Kansas defensive tackle Blake Herold (94) receives the applause from the crowd following a sack during the third quarter on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

The 2025 season was an inconsistent one for Kansas’ defense.

Occasional moments of greatness, like a game-saving goal-line stand against UCF, were offset by entire games in which KU found itself essentially unable to get a stop at any point against teams such as Cincinnati, Kansas State or Iowa State.

And then when KU did regroup late in the year for strong showings against the likes of Arizona and Utah, it found itself undone by its offense’s lack of complementary football.

The Jayhawks were young at some positions, particularly in the secondary. But they have a lot of work to do this offseason, especially after the portal opens on Jan. 2, to account for graduations on the defensive line and transfer departures at linebacker and safety.

Here’s a deeper look at where KU’s personnel stands at each defensive position. Note that this is all subject to change until the portal officially closes on Jan. 16.

photo by: Nathan Friedman/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive end Dakyus Brinkley works to disrupt a pass during the game against Iowa State on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Ames, Iowa.

Defensive line: The mainstays of KU’s interior defensive line, players like Tommy Dunn Jr., D.J. Withers and Kenean Caldwell, are gone after long and distinguished careers with the Jayhawks. That will give this group a decidedly different look at tackle after it was marked by consistency for several years.

The good news for the Jayhawks is that they return Blake Herold, one of the most consistently productive high school players KU has recruited during head coach Lance Leipold’s tenure, and his classmate Marcus Calvin, who acquitted himself well as a role player in 2025. They also already have a transfer in the fold, Jibriel Conde, whom they were able to sign before the main portal window even opened because he came from a Division II school (Grand Valley State).

However, KU needs to deploy more defensive tackles than ever before if it wants to continue to use multiple fronts — including some five-man — as it did in D.K. McDonald’s first season at defensive coordinator. Even if Josiah “Cheese” Hammond is able to work his way into the back end of the rotation as a redshirt freshman, the Jayhawks would need two more transfers to get to six viable options.

At defensive end, KU loses its two nominal starters in Dean Miller and Justice Finkley but has excellent pieces in place. On the weak side are Leroy Harris III, a revelation in 2025 who finished with 31 tackles, 4.5 sacks and eight passes defensed, and Dakyus Brinkley, a former highly touted recruit who earned increased playing time over the course of his redshirt freshman season and was involved in sacks on consecutive plays against Arizona. On the strong side is Alex Bray, who arrived at KU last summer and backed up Finkley capably.

How the Jayhawks choose to proceed will depend on their confidence in those players, and there are some questions with the rest of the personnel: How will Dylan Brooks come back from missing two straight years due to injuries? Is Caleb Redd ready for prime time after 23 snaps in two seasons at two different schools? Can Adrian Holley or Garrett Martin make an impact?

Whatever the case, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Jayhawks add a run stopper to pair with Bray or challenge him for the top spot on the strong side — unless they want to slide someone like Brinkley over there. He did spend time on working that side last spring.

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

Kansas linebacker Trey Lathan puts pressure on Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson during the game at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025 in Lawrence.

Linebackers: The opportunity to return leading tackler Trey Lathan, who had a stellar season after transferring from West Virginia, makes this position better situated than most on KU’s roster. Throw in what is essentially a do-over for Joseph Sipp Jr. — the former first-team All-MAC linebacker at Bowling Green suffered an arm injury in training camp and never saw much playing time in what Leipold called a “frustrating year” — and there’s plenty of reason for optimism at middle linebacker.

Weak-side linebacker, however, has rapidly emerged as one of the team’s most dire needs. Jon Jon Kamara, one of the best pure athletes on the roster who experienced some growing pains in his first extended action in 2025, looked poised to take over from Bangally Kamara in 2026 but announced plans to enter the portal. JaCorey Stewart and Logan Brantley are also leaving Lawrence. The Jayhawks are high on Malachi Curvey and have two promising freshmen coming in, but will likely need at least two experienced players at this position. Their portal recruiting from last offseason provides some reason to believe they will evaluate potential options well at this spot.

photo by: Jesus Portillo/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas cornerback Jalen Todd is pictured during a game against Arizona on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz.

Cornerbacks: Outside of Jalen Todd, who was largely quite solid in his first season as a starter (as a true sophomore), this position group had a tough go of it in 2025. No cornerback intercepted a pass all season for KU and several opposing quarterbacks picked apart the secondary with ease.

Improvement in this realm will rely a lot more on offseason development than player acquisition, because Todd, Austin Alexander, Syeed Gibbs and Jahlil Hurley, who all saw time at cornerback this year — some both at outside corner and nickel — are eligible to return. KU could look to add more experience with Jameel Croft Jr.’s departure, but it’s already bringing in two freshmen (Trey Brown and Robert Reddick) compared to just one graduating senior (D.J. Graham II).

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

Cincinnati tight end Joe Royer holds on to a catch after Kansas safety Taylor Davis makes a hard tackle at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.

Safeties: Lyrik Rawls made one of KU’s more surprising portal-entry announcements to this point on Dec. 11. He is, so far, the only starter from the 2025 team to leave, and he was a pretty solid one, both in terms of on-field leadership (he served twice as a rotational captain) and production (72 tackles, one interception).

Taylor Davis, who started alongside Rawls, is back, but in his first full season as a contributor he graded out poorly at a 56.2 on Pro Football Focus, including 53.9 in coverage. Mason Ellis began the 2025 season as the starter at KU’s newly enacted fifth defensive back spot, but he battled injuries again and went back to serving as a true safety when he returned. KU will have to determine his ideal positional fit for his final season as a Jayhawk (and, correspondingly, whether Todd returns to outside corner).

The depth at the position is minimal as of now. Both Dye brothers graduated, and Damani Maxson and Laquan Robinson will transfer, leaving Darrion Jones and Brandon Schmelzle from the 2025 class (and no safeties in 2026 after JJ Dunnigan flipped to Miami). This is another spot at which KU will need to invest heavily in multiple starting-caliber or at least rotational players.

Specialists: KU did an excellent job bolstering its special teams last offseason with Laith Marjan and Finn Lappin, but both went through senior day, and the kicker and punter spots are vacant again. Punter is a particularly glaring need with Efren Jasso transferring — he was a late-summer addition last offseason from Prairie View A&M — and longtime backup Grayden Addison graduating. The Jayhawks have a walk-on punter committed in Ben Shipley from Houston but will surely add more.

At kicker, KU returns Dane Efird, who told the Journal-World before joining the Jayhawks that the coaching staff had essentially pitched him on the idea of learning from Marjan as a freshman and potentially earning the starting spot and a scholarship his second year in the program. He’ll likely face at least some sort of competition.

Hollis Moeller is the incumbent at long snapper with Emory Duggar’s graduation. Tate Nagy handled punt-return duties well as a true freshman and even brought back a few kicks, so he should be well prepared to contribute there going forward.