Kansas’ defensive line is shaping up as one of the more intriguing groups in camp, and the defensive end room in particular has plenty of moving parts as the Jayhawks move past the midpoint of preseason work.
Thursday marked KU’s eighth practice of camp, with about seven more to go before classes begin and the team shifts into the final stretch of the preseason. That’s where the depth chart starts to sharpen, and on this line, there’s real competition and variety to sort through.
What stands out most at defensive end is the mix of body types and skill sets Joe Dineen has to work with. He sounds confident in the top four, and it’s easy to see why when you look at the group in drills.
Dakyus Brinkley is listed at 6-foot-3 and brings a sturdier build and quick twitch. David Santiago is as tall as Leroy Harris III and Alex Bray, but leaner.
Harris and Bray are similar in frame, though Harris has a little more length and more burst.
That kind of variation gives KU options, and it also marks a change for the program. The Jayhawks have real size across the two-deep at defensive end for the first time under Lance Leipold.
In previous years, KU often had one or two ends who were undersized in either height, length or weight. That isn’t the case this fall.
The biggest name in that group may be Leroy Harris III, and KU needs him to deliver. Dineen said the talent is there, but the focus now is turning that ability into consistent technique.
"I think the big thing with Leroy is focusing on his technique," Dineen said. "What he has with that size, with that athletic ability, if you can match that and pair that with great technique and great violence, then the sky's going to be the limit.
And the challenge for us is to get him to do it every snap. You see flashes of it.
And when he does it, he has a lot of success in the run game and in the pass game. And now, for us as as coaches, we got to get him to do it every single snap."
Santiago also laid out the different jobs the ends can be asked to handle this season. He described rush as more open-space work, with more dropping into the flat and operating in quarters. Stud, by contrast, brings more trench warfare - lining up as a three-tech or a 4i, fighting double teams and dealing with bigger bodies.
"Rush is a lot more open space, quarters," Santiago said. "We're in the flat, dropping more.
Stud is more three-tech [between a guard and tackle] or 4i [inside shade of a tackle]. You're taking on double teams, padding back against 350, 315 pound guys, whatever.
So you have to be a lot more strong at stud. I'm comfortable playing both."
That versatility is part of what makes this group so interesting as camp moves along. KU has size, options and some promising internal growth. Now the challenge is turning that into production once the season begins.
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