Kansas defensive end Damani Mosby comes off a block as he and other members of the special teams unit work on punt blocking during practice on Monday, April 7, 2015.

The new football coaching staff at Kansas University doesn’t deny the Jayhawks have a long way to go with so little time left before the start of the season.

For a change, instead of comparing how the team looks compared to the 12 opponents on one of the nation’s most difficult schedules, let’s take a look at which side of the line of scrimmage is closer to looking as if it at can compete for big chunks of games.

Across the country, number of returning starters on each side of the ball commonly is referenced as an indicator of how things look. For the sake of clarity, we’ll call any player who started at least half of KU’s 12 games a returning starter.

Right tackle Larry Mazyck (nine starts) and center Joe Gibson (seven starts) are the lone returning starters on offense, although at least for the moment, Keyon Haughton, who lost his job to Gibson after five games last season, appears to rank atop the center depth chart.

On defense, returning starters are ends Ben Goodman (12 starts) and T.J. Semke (six) and nickelback Tevin Shaw (eight). Semke will play plenty, but likely will be replaced in the starting lineup by juco transfer Damani Mosby.

Both sides of the ball lost plenty to graduation/early departure and/or dismissal.

All three players chosen in the NFL Draft (Ben Heeney, JaCorey Shepherd, Dexter McDonald) came from the defense. Still, the offense lost the leading passer (Michael Cummings), leading rusher (Corey Avery) and top six producers in reception yardage (Jimmay Mundine, Nigel King, Nick Harwell, Avery, Tony Pierson, Justin McCay).

Three positions important to the goal of scoring points — center, quarterback and field-goal kicker — have held back the Jayhawks in recent seasons, and the competition for the starting spot at all three appears ongoing. Cozart (five career touchdown passes, nine interceptions) leads juco transfer Deondre Ford (28 touchdown passes, 33 interceptions in two seasons at Dodge City Community College). The two junior QBs received a vast majority of the snaps in Saturday’s closed scrimmage.

True freshmen Carter Stanley and Ryan Willis still have their training wheels on and don’t appear to be in contention for playing time at the start of the season. That doesn’t mean things can’t change as the season progresses, but for now they aren’t in the competition.

Haughton leads Gibson, sidelined because of injury during the spring, at center. At kicker, veteran walk-on Matthew Wyman appears to lead sophomore Nick Bartolotta at kicker.

Thanks to junior-college transfer Ke’aun Kinner, senior De’Andre Mann and true freshman Taylor Martin, KU should be able to weather the loss of the dismissed Avery.

At least based on pure talent, Virginia Tech transfer Joshua Stanford has the best shot of making loud things happen at wide receiver.

The defense will have to try to figure out a way to compensate for the loss of Heeney, such a speedy linebacker and great tackler. First-year linebackers coach Kevin Kane doesn’t dispute that, but also is encouraged that depth at the position is much better than he thought it would be as recently as last spring. South Carolina transfer Marcquis Roberts plays a big role in Kane’s optimism.

The cornerback duo of McDonald and Shepherd can’t be replaced by newcomers either. High school players and junior-college talents inevitably face difficult adjustments to the pass-happy Big 12. Elsewhere in the secondary, Shaw, safety Fish Smithson and safety Bazie Bates IV, a juco transfer, can move and know how to make hits hurt.

Defensive end ranks as the team’s deepest, most talented position. Mosby and Athony Olobia have the physical skills to develop quickly into speed rushers off the edge. Goodman and Semke are tough, driven and experienced forces. Quarterbacks aren’t likely to have as much time to find a receiver as in recent seasons.

Two weeks and two days shy of the season opener vs. South Dakota State, Kansas appears to have a slightly better defense than offense.