Colorado's Rodney Stewart stiff-arms Kansas' Jake Laptad in this file photo from Oct. 11 at Memorial Stadium. The Jayhawks have been struggling with their tackling on defense lately.

It’s no secret that the Kansas University football team’s pass defense has struggled mightily this season.

It’s also a well-known fact KU’s secondary has not been the sole reason for the team ranking near the bottom of the Bowl Subdivision in pass defense. But while the defensive line has not been able to generate the kind of rush that forces quarterbacks into bad decisions, therein making life easier for the cornerbacks and safeties behind them, the guys up front have done their part to pick off a few passes along the way.

Of KU’s 13 total interceptions, three have come from defensive linemen, including two from senior Russell Brorsen in the same game.

“Any time you have a defensive lineman catch an interception, it’s a relief, it’s unbelievable,” junior safety Darrell Stuckey said. “Because you know they were smart enough to drop back in coverage and put themselves in position to make the interception. It’s a bonus because you don’t expect to get interceptions from your D-line. It’s one of those things where you just say, ‘Thank you Lord, let’s keep doing it.'”

Kansas ranks 114th out of 119 Bowl Subdivision schools in pass defense, surrendering nearly 300 yards a game through the air. Combine that with coach Mark Mangino’s ongoing quest to fit the right guys into the right spots in the secondary, and it’s fair to say the help from the defensive linemen has been a welcomed relief.

Not only has it occasionally made life easier for the safeties and corners, but it also has given the guys in the defensive backfield a dose of comic relief.

“It’s a laugh, it’s a giggle,” Stuckey said. “It’s one of those things where I’m like, ‘Yes, I don’t have block anybody down field and run a hundred yards with them because they’re going to fall after they catch it.'”

That assessment is just fine with the big guys up front. After all, they’ve been just as surprised by some of the interceptions they’ve pulled down.

“For (the d-backs) it’s more of an amusement thing than anything, to see a bigger guy catch the ball and try to run with it,” Brorsen said. “I don’t blame them for laughing a little bit. I’m surprised I didn’t drop them. I’m glad I didn’t.”

For guys like Brorsen, John Larson and the rest of the defensive line, having an impact on the passing game is about more than jumping in front of a bullet from the opposing quarterback. Unlike safeties and corners, who rely on their speed and instincts to break up passes, defensive linemen rely on intelligence and positioning.

“It’s just being in the right spot,” Brorsen said. “I don’t have a huge area to cover, I just try to read the quarterback’s eyes and I’ve managed to be in the right spot a couple of times.”

For Larson, a senior from Pembroke Hill in Kansas City, Mo., sometimes that right spot means hiding his smaller, more athletic frame behind one of the mammoth offensive or defensive tackles.

“You’re not such a presence,” Larson said. “Maybe the quarterback can’t see you there. But a 300-pound guy is kind of hard to miss.”

Widely known as two of the most impressive academic performers on KU’s roster, Larson and Brorsen both have used their intelligence to bolster KU’s ailing pass defense.

Still, despite going through their reads and stalking opposing quarterbacks with fire, both players insist that snagging an interception as a defensive lineman involves little more than a lot of luck.

“We have a general feel of where we want to drop to and we have a general feel of what we’re looking for and all that,” Larson said. “But after that you just kind of eye up the quarterback and hope to get lucky. If (KU linebacker) Joe Mortensen’s hanging on the (QB) near the end zone, he’s going to throw the ball.”