One of the most important needs in the offseason was finding someone to step in at the strongside defensive end position.

The team lost their production with the graduation of Jereme Robinson and Dylan Wudke.

The staff signed Justice Finkley from the University of Texas, and he has stepped in quickly to fill that role.

“You would think Justice has been here for four seasons,” said defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu. “He’s a really mature guy, strong leader, comes in the room and he leads by mostly example. The way he comes in and how early he comes in and how much extra work he's doing.”

Finkley played his last three seasons for the Longhorns and tried to lead by example. Even though he has a new home he is trying to bring those same values to Kansas.

“It's definitely something I've always been interested in,” Finkley said. “At Texas because I've always been like a leader by example, always afraid to use my voice. I knew when I first got here I had to put actions to words and show what I could do first and kind of step into that leadership role before I could actually start using my voice.”

Onatolu saw his leadership skills early and watched him demonstrate it every day this spring.

“You see some of the young guys and even some of the new guys, they're generating towards that,” Onatolu said. “And then he backs it up in practice every day. He plays hard, he plays with a motor, and guys feed off it, and they respect that about him.”

The defensive line is supposed to be strength of the defense going into the 2025 season. Finkley has been part of talented defensive lines at Texas. He was asked what he sees from the Jayhawks group through 14 spring practices.

“Physicality and dominance,” he said. “The way DK (McDonald) runs defense, the d-line is the head of the state. So, us being physical and dominating up top is non-negotiable. I've just seen that all spring and I think we're pretty on par for what we need to do in the fall.”

Finkley played over 500 snaps at Texas, but after the season he entered the transfer portal.

“I think I needed to look for a better opportunity, a better fit and Kansas just was the place for that,” he said.

He had positive thoughts about the KU program when he played at Texas. Finkley recalled being committed to Texas when Jalon Daniels connected with Jared Casey to upset the Longhorns in Austin.

“I know when I had committed and right before, that's when the big game was in DKR,” he said. “You know, Jared Casey in the end zone kind of had to live with that. But Kansas has always been a tough, physical team.”

Finkley said the defensive line has bonded and he hosts players to watch film at his house. One thing he is ready to compare is the barbeque between Texas and Kansas. Some of the players are planning to make the trip to Kansas City and Finkley will get his chance this weekend.

“A lot of the food places I haven't tried out here, and I've been desperately looking for some good barbecue to compare it to Texas,” he said. “We're actually thinking about going to Q39 this weekend to go check that out.”