Bye-week breakdown: How KU’s defensive and special-teams players are faring this year

Kansas safety Lyrik Rawls (2) celebrates a hit that knocked the ball loose from a West Virginia receiver during the third quarter on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
It’s hard to know what to make of the Kansas defense, even with a fairly large sample size to consider seven games into the 2025 season.
The Jayhawks’ young secondary has looked better than expected for much of the season, but got torn apart in a home loss to Cincinnati. The defensive front continues, as expected, to serve as the strength of the team, and the linebackers have been even better than anticipated, yet KU’s run defense ranks last in the Big 12.
Sometimes the unit shifts wildly from even one quarter or half to the next, as was the case in a pair of recent road games at UCF, a win, and at Texas Tech, a decisive loss.
The search for consistency on this end of the field will define how the Jayhawks close the season. In the meantime, here’s a position-by-position breakdown of what has unfolded thus far — plus, a look at the special-teams units, which have been KU’s most consistent group of all.

Kansas defensive end Dean Miller (5) sweeps in to tackle West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marchiol (8) for a loss on third down during the first quarter on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug
Defensive line
The unit that prides itself on serving as the engine of KU’s defense and featured some of the most returning experience on the team has turned in mixed results thus far this season.
It took until the second half of the 2024 season for Dean Miller to break out at pass-rush end, and he was successful enough that he earned a second-team all-conference honor. He may need to take another step forward after a quiet first half of 2025. Miller was slowed by injury early on, but has had a rather anonymous first six games of action, outside of a seven-tackle, one-sack performance against West Virginia.
At times, he has ceded the limelight to true sophomore Leroy Harris III, a Chattanooga transfer who emerged as the biggest surprise of fall camp and has since proved his worth on the field with a team-high 4.5 sacks. He has also batted down three passes. Dakyus Brinkley has had moments as KU’s No. 3 option at the pass-rush spot.
On the strong side, team captain Justice Finkley and Alex Bray have been moderately effective, with Finkley improving the quality of his play as the season goes on.
Defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald has thrown out some odd fronts, not only to confuse opposing offenses but also clearly to take advantage of the Jayhawks’ depth at defensive tackle, as he will sometimes put three tackles on the field at once. Tommy Dunn Jr., D.J. Withers and Blake Herold have all received roughly equivalent playing time, and Kenean Caldwell, who might be the team’s best run stopper and has already exceeded his season-long snap counts from 2023 and 2024, isn’t far behind.
Dunn and Withers have turned in solid, largely consistent seasons. The high-ceiling redshirt sophomore Herold turned in a brilliant game against Cincinnati in which he became the first quarterback all year to record a sack against the Bearcats’ offensive line and came up with six pressures overall.
Herold’s classmate Marcus Calvin has also worked his way into a fringe rotational role, but Gage Keys has not. A former key contributor in 2023 who transferred to Auburn and then returned to KU, Keys was hurt in fall camp and has only appeared in one game this year.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Kansas linebacker Trey Lathan (4) during an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.
Linebackers
After struggling through plenty of uneven linebacker play in the past, particularly in 2024, the Kansas defense has arrived at a point at which its linebackers are among its most dependable players. Weak-side linebacker Bangally Kamara and middle linebacker Trey Lathan have been the stars of the unit and may well find themselves with all-conference honors at season’s end.
Kamara was the first transfer-portal commitment of the entire offseason cycle when he joined KU from South Carolina last fall. The Jayhawks may not even have known how foundational a player they were getting. On the field, Kamara shows off a level of athleticism and an intensity of pursuit that few others can match. It’s very clear that these skills are unparalleled because KU almost invariably looks noticeably worse when he’s out of the game, due to a targeting suspension, injury or whatever the case may be. Off the field, he’s endeared himself to fans with his hard-fought, high-speed return from what at first seemed to be a severe injury, and the key plays he made in the second half of KU’s victory over UCF. His primary weakness so far is his responsibility for quite a few of the missed tackles that have plagued the Jayhawks this season.
KU knew it was getting Big 12 experience and maturity from Lathan, who previously played at West Virginia, but it might not have anticipated the defensive leadership he provides. Lathan is the Jayhawks’ top tackler on the season with 49 stops and their highest-graded starter on PFF. He also has an interception and a fumble recovery, although the memory of his dropped potential game-sealing pick against Cincinnati might be more salient for KU fans. In any case, he and Kamara have made for a high-level duo.
Jon Jon Kamara, one of KU’s most talented all-around athletes, has been thrown into the fire at times on the weak side and has endured some growing pains while also flashing potential. Logan Brantley played most of the Wagner game with both Kamaras unavailable, and reserve Jayson Gilliom and walk-on Ezra Vedral have appeared occasionally.
It’s worth noting that Bowling Green transfer Joseph Sipp Jr., who came in along with Lathan and was expected to see significant time at middle linebacker, has dealt with an injury since camp and has been seen wearing a large brace on his right arm. Sipp has only played 28 defensive snaps in three games and still has a redshirt available.
It’s not exactly a linebacker position, but KU denotes it as such on its depth chart, so the nickel spot merits mentioning here. The Jayhawks have shifted to using more of a fifth defensive back under McDonald as opposed to the third linebacker they employed under previous coordinator Brian Borland. Safety Mason Ellis was off to a promising start in that role before suffering an injury against West Virginia, and cornerback Syeed Gibbs, who is strong in run support, replaced him reasonably well before he too got hurt against Cincinnati. That has in turn required KU to use Jalen Todd, arguably its best cornerback, in the nickel role.

Kansas defensive back Jalen Todd swoops in to tackle West Virginia wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III (24) on a punt return during the first quarter on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Cornerbacks
A group that entered the season as a potential area of concern for KU, with extremely young players occupying three of its top four spots, has for the most part remained pretty inconspicuous. That’s with the extremely glaring exception of one very poor game against Cincinnati in which the Bearcats had multiple receivers open on seemingly every play and Brendan Sorsby threw for 388 yards and two touchdowns without much difficulty.
But on the whole, Todd and Austin Alexander have acquitted themselves fairly well for second-year players thrust into extended action.
Teams have generally thrown away from Todd, who since the start of Big 12 play has allowed just seven catches for 57 yards and was not targeted once at Texas Tech. Alexander, who was starting early in the year primarily because of D.J. Graham II’s ongoing recovery from nerve damage he was dealing with in fall camp, has encountered some more bumps in the road. He still hasn’t given up a touchdown through the air and made a game-saving pass breakup against UCF, but he’s also responsible for 11 missed tackles. Graham, a sixth-year senior who provides a veteran presence has worked his way back now, and all three players are starting due to the aforementioned nickel issues. It’s not clear who will remain in the lineup between Alexander and Graham when Ellis and/or Gibbs return.
That trio accounts for the vast majority of KU’s snaps at cornerback, although Alabama transfer Jahlil Hurley has done well in periodic appearances on the outside.

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
Believe it or not, the Dye brothers — safeties Devin and Jalen — are KU’s two highest-graded regular contributors on defense, and second and third on the team overall behind quarterback Jalon Daniels. After enduring injury-plagued 2024 seasons, they have both found themselves in the right places at the right times throughout 2025, such as when Jalen Dye zoomed untouched for a safety blitz for a game-changing turnover at UCF, or when Devin Dye picked off an errant throw against Fresno State. Neither one is a starter, and in fact Devin Dye got injured against the Knights, but both have made the most of their opportunities this year.
The actual starters, Taylor Davis and Lyrik Rawls, have been relied upon quite heavily, especially Rawls, who has been the one constant as various players at the position have dealt with injuries. Rawls has been a bit of a boom-or-bust player in coverage — he’s another player who allowed basically nothing through the air for most of the year, only to give up seven catches for 128 yards on seven targets against Cincinnati — but he’s a good tackler with 47 tackles on the year. Davis is growing into a more consistent starting role after emerging as a starter in late 2024, and just came down with his first interception at Texas Tech.
This is not the deepest position on KU’s roster, and Auburn transfer Laquan Robinson, primarily a special-teams player, has also been injured of late, depriving the Jayhawks of another option.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Kansas place kicker Laith Marjan (99) during an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Columbia, Mo.
Special teams
KU has assembled what is quite clearly its best set of specialists of the Lance Leipold era and one of the best in its recent history. The Jayhawks’ special-teams performance this season has been a virtually unqualified bright spot, and time will tell if it helps separate KU at key moments down the stretch, in the opposite fashion from how it has separated other teams from KU in years past.
South Alabama transfer kicker Laith Marjan was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist last season and at this juncture is well on his way to additional recognition as a senior. Entering Saturday, Marjan was one of four kickers in the nation with a perfect percentage on at least 10 field-goal attempts. That includes a game against UCF during which he played hurt, and a career-long 55-yarder before halftime against Texas Tech. He is also flawless on extra points and has achieved touchbacks on 29 of 42 kickoffs, with one kick out of bounds.
Freshman walk-on Dane Efird made a point-after attempt against Wagner and will likely be in position to compete for the starting job next season.
At punter, Finn Lappin continues to post a per-punt average that, if he can continue it through the end of the season, will go down as a program record. (Granted, KU might not actually have to punt enough that Lappin qualifies for the record books.) To this point, Lappin has punted 27 times for an average of 45.8 yards with nine downed inside the 20-yard line and zero touchbacks. Grayden Addison filled in for one game when he was hurt and continues to serve as the holder on placekicks.
The return game has provided a bit of a spark. True freshman Tate Nagy has been exciting, if occasionally nerve-racking, to watch on punt returns. He has already returned 14 for an average of about eight yards after KU as a team returned eight all last season, and he has had returns of 16, 20, 21 and 30 yards along the way to bolster the Jayhawks’ field position. Emmanuel Henderson Jr. has shown off his speed as a kick returner, particularly in one game against West Virginia in which he brought back one kick to midfield and another for a touchdown.
Emory Duggar has served as KU’s long snapper throughout the season.
The Jayhawks have had a reasonably uneventful year to this point on punt and kick coverage. They gave up an ugly punt-return touchdown to Cincinnati that got called back due to a penalty, and Texas Tech did bring back one punt 36 yards. Otherwise, they haven’t conceded much. Tommy Dunn Jr. blocked an extra point against Missouri.