Taking advantage of KU’s schematic fit, Bray brings versatility to Jayhawks

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior Alex Bray lines up for a drill during practice Friday, Aug. 1, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

Defensive end Alex Bray had seen the Jayhawks up close as much as just about anyone who joined Kansas during the offseason.

He had faced off against KU each of the last two seasons as his previous school, Illinois, split a home-and-home series against the Jayhawks.

“The atmosphere here, it was great,” Bray recalled on Tuesday, thinking back to the 2023 matchup at the old David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, a 34-23 victory for KU. “Everybody here, they’re fast and physical and they never stop. They played all four quarters and I really liked that about this program.”

Even before that Week 2 prime-time battle in 2023, though, Bray was well acquainted with KU and vice versa. The Jayhawks had hosted him at a camp when he was in high school; he was a three-star prospect in the class of 2023 coming out of Chesterfield, Mo.

Later, when Bray entered the portal after two seasons with the Illini, KU presented a promising schematic opportunity for him.

“I know he was playing 4i (lined up to the inside of the offensive tackle) at the last university he was at, and he wanted to play more on the perimeter,” defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu said. “He’s a tough kid, he’s physical, he plays with a great motor and those are always attributes you look for at the defensive end position.”

“I’m happy to be on the edge and be able to show my skill set,” Bray said.

Head coach Lance Leipold has compared Bray to Dylan Wudke, who backed up Jereme Robinson after transferring from Youngstown State last year. And while KU is giving Bray a chance to play a more traditional defensive end role in a four-man front as opposed to playing inside as part of Illinois’ 3-4, it also now has a player with a different body type and background than many of its other defensive ends.

“That creates mismatches on the edge,” said Bray’s fellow transfer end Justice Finkley. “Maybe one play I’m hitting somebody with speed, the next play he comes in and he’s hitting them with power.”

Onatolu pointed out that Bray has gone from playing as a 3- and 4i-technique defensive lineman to “playing 5-, some 9-technique,” or outside the offensive tackle and outside the tight end, respectively. Bray has had to make a transition to playing on the edge, “working on my hands because you have more space to work with.” But having him around brings plenty of value to KU.

“There’s multiple things you can do with a guy like that, that’s his size and 260-something, has been 270 (pounds),” Onatolu said.

Added defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald: “More than anything, it’s valuable that he played college football at a high level and was productive. And so you’re able to move him around in a couple different packages that we have. You’re able to move him around and let him do some things that he’s really good at.”

Bray had a preexisting connection to a current member of the Jayhawks’ staff. KU analyst Joe Dineen Jr., a former All-American linebacker for the Jayhawks, had been working at Illinois during Bray’s freshman season with the Illini.

“Coach Dineen, I would say me and him are very close,” Bray said. “And obviously he’s a great coach, he’s a guy I can go to all the time about anything, scheme or technical. If it isn’t one of the days, it’s almost every day — he’s always out there 30 minutes earlier before practice. Me and the older guys and the younger guys especially are out there working. He’s helped out a lot.”

He said he appreciates that KU demands a lot from its players.

“You don’t know what the standard is going into a new program,” Bray said. “Obviously we got here and they set the standard right away and we understood that. So I feel like that’s one of the biggest things.”

The Jayhawks are going to need a lot from both Bray and his fellow strong-side defensive end Finkley. Bray said he considers his teammate “a great person to learn from.”

“Me and him are boys,” Bray said. “We’re always working. We watch extra film together all the time. We do extra work, especially in the summer on Saturdays when we’d be off, get extra work in pass rushing and stuff, doing extra drills.”

It seems to be paying off so far in fall camp. Onatolu said Bray is the type of player who “goes 100 miles an hour.”

“You can never have enough of those,” Onatolu said.