photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive ends Dakyus Brinkley and Bai Jobe take part in spring practice on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Lawrence.

As Kansas filled need after need in the winter transfer-portal window, one went unaddressed for a while.

The Jayhawks stockpiled four wideouts from the portal, reconstructed their secondary and built a linebacking corps from scratch. But they hadn’t done anything to replenish their strong-side defensive end spot by early January.

That was the position which for years had been occupied by the steady presence of Jereme Robinson, and in 2024 was bolstered further by transfer Dylan Wudke and resurgent returnee Ronald McGee.

All three exhausted their eligibility, leaving a void opposite second-team all-conference honoree Dean Miller, a weak-side defensive end.

KU reeled in exactly the sort of player it needed: Justice Finkley, a senior transfer who played extensively in three years at Texas.

“You would think Justice has been here for four seasons,” position coach Taiwo Onatolu said. “Really mature guy, strong leader, comes in the room and he leads by mostly example.”

Behind Finkley is where things get murkier for Onatolu, D.K. McDonald and the defense.

KU has long rotated a variety of players along its defensive line, but many of the young defensive ends the Jayhawks already had in the fold once seemed better fits for the pass-rush-focused weak-side position.

That has prompted KU to experiment with shifting redshirt freshman Dakyus Brinkley and, more occasionally, redshirt sophomore Bai Jobe to the opposite side of the line. Also in the mix are the likes of redshirt senior Dylan Brooks, who missed all of 2024 due to injury, and early-enrolling true freshman Adrian Holley.

“You have to be versatile,” Onatolu said. “We name certain positions certain things, but we’re going to play the best two guys or best four guys or best five guys, eventually. Although you’re starting in one position, we try to mix guys around a little bit throughout spring ball to make sure they know both positions, because we’re going to play the best guys, because that’s what you do to help the team.

“You got to put the best two out there, even if they’re supposedly the same position.”

photo by: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Texas defensive end Justice Finkley waits for a play during the first half of an NCAA college football game between TCU and Texas, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, in Fort Worth, Texas. Texas won 29-26.

Finkley brings experience

The man they call “Fink” is a plug-and-play strong-side defensive end.

“He’s very built,” defensive tackle Tommy Dunn Jr. said. “He’s a big D-end. He’s shorter, but he’s very strong. And he proved it — he be coming off the ball and knocking stuff back.”

Listed at 6-foot-2, 250 pounds, the native of Trussville, Alabama, had minimal connections to KU’s program prior to joining the Jayhawks, at least outside of his acquaintance with former cornerback Cobee Bryant, a fellow Alabamian.

It was the scheme under D.K. McDonald, which he thought translated well from his experience at Texas, that made the Jayhawks a good pick.

“The way D.K. runs defense, the D-line is the head of the snake,” Finkley said. “So us being physical and dominating up top is a non-negotiable. So I’ve just seen that all spring, and I think we’re pretty on par for what we need to do in the fall.”

Finkley leads the way for a lot of extracurricular work by the defensive end room. At the football facility, for example, he brings his pads in for when the team is watching film so he can get out onto the field early for an additional 20 to 25 minutes.

“Lately, especially, I’ve really been impressed by his football IQ,” Miller said. “I watch film with him a lot, and really just trying to break down plays and analyze the offense so we can get a jump on them, it’s been real good.”

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive end Dakyus Brinkley, right, talks with head coach Lance Leipold at spring practice on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Lawrence.

Brinkley has improved physically

A highly touted recruit out of Katy, Texas, from an extremely athletic family, Brinkley didn’t play during his freshman season. He’s put himself in a strong position to do so in 2025, in large part thanks to physical development.

“It took him a little while to get started, and that’s OK,” team nutritionist Katie O’Connor told the Journal-World. “Being an early-enrollee freshman, they go through a lot. They have a lot on their plate. But as summer season kind of came, I feel like it just clicked for him, and he’s only been making progress since. He’s gained, I think, 10 pounds since (the) season.”

Brinkley said his objective was to reach 245 pounds, and he’s reached that goal — even if he finds it challenging sometimes to keep eating on one day after he already had four meals the day before.

He credited the nutrition staff of O’Connor and Courtney Denny for helping him accomplish his target weight.

“Honestly, it’s very, I would say, comfortable,” he said. “Because they know what you eat, they know what you need, they know how to help you. I would say it’s very easy to work with them.”

As Brinkley has worked on improving his ability to recognize offensive alignments and plays opposing offenses might run, he’s also adapted to spending more time on the strong side.

“I really like it, honestly,” he said. “Like I told my coaches, wherever they need me, that’s where they can put me at. Whatever the team needs, I’m here to help, so that’s my job.”

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive end Bai Jobe during the first day of fall camp on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Lawrence.

Jobe no longer encumbered

Jobe has been only an intermittent participant on the strong side, but he said his game translates well to either role.

“They kind of make sure that I know all the positions,” he said, “so when they need someone to step on the field I can just go and be a difference maker.”

Wherever he lines up, the Senegalese defensive end is better equipped to make a difference than last season, when, not long after transferring to KU from Michigan State, he suffered a hand injury early in camp and had to play with a cast at the start of the year.

“It was way harder playing with one hand,” Jobe said, adding that it used to be hard for him to set the edge when he was lined up on the left side. “I’m thankful and grateful that I got my hand back and (am) able to play football and help the team.”

Jobe said he felt the injury hurt his overall year a little bit. But in KU’s season finale against Baylor, he had the chance to play a season-high 28 defensive snaps.

“That just made me think, ‘Oh man, I got to keep working. If I keep working, I’m going to get this,'” he recalled. “It’s just like a motivation for me to be down here. My family back (in) Africa, staying up, staying ’til like 3 a.m., something like that, trying to watch me play, and seeing me on the field like that, that’s the win for me.”