3 first-week takeaways from Kansas football coach Lance Leipold at fall camp
· Yahoo Sports
LAWRENCE — As Kansas football has started to progress through fall camp, there’s been an opportunity to see how the Jayhawks are doing ahead of the 2026 season.
How’s the battle for the starting quarterback job unfolding? Are the newcomers continuing to adjust well? How confident is the team ahead of an important campaign, as the group looks to bounce back from a pair of disappointing seasons?
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But those aren’t the only questions facing the program. They aren’t the only things head coach Lance Leipold has addressed recently. There’s more the Jayhawks are looking at prior to the regular season kicking off Sept. 4 at home against LIU.
Here are a few more takeaways from Leipold on Saturday, Aug. 8:
How does Lance Leipold feel about a new-look running backs group?
Much of the attention on this season’s running backs for Kansas will be on redshirt junior Dylan Edwards and junior Yasin Willis.
Edwards transferred in from Kansas State, and Willis transferred in from Syracuse. But Leipold was also happy to see redshirt sophomore Jalen Dupree, a transfer from Colorado State, out on the field after missing some time.
Leipold likes the depth at running back and sees a lot of guys who can be productive. He’s interested to see how they spread the opportunities around, among athletes of various sizes and skillsets. When he and associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki speak, they talk about the many ways they can be creative with that position.
What are some reasons for Lance Leipold’s confidence in KU’s defense?
Leipold thinks the defensive line has improved, with more depth there and at linebacker as well. There’ll be a need, as there is with any team, to stay healthy through camp. However, he has seen more confidence in a group that has more size and speed than in the past.
Importantly, too, Leipold detailed the defense is communicating better, allowing the group to play with more confidence. There are a number of players who’ve helped make that happen: redshirt junior safety Taylor Davis, redshirt senior linebacker Trey Lathan, redshirt junior linebacker Quincy Davis (New Mexico State transfer) and redshirt senior linebacker Bam Crouch (Boston College transfer).
Why does Lance Leipold like the versatility of D.K. McDonald’s scheme on defense?
Since D.K. McDonald took over as the lead defensive coordinator ahead of the 2025 season, the Jayhawks have operated with more variety on alignments up front. Although that came with a desire to be better against the run more consistently, and that goal hasn’t necessarily been fulfilled, there’s hope the second year with McDonald will change that result. Leipold thinks the players have a better understanding of what they’re being asked to do.
At times last season, Leipold acknowledged, there was hesitation on defense. And because there wasn’t enough communication, there were more issues. Leipold values the vision McDonald has to be multiple up front, potentially getting bigger bodies on the field to combat certain personnel groupings, as well as the emphasis on using a player in a nickelback role to be more athletic behind it.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: 3 first-week takeaways from Kansas football coach Lance Leipold at fall camp