and snag a starting spot more easily than at other places, Brown still shouldn’t see the field a lot in his first year. If things go as planned, he is only truly involved in games that are wrapped up by the time the fourth quarter starts.
This likely means Brown could see time against LIU and Middle Tennessee, but not much else through the season, as among the corners is a room filled with Elijah Cannon, Roman Pearson, Jalen Todd, Jameer Moore, Chris McCorkle, Jahlil Hurley, and Austin Alexander, leaving Brown and fellow freshman Robert Reddick as the program’s only two first-year players.
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