Brian Borland gives a spring recap on the defense

The Jayhawks wrapped up spring practices on Tuesday morning as they enter offseason mode to get set for the 2024 season. The defensive side of the ball approaches the summer with some unanswered questions, and defensive coordinator Brian Borland talked about some of them. Borland addressed the team’s approach to the portal, need for pass rushers, depth at the cornerback spot and he recapped the spring season as a whole.

In the age of the transfer portal, it should not come as too big of a surprise that Borland was blunt when asked if the staff would be pursuing players in the portal.

“Yeah,” Borland said. “We got to be honest also. Some guys are, you know, can play. Some guys you feel like are ready to play and some guys you don't know about.”

While the Jayhawks will be active in the portal, it will not be a situation where they are just looking for anybody. There will be very specific needs addressed by both sides.

“What we don't want to do is just take guys to take guys and, you know, where they're not really going to really make a difference for you,” Borland said. “We don't need more guys. We need if we're going to take something that needs to be a specific type of person that can do a specific thing and will play.”

As the Jayhawks lose players, every player that enters the portal will be evaluated as the Jayhawks search for more depth.

“We always look at that stuff, and I know our recruiting staff looks at every guy that goes in the portal, and then certain guys kind of get funneled through to us, and then we kind of take it from there,” Borland said. “But, yeah, that's already going on.”

It is not a secret that the Jayhawks do not return much in the pass rushing department. Jereme Robinson brings back 4.5 sacks in 2023 with JB Brown being the only other returning player to have more than one with two. While Borland mentioned the portal during the press conference as well, he still has faith in the development of the players up front.

“We kind of feel like we're in that situation every year,” Borland said. “Maybe everybody is. I don't know. But, we have been, and I feel good about our guys, coaches up front that they do a really good job of really developing players and developing those skills and players. And so if you've got guys with the raw tools, we'll develop them into something.”

The Jayhawks have gotten a huge boost from pass rushers acquired from the transfer portal in each of the last two years in Lonnie Phelps and Austin Booker, but after seeing some of his team in action during the spring he listed a few candidates that could step up.

“Dean [Miller] is one of those guys,” Borland said. “[Dakyus] Brinkley, the freshman out here, he's got some real natural tools, and he just got to just figure out what we're doing fully and look out. So I feel confident we'll be able to piece together that position, defensive end, past rushing position that we need, and we've done it for the last three years. I just, I feel confident we'll be able to get that done again.

It is obvious that Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson are going to be starters at cornerback come next fall. The pair have each brought a solid combination of shutdown and playmaking ability that is going to make them very hard to replace. However, both are just one play away from the Jayhawks needing to find someone to put out there in the event of an injury.

Last season, Kwinton Lassiter and Kalon Gervin were solid backups, but both graduated. Now the Jayhawks are looking for some younger options to rise toward the top. Borland says that Damarius McGhee being healthy has helped his case.

“I think Damarius McGhee has done a really good job this spring,” Borland said. “He's been healthy finally and wasn't healthy at all last fall. And so he's a really good cover person.”

While McGhee stands out individually, the strength in numbers and competition is looking to pay off as they look for more depth.

“All those other freshmen, you know, they've all got literally hundreds of opportunities this spring to get a chance to showcase where they're at,” Borland said. “So at least some of those guys are going to have to play some sort of a role for us. So that's probably still a little bit of a work in progress, but I do think we've got, you know, three, four, five guys there that can, that'll compete at that position.”

“I'm happy,” Borland said. “I feel like we've accomplished a lot of things that we set out to accomplish. No. 1, I thought we practiced hard and competed hard every day, so, I mean, that's kind of where it all starts. And I feel really good about our guys that way, that, you know, we kind of brought it out there every day, and so that always gives you a chance.”

The overall goal for the defense this spring was to elevate the attention to detail that takes place on the field, to which Borland is also pleased.

“I think part of it is you're trying to get some of your guys that, you know, can play and have played, and you're trying to get them to the little higher level of learning and understanding and the small details of things and perfecting their craft,” Borland said.

Borland also mentioned that he spent a lot of spring finding out to what extent a lot of players are going to be able to help next year. Overall, he is satisfied with what he saw.

“I think we probably made strides in every area,” Borland said.