Kansas football coach Lance Leipold is excited about his team entering 2023.
gbedore@kcstar.com
Lawrence
Kansas football coach Lance Leipold couldn’t help but smile at the post-practice media session on Tuesday.
After all, KU’s spring football slate officially started that day. KU and newcomer Houston are the only Big 12 schools to start spring practices this early.
“There’s a lot going out there, that’s for sure,” Leipold said. “It’s great to be back out there.”
Last season, the Jayhawks (6-7, 3-6 Big 12) went to the Liberty Bowl — their first bowl appearance since 2008. KU lost 55-53 in triple-overtime to Arkansas at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.
Leipold has high expectations for his team over the 15 spring practices, but he’s paying particular attention to a couple of things early on.
“Retention — playing in December and the benefits of that,” Leipold said. “You can see the confidence and leadership take hold right away from the start. A fair amount (of) newcomers (are) jumping in and getting a feel for how we go about it.”
During the Jayhawks’ first signing period, they brought in a transfer class of 13 players, plus four early enrollees from the 2023 high school class: Calvin Clements, Surahz Buncom, Jaden Hamm and Tony Terry.
Kansas’ transfer class ranks No. 39 nationally (247Sports).
Leipold is excited to integrate all the newcomers into the program, but he’s particularly enthusiastic about a few defensive additions. Those reinforcements are much needed, as KU ranked 127th in the country in opponent yards per game (469.4) last season,
That list includes JB Brown (linebacker), Austin Booker (defensive line), Gage Keys (defensive line) and Devin Phillips (defensive lineman).
Still, Kansas had a few players who did not participate on Tuesday: safety Kenny Logan Jr, safety Marvin Grant, center Mike Novitsky, and wide receiver Tanaka Scott.
Defensive end Patrick Joyner was also out but will most likely be available on Saturday.
Kansas running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. also didn’t practice on Thursday and will be out for an extended period. Leipold said it was due to a muscle issue, not his previous hip injury.
Between injuries to key players such as Logan and Novitsky and the new players on the roster, KU football will have plenty of competition for depth chart spots.
“I think one thing we all learned last year is what the competition did in the spring that made guys in the program better,” Leipold said.
After a heartbreaking bowl game loss, the first practice was one step toward building a consistent winner with KU football. After all, Leipold has preached continuity and growth, which seems to be the theme at the start of his third season.
“There’s a confidence factor of getting there ( bowl game), but I think there is that sense of determination now to take another step in our program,” Leipold said.” (Fixing) inconsistency a day at a time, a week at a time to earn another opportunity there and see where that takes us.”
Leipold doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself, but he feels this team has a different feel around it.
“I do feel there is a different sense of pride and confidence — now we can line up with people and do things on a weekly basis,” Leipold said. “We’ve been able to show that for a long time, but there’s still an understanding that we have to be better in some areas to be able to be there each and every week. I think we are on the right path to work to do that.”
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