Lance Leipold talks depth chart, playing football inside the renovated David Booth, and team captains

The countdown is officially on, in under one week, Kansas football is back in full swing as the Jayhawks are set to take on Fresno State inside the renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. After a long season away from the refreshed stadium, Kansas football is back home.

Heading into the week, Kansas football coach Lance Leipold spoke with the media over a number of topics.

Depth Chart

Thanks to Jayhawk Slant, there is an obtained depth chart for us to pick apart. The first question revolved around the "OR" tag with the offensive line

"I have to see those as rotational right now, and that's the way Daryl [Agpalsa] sees it. The way it's listed is the direction we'll end up probably starting at this point, but both, those guys not to say the others won't rotate, but those will be more designated rotation right off the bat."

Continuing with the heralded "OR" mark, there are three clumped together on the tight end slot.

"I think it's one of our deeper positions," Marked Leipold. "There's things that they all do well. They've all competed. They understand that they'll all have roles and I expect all four to play, and situationally, whether it be different packages or things. But as we know, as we go through it, people [opponents] will start charting, which what are you doing with which guys in the game. So we want to make sure that they're that they all know what they're doing and all the packages. And as we continue to see that as a competitive position."

Columbia transfer wideout Bryson Canty was a three-star transfer out of Columbia and is set to be dressed heading into this weekend.

"I expect Bryson to be available to dress for Saturday. Right now, just really limited on what he's been able to do with the time, miss. So we'll see how that progresses, but the last two practices have been highly encouraging."

The outside corner spot has been one under intense competition heading into Fresno State.

"DJ [Graham II] had an excellent Spring, you know, but he's just back to getting, going again. I thought that, you know, he was out there today, made a few nice plays out there today he's getting. More back in the swing of it. But you know, Austin's [Alexander] had a good camp. He's worked extremely hard and as we progress right now, that's where we'll start... Jalen [Todd] and Austin haven't played a lot or at all yet in the college football game, but we're confident in them from just like we were that the day they became Jayhawks, we thought this day would come for them."

When looking at the depth chart, seeing the "HAWK" label is bound to catch some eyes of Kansas fans, here is what Leipold said over that spot.

"There'll be nickel and there'll be somebody playing that spot. You got hybrid guys in there that have done some different things as we present different looks and just for the consistency part of it. We kept the Hawk title in there for now."

Up next came the daunting wide receiver position where places are bound to be mixed around through the season.

"Doug [Emilien] has had his best camp as a Jayhawk, [he] has worked his extremely hard Cam [Pickett], missed some time, you know, Levi [Wentz] and Keaton, [Kubeacka] they're all going to play and that's the thing. Some of the time as we told them as we go through some of it may be how it progresses through the week. Packages that they're going to be in on, at least in the 1st, as we roll through things and what we decide as far as opening series plays. So who's exactly on the field, and you know to start the game, whether it be 11 personnel, 12 personnel, any of those type of things will always kind of vary week to week."

The last position Leipold harped on was in the linebacker slot as South Carolina transfer Bangally Kamara and Trey Lathan who was reeled out of West Virginia, and what Leipold has seen out of the pair.

"What we hope for when we recruited them. You know, length, athleticism, especially out of Bangally. Trey's a very steady football player, That's a savvy guy that's got a great feel. He's got snaps under his belt in our conference. They're intelligent football players. You can throw a lot at them, and you know we're excited that like I said to see them on the field."

As has been haveily covered the recent $300 million gift from benefactor David Booth has surged excitement through the Kansas athletics program. On Saturday, the Jayhawks will be walking into a stadium they haven't seen in over a season.

"You know, my wife and I were just walking over, and as we're talking, just, you know, there's still a lot of people around here, you know, doing little things yet, and there's a lot of things that can be distracting. And then our jobs get ready to play. And, we've had a chance to practice in there, you know, and it'll be exciting. I've said the word exciting a lot today. It's gonna be exciting. Hopefully the energy is something that we can, you know, thrive off of and things like that but. You know, our job is to get ready to play a football game, and sometimes I don't want to downgrade all the great excitement about this game, the energy, the efforts that have gone in by the athletic department, by our donors and our fans. But in many ways, I sometimes equate this to a homecoming game. Our job and like I always say, like a home game, just play our best football and find a way to win the game. Everything else around it, the pageantry and all the other ceremonial things, are outside of what our responsibility is at the moment. Our job is to go out and play our best game for our fans."

The final point Leipold discussed was the team captains, the former Buffalo head coach stated there will be four captains.

Quarterback Jalon Daniels, offensive lineman Bryce Foster, defensive end Justice Finkley, and as Leipold put it, "we will rotate at least one other guy, as a fourth captain on on on a weekly basis."

More Kansas Football News