photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas cornerback Jalen Todd (26) gets up to deflect an end zone pass late in the fourth quarter against Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 at Arrowhead Stadium.

The 2024 Kansas football season has afforded players recruited out of high school by Lance Leipold’s staff greater opportunities to contribute than in any of his past three seasons, especially on defense.

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Blake Herold has established himself as a key part of the rotation and one of the best pass-rush options upfront. After a rash of injuries in his position group, Herold’s classmate Taylor Davis fit in smoothly as a starting safety, with a particularly potent performance at BYU. And highly touted true freshman DJ Warner has been a fixture at pass-rush defensive end all season, splitting time with Dean Miller and Bai Jobe.

The latest young prospect to chip in at a key moment was Jalen Todd on Saturday.

After enrolling early and impressing coaches with his physical development through the spring and summer, the four-star freshman cornerback from Detroit was always going to have some sort of role on this year’s team, and for the first month of the season that primarily consisted of periodic work on special teams. He got thrown into the fire at outside corner for 12 snaps late in the Jayhawks’ agonizing defeat at Arizona State on Oct. 5.

But when KU returned from its bye week, Todd began to receive sporadic snaps as the Jayhawks’ nickel back. These were necessarily limited by opposing schemes — KU frequently uses Hawk linebacker Jayson Gilliom or Cinco safety Marvin Grant as its 11th player depending on offensive personnel — until the Jayhawks faced spread-out Colorado.

On Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, taking on one of the most dynamic offenses in the Big 12, Todd not only started and played a career-high 41 snaps but emerged as the Jayhawks’ highest-graded defensive player on Pro Football Focus with a score of 76.4. Head coach Lance Leipold praised Todd’s maturity after KU’s 37-21 victory over then-No. 16 Colorado kept its dreams of a bowl game alive.

“He’s got a fine future, we’re excited about him,” Leipold said, “and he doesn’t let the moment get too big for him, and I thought he played extremely well.”

Todd got targeted four times on the day and allowed four catches, which was not at all unusual for the Jayhawks given that CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw six total incompletions. (Cobee Bryant was the only player to force more than one incompletion when targeted, according to PFF.) However, Todd allowed the second-lowest yards per reception of any player at just 5.8 for a total of 23 yards.

He got credited with his first career pass breakup at a pivotal moment: on Sanders’ fourth-and-long desperation throw to the end zone, as Todd leapt near the goal line to tip the ball out of play and prevent any chance of it reaching LaJohntay Wester.

For Bryant — whom Todd has said he came to KU to learn from, along with fellow senior Mello Dotson — there was a distinct arc to the freshman’s performance against the Buffaloes.

“I kind of was on Jalen Todd hard,” Bryant said, “because when Jalen Todd first got here, I kind of knew that Jalen Todd was going to be good, but I don’t like to tell him until he, like, developed.”

That meant making it clear exactly how the freshman’s play was deficient in his first extensive action on defense.

“During the game, he was kind of starting off slow, and I had to scream at him on the sideline, ‘Get off blocks,'” Bryant said postgame. “Because Jalen Todd, he (is) very strong, he a strong little kid. And during the game, as the game was going on — progress, man.”

Late in the first quarter Todd made a solo stop for no gain but got penalized for a horse-collar tackle — though replays showed he grabbed closer to the center of Drelon Miller’s jersey — and then two plays later he assisted on a tackle by linebacker and senior captain Cornell Wheeler.

Bryant did have one more gripe with his young teammate — presumably delivered in a more typical tone than his initial complaint.

“I said ‘Man, you owe me that pick you dropped in the red zone. You owe me that,'” Bryant said with a smile. “He kind of said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘You’re going to get it next time.'”

There should be many a “next time” for Todd over the course of his career in Lawrence. Once Bryant and Dotson have graduated, the experience he is currently accumulating will put him at the forefront of a group also featuring the likes of Damarius McGhee (who has struggled to stay on the field in his KU tenure) along with classmates Austin Alexander and Aundre Gibson and fellow young corners Jameel Croft Jr. and Brian Dilworth.