It’s no secret that the offense has been the stronger of the two sides of the ball for Kansas in the Lance Leipold era. Defensive coordinator Brian Borland seeks to provide more resistance this season, as a solid defense could take Kansas to the next step.

The defense gave up 35.46 points per game last year and forced 18 turnovers. They’ll be looking toward an experienced secondary to lead the charge in taking Kansas’ defense over the hump.

An interesting point that Borland made was that the offense put up the same amount of points in the win over Iowa State and the loss versus Texas. The 14-11 win obviously looked a lot better for the offense than the 55-14 loss

“We’ve got to be more like the Iowa State week,” Borland said. “We just need to move more consistently that way.”

The Jayhawks showed flashes of that movement in various moments during the year, but there were more Texas games than Iowa State. The logic doesn’t need to be thought of game-by-game either to see the flashes of solid play from the defense.

The second half of the Liberty Bowl where they held Arkansas to just seven points may have been the best defense played all year after giving up 31 points in the first half.

“There was times last year where we were a good solid kind of a dominant unit once in a while,” Borland said. “But that wasn't an every week thing,”

The ultimate goal for the defense is to become the unit that teams fear when they face Kansas, and Borland has delivered that message to his defense throughout the offseason.

“We’re done being the weak link, we’re going to be the strong link in the chain this year,” Borland said.

Borland does not feel pressure

Borland was asked if there would be pressure to change his approach in order to become the strongest link, and displayed 100 percent confidence in himself and his process.

“I don't know about huge overall changes,” Borland said. “I don't feel pressured. So you know, I have confidence in myself. I have confidence in coaches. I have confidence in what we're doing and how we're trying to do it.”

That doesn’t mean that he isn’t seeking improvement as he goes on, he just trusts that his way will eventually get them where they need to go. They have been more than willing to tweak some smaller aspects.

“I would tell you, it'd be not it'd be dishonest to say that we didn't evaluate every aspect of our defense last year," Borland said. "I think we've been able to make some changes, you know, some smaller changes that I think have really helped us"

With returning leadership in the secondary, and in the linebacker room, there may be outside pressure. Even if Borland doesn’t feel he’s aware of it, but is adamant that the highest expectations come from within.

“We have nobody's expectations going to be higher than ours for ourselves and me for myself,” Borland said. "So in that respect, I have confidence going forward and can't wait to get after it.”

Secondary brings back all of their top players

There is a lot to be confident about when it comes to the Kansas secondary. First, Kenny Logan has played over 1,500 snaps at Kansas. He led the Jayhawks in tackles with 96, two more than linebacker Rich Miller. Even though it’s not great to have your safety lead the team in tackles, it’s good to have a safety that can do it if need be.

Both cornerbacks have experience too. Cobee Bryant has a pick-six in each of Kansas’ last two Big 12 road wins, and is a returning First Team All-Big 12 player. He seems to make a play every game Kansas wins and is looking to deter quarterbacks from throwing his way.

On the other side of the field, Mello Dotson started every game for Kansas at corner. His nine tackle performance against Duke included eight solo tackles.

“We can put three guys in there that played a heck of a lot of football over their careers,” Borland said of the trio. “Regardless of whatever we're calling they understand what's happening. They see formations, they see alignments and they make the make the calls and the checks that need to get made.”

The confidence Borland portrayed relies a lot on the secondary, because he described a time where he wasn’t confident with a secondary.

“Two years ago I was sweating bullets every play not really knowing what was gonna happen,” Borland I would quite honestly I will tell you I don't lose any sleep right now.”

The secondary is still going to be seeking improvement, and Borland said they’ve been doing “an awesome job” of doing so.