Friday's week one matchup with South Dakota will be Kansas' chance to score their first win since 2019. For upperclassmen leaders Kyron Johnson and Mike Novitsky, it's what their group has been grinding towards throughout this past summer and fall camp.

Seniors like Johnson have become leaders during fall camp and will be putting quite a bit on their back this season as the wheels get moving.

He's also become a competitive force at practice, stirring up battles and building some competitive chemistry within the defense. Johnson shared his experiences going head-to-head with redshirt junior offensive lineman Earl Bostick Jr.

"The only reason why like going against Earl is because we've been here so long," he said.

He continued: "Me and him got experience with one another. We know each other. It's to the point where, how can we beat each other now? We literally are fighting each other at this point, to see if I can get past him, or if he can block me. He's a good player."

Johnson has been regarded as one of the fastest players on this roster by Coach Borland. He smiled at the question of whether or not he could beat Jason Bean in a foot race.

Impressed with Bean's speed, Johnson touched on the flashes he's seen from the former North Texas starter.

"He can go from zero to 100 like that," he said. "To see him transition like that is like, 'Okay'. It makes me have to get on my tall horse because I'm a little bigger body than that. I have to really pick up my pace too, but seeing that, I like it. It's cool. He's a fast QB. I haven't seen that here in a while."

Junior Mike Novitsky isn't letting stress eat him up before Friday night's game. He knows what his job is and what he's expecting from his fellow offensive lineman.

He commented on what he believes is most important for his group to nail down before kick-off

"You just got to be confident in your ability and just really focus in on what your task is on any given play," he said. "Over time, you just get comfortable with the QB's cadence, over-communicating stuff so you know you're on the same page as everybody else."

Novitsky is thankful for the strong reception he's seen since arriving in Lawrence and shared his thoughts on his surroundings.

"The guys here are great. Our locker room is very strong," he said. "They brought me in with open arms and we just got a great bond already and I'm excited to go play a game with them and go through all the adversity with them."

Shaping together a resilient, more dependable offensive line has been Scott Fuchs' objective throughout camp. Without Novitsky though, it could be a much different product on the field this week.

The offensive lineman has been a major part of the playbook transition and having his experience in the trenches is expected to have an immediate impact on the line's performance.

"It's definitely been a big improvement," Novitsky said.

He continued: "We focus on the details every day and we really started just putting them all together and putting something special together here. And it's all about belief. We have a strong belief in one another and we trust one another and we just kept stacking the bricks every day and we made a lot of improvement."