Kansas spent Friday morning back inside David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium for its ninth practice of fall camp, and while the building is still far from finished, the Jayhawks got another look at the version they’ll actually live with this season.
The east side has been redone, the lower bowl is in place and the new south-end seating is up, giving the stadium a much different feel than it had a year ago. The team will play in Lawrence all season, though with reduced capacity, and tight end Leyton Cure said the new look already stands out.
“The new side looks awesome,” said tight end Leyton Cure, a sixth-year senior. “I’m really excited for what it’s going to be like when it’s finished, even though it’ll be after I’ve left, but I’ll definitely have to come back and see the full thing. It’s going to be a pretty cool spot this year.”
Cure and head coach Lance Leipold both said the practice had a little extra pop because it was held in the stadium again. Cure even joked about standing on the Big 12 Monster Energy logo for the first time.
“I think it makes it more real to where it’s like, ‘All right, we’re getting around that time of year where it’s about time,'” Cure said.
Leipold said the staff wanted players, especially the newcomers, to get familiar with the updated surroundings before the opener on Sept. 4. He added that night work will come later as Kansas continues preparing, and the Jayhawks will also spend time practicing on grass in advance of playing at Wembley Stadium early this season.
“Still being a morning practice, you just want to get in there and get acclimated to the surroundings,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of new players in our program, had an opportunity to be in there.
Eventually, with lights and things, you still got to get used to picking up the ball, tracking the ball and things like that. With new surroundings, you try to get that.”
Leipold said the stadium construction has moved along faster than he expected, and he likes where things stand now. What he sees, he said, is “a lot better than I anticipated when it started after the season.”
“When they started to (put up lights) this summer or late spring, I was pretty excited that the whole lighting system will be there and be consistent throughout the stadium,” Leipold said. “… I knew it would be a lower bowl setting.
I didn’t know also that the upper deck framework would be there to give us that stadium feel. So all of those were highly positive.”
Friday’s session also gave Leipold a chance to go through a range of camp developments, and the nickel spot remains one of the biggest moving pieces. Injuries have opened the door for freshman Trey Brown, a 6-foot, 190-pound cornerback from Carson, California, to push himself into a bigger role.
“Trey Brown’s the one that’s probably been as consistent and been healthy and been out there … For a guy who just enrolled in January, the moment’s not too big for him,” Leipold said. “He handles things well.
He takes coaching. He learns every day.
He’s in asking questions. It’s extremely important to him.”
Brown wasn’t originally recruited for nickel, but the position has become more available because of inconsistency elsewhere. Leipold mentioned Mississippi State transfer cornerback Elijah Cannon and safeties Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman, Mason Ellis and Jaden Harris in that mix.
Harris has also been battling Taylor Davis at boundary safety, missed a recent practice and should be back soon, according to Leipold. Cummings-Coleman, Ellis and Harris were limited in spring but have been around more often lately.
“It’s not that we don’t have anyone,” Leipold said. “You know, sometimes you’re grasping at who can it be … It’s a matter of just finding the guy that’s going to be the healthiest and steadiest of the group.”
The other cornerback job opposite Jalen Todd is also unsettled. Todd is locked in as a starter for a second straight year, but Leipold said the other side is “probably the one that I need to continue to watch and go through.”
Austin Alexander held that spot as the primary starter last year, but injuries have slowed him through the offseason and a different injury recently set him back again. Leipold said Alexander is getting healthier, while Ball State transfer Roman Pearson, former Georgia Tech transfer Syeed Gibbs and former Alabama transfer Jahlil Hurley are all in the race.
Special teams already has a clearer shape, with Michigan State transfer kicker Martin Connington, Australian punter Matt Gill and Cal transfer long snapper Rino Monteforte forming the top group. Even there, though, there could be room for more than just the obvious names.
Monteforte has praised walk-on kicker Dane Efird’s leg strength, and Leipold said Efird could be in the mix to handle kickoffs during the regular season. He also highlighted an unusual backup plan behind Monteforte.
“Hollis Moeller is a walk-on long snapper who came in to me and asked about being - thought he could be - a holder,” Leipold said, “and so our backup long snapper’s going to be our starting holder and does a nice job, and it’s not every day that you have that combination.”
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