Kansas safety Kenny Logan Jr. named to preseason All-Big 12 team

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas safety Kenny Logan Jr. (1) pulls the crowd onto their feet during the third quarter on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 at Memorial Stadium.

Kenny Logan Jr. is still gaining attention for what he accomplished last season.

The Kansas senior, whose 113 tackles were the most in the conference by a safety, was selected to the preseason All-Big 12 team on Wednesday.

He was the only player on the Jayhawks recognized by the conference, which named 29 players, including five defensive backs, to a first and a second team.

Logan, an All-Big 12 second-team player last season, also forced two fumbles, recovered one, had an interception and broke up six passes. He had a season-high 15 tackles in the 31-28 loss at TCU on Nov. 20 and followed that with 14 tackles in the finale, a 34-28 home loss to West Virginia on Nov. 27. He also finished with at least 10 tackles in three other games last season.

A starter since 2020, Logan is expected to resume that role this fall for the Jayhawks, though the back end of the secondary will look different than it did a year ago. Ricky Thomas, who started 11 of 12 games alongside Logan, was a fifth-year senior, and he will likely be replaced by Marvin Grant, who started all 13 games for the Boilermakers last season and finished second on the team with 52 tackles.

Three other experienced safeties will return to Kansas in Jayson Gilliom, O.J. Burroughs and Edwin White-Schultz. All played in every game last season as true freshmen, with Gilliom starting three games and Burroughs starting once.

Oklahoma was the only other school with one player selected. Kansas State had six, Baylor had five, Iowa State and West Virginia had four, Texas and Oklahoma State had three and TCU had two. No Texas Tech players were honored.

Texas running back Bijan Robinson was chosen as the preseason offensive player of the year and Kansas State defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah was named the preseason defensive player of the year. Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel, formerly of UCF, was named the preseason newcomer of the year but did not make the team.

Quartet joins Leipold for Big 12 Media Days

Kansas has chosen Logan, quarterback Jalon Daniels, running back Devin Neal and left tackle Earl Bostick Jr. to represent the team alongside coach Lance Leipold at Big 12 Media Days, which will be held next week at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

It will be the first in-person appearance for all five of the Jayhawks’ representatives. Leipold and Logan participated in the event last season, though they did so remotely as they were unable to travel to Texas because of storms in the area.

Representatives from Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State will speak on Wednesday, followed by those from Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, TCU and Iowa State on Thursday.

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