Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Cobee Bryant Leads Strength of the Kansas Jayhawks Football Defense: The Defensive Backs

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked On Jayhawks, we're previewing the secondary, the defensive backs, corners, safeties. Is this the defense's best position? And how good can Kobe Bryant be? Can he be an all-American level corner? Can he take that jump? Like in Aqib Tlaib, let's discuss on today's show. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:22 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page

Starting point is 00:00:52 where you can like and subscribe to the show. Today's episode, we're going to be talking about the defensive backroom, the corners, the safeties. Can Kobe Bryant take that jump to being maybe an All-American player? We've seen him be All-Big 12 first team now. Can he take another jump forward and maybe even be a day one or day two NFL draft pick by the time the season comes to a close? First of all, this episode of the show is brought to you by Bird Dogs.

Starting point is 00:01:16 Go to birddogs.com slash lockedoncollege or enter promo code lockedoncollege for a free white tech hat with any purchase. You won't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you that. All right, so talking about this defensive back room led by Kobe Bryant here. First of all, you look at the corners with Kobe Bryant. First team all Big 12 last season. First team all Big 12 in the preseason this year.

Starting point is 00:01:41 What can he do for an encore? I think of him as being this ball hawking corner who makes big plays and has big interceptions. He had three of them last year, which is a fine number, but I almost was expecting it when I looked at the numbers at the end of the year, it would be like five or six. Now, can he, can he add more interceptions? Can he be more of a even lockdown guy?

Starting point is 00:02:02 Like our team's just going to avoid throwing his way and that could hurt some of those numbers. But if you do that, if you can be that locked on guy, you basically make it so that you are on an Island and it allows you the rest of the defense. It allows your defense coordinator, Brian Borland to be more creative with helping in other ways, because you basically have condensed the field in getting rid of one area or one wide receiver. So what can he do for an encore? Can he go from being an all-big-12 first-team player to being all-American level? Can you go to being a guy who, you know, this is going to be

Starting point is 00:02:35 your last year because you're going to be a second or third-round NFL draft pick because of the type of production that you had by the end of the year? Those would be good things for Kansas this season. And when I think back to Kobe Bryant last year, you obviously think of end of the year. Those would be good things for Kansas this season. And when I think back to Kobe Bryant last year, you obviously think of some of the highlight plays like the West Virginia sealing the game with that interception, the huge interception he had against Iowa State. But I think back to the Texas Tech game, which might have been his best game,

Starting point is 00:02:56 just in terms of overall coverage and preventing everything from coming his way. So how good can he be? Obviously, you have other starters back with him. Mello Dotson back for another year. How good can he be? He's a junior this year, technically a fourth-year junior after having a COVID year. How good can he be with another year? Kalen Girvin is an extremely trusted option. He's a fifth, sixth-year player in the secondary that can be your third corner. You need him as a nickelback or in a dime package where you need another corner out there.

Starting point is 00:03:25 He can be trusted. And you have good depth at this position. Some guys have been kind of stepping up, whether it's as a redshirted last year, transfers into the program. We'll get into some of that depth here coming up shortly. But you feel good about this corner position specifically. If I was separating the corner and safety,

Starting point is 00:03:41 I actually feel better about corner because of the depth I think is a little bit bigger for me at the corner position than the safety position, but I feel good about both overall, and part of it, too, is you go back to the top of it where it's like, well, Kobe Bryant is in a similar position that Kenny Logan was in from a year ago, so you go back to 2021, Kenny Logan is first team all Big 12, and you go back to 2022, you look at some of the pro football focus 2022, you look at some of the pro football focus numbers, you look at some of the statistics of just total stats. The numbers weren't as good. You look at the award voting at the end of the year. Kenny Logan was still a good player, but

Starting point is 00:04:16 he wasn't Big 12 all team first team, right? Like with Kobe Bryant, are you going to have that season where maybe it dips a little bit, but you're still a really productive, really good player? Or are you going to take the next step? And for Kenny Logan, can you get back have that season where maybe it dips a little bit, but you're still a really productive, really good player, or are you going to take the next step? And for Kenny Logan, can you get back to that place of being all big 12 first team? Can you get back to the place where we're having this conversation of, can you take another step forward into being even more than that, right? Can you be that guy? And I think the talent is in there with both of them that they can do just that.

Starting point is 00:04:41 So it becomes very interesting with Kenny Logan. Can you get back to being all big 12 first team? And if Kobe Bryant lives up to the hype there as being all big 12 first team and Kenny Logan can get back to that place. If you have two big 12, all first team DBs back there with some other guys too, like I mentioned with Dotson and Gervin and OJ Burrows and Marvin Grant, who have starting experience or high level snap experience at a power five level, you're going to feel really good about how that secondary is going to perform this year. And it's funny because I think of this as the strength of the defense. To me, this is the best positional unit on the defense. I do think

Starting point is 00:05:13 defensive tackles is very underrated. I think if JB Brown comes along at linebacker, that could end up being a really good position for you. But this is the strength of your defense. At the end of the day, though, you were still eighth in the Big 12 last year of the 10 teams in yards allowed per pass play. So there still was a lot of room for improvement. Now, not all of that is the secondary. Some of that could be, you know, if you're not getting great pass rush, it's going to be harder to cover guys for longer periods of time. And if you're in more third and three, third and four, third and five,

Starting point is 00:05:41 the defenses that Brian Borland is going to be able to call are just different and they're going to be not as beneficial to stopping the pass because you still have to be prepared for the run. So there are certain things that, you know, that eighth of the 10 teams isn't all about the DBs, right? But clearly that shows you that, yeah, as much as this is the strength of the defense and as good as a lot of these players were, showed a lot of flashes, there still was a lot of downfalls

Starting point is 00:06:03 and a lot of room for improvement from the group overall. And so you're looking at it as, yeah, you have a lot of experience back, but where is that experience going to gain help? I certainly think that the safety position experience is so valuable because you're kind of covering up for other guys in certain ways. OJ Burrows is someone who I think has got better and better really week in and week out over the first two years of his career. Wouldn't be shocked if he breaks out even more as a junior this year. Marvin Grant's kind of more of a situational role player for me where it's like he's a good box safety, good for tackling guys, and you're going to have formations in certain times where you really need that specific thing from Marvin Grant and he'll provide that for you. Kenny Logan's

Starting point is 00:06:39 kind of the mix of the two. Again, can you get back to kind of all Big 12 form? With Kobe Bryant, can you take that next step? I think there's going to be a lot of ask, though, of Melo Dotson in all this. He becomes kind of the X factor. If Kobe Bryant, to me, is the best player from this unit, OJ Burrows is maybe the most underrated for me. Kenny Logan maybe has the most potential to get back to that point where Kobe Bryant is. Melo Dotson's kind of the X factor. As much as if having Kobe Bryant being a lockdown corner orotson's kind of the X factor. As much as if having Kobe Bryant being a lockdown corner or corner that other teams are not throwing the ball to, as much as that does help your defense, if your other corner is just getting toasted every time, then it's kind

Starting point is 00:07:17 of negating it a bit. And yes, because one side would be trusted, you could give extra help. You could double team. You could give extra shading from the safety one way to help it a little bit, but it's just going to kind of negate it because they'll just throw to that one corner that's getting toasted every time. And it's not going to really matter what the other guy is doing. And so with Mello Dotson, you look at him getting better and better each year that he's been at Kansas. He played limited snaps his true freshman year in 2020, the COVID year. 2021 goes up over 300 snaps. 2022, last year, he's been at Kansas. He played limited snaps his true freshman year in 2020, the COVID year. 2021 goes up over 300 snaps. 2022, last year, he's playing over 800 snaps. His tackling grade monumentally goes up from 2021 to 2022,

Starting point is 00:07:53 but still it's in the high 50s, low 60s from last year. Coverage grade goes up a little bit from 2021 to 2022. Still not a great grade, but it went up. The completion percentage against went down from 2021 to 2022. Still was a great grade, but it went up. The completion percentage against went down from 2021 to 2022. Still was in the mid-60s. You like to see that lower, but it was better. The NFL passer rating went down about five points from 2021 to 2022. Still, though, it was above 110.

Starting point is 00:08:16 So, like, you go across the board, it is clear Melo Dotson has continued to improve and been on an upward trajectory that would make you think he's going to continue to improve this year. And I have no reason to believe that won't be the case. Still, though, at the end of the day, if you're giving up a 112 NFL passer rating, 65% completion percentage against you, you need those numbers to go down. And I do think the defensive back is one of the positions where having more experience is helpful. And now Melo Dotson is an experienced player. I do expect Melo Dotson to take a big jump this year, and that'll be a big key in how good this defensive back unit, how good the secondary can be, because you do trust Kobe Bryant. You do trust Kenny Logan,

Starting point is 00:08:52 you know, can Melo Dotson take another step forward too, that makes you feel like you don't really have that weak link in the secondary for this season. I want to talk more about the depth at both of these positions. Will there be any other players that are going to push any of those returning players for playing time, right? Maybe it isn't just, hey, the returning guys slot them into the same amount of time from the year before, and also some future names to keep an eye on here. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by Bird Dogs. Bird Dogs make you look good.

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Starting point is 00:10:22 That's birddogs.com slash locked on college for promo code locked on college for a free white tech hat with your order. That's birddogs.com slash lockedoncollege for promo code. Lockedoncollege for a free white tech hat. You won't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you that. All right. Are any of the other players depth? Anybody that's going to push for playing time here? Or maybe you serp any of the current players that are in there.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Like you said, you're bringing back three corners from last season with Girvin, Dotson, and Bryant. You're bringing back three safeties and Logan Grant and Burroughs that all have starting level experience or, you know, akin to that. And how does it, how do you crack that? If you're, you're some of the depth, I don't know that any of those guys will be unseated as a starter, but could any of these guys be rotational players that I'm about to mention? Could any of these guys maybe like, yeah, like what if Jalen Dye did usurp Marvin Grant? I don't think that'd be crazy. I'm not necessarily expecting it, at least right off the bat.

Starting point is 00:11:10 But yeah, Jalen Dye is one of them. Marvin Grant and Kenny Logan both were dealing with injuries during spring ball. Jalen Dye had to play a bigger role because of that. He stepped up, heard a lot of good things from his coaching staff about how he performed, heard some more good things about him in fall so far. He's someone who I kind of view as being that fourth safety, and he'll be kind of rotating in. He'll play in certain packages, maybe be a special teams guy.

Starting point is 00:11:33 And if there is any injuries, he can make an impact there. The former son of Jermaine Dye, he's still got a couple more years of school even after this year too, so that's a positive there with kind of getting a head start on his career. The safety position outside of that, I do feel good about the depth because that is four guys I think you feel really good about. I think it becomes a little bit more interesting, maybe a little more questions up if there isn't talent there.

Starting point is 00:11:56 But guys like Mason Ellis, who redshirted last year, Taylor Davis is someone I've heard some good things about. There's some other interesting safeties there that add to it and make you feel good about the depth, but I feel even better about it at corner. And a big reason why is Demarius McGee. Demarius McGee, former top 300 recruit in the country, goes to LSU, transfers to Kansas this year.

Starting point is 00:12:17 He's still got a couple more years of play even after this year because he's a redshirt sophomore right now, but heard a lot of great things about the talent and the competitive level that he brings to that corner room. So I think Kalen Girvin has the trust of the coaching staff. I've talked a lot about here. Consistency really does matter, and the coaching staff is going to go with guys they trust.

Starting point is 00:12:37 That's every coaching staff across the country pretty much. It's going to be hard not to see Kalen Girvin. I forget if it was Jordan Peterson who said that with Kalen Girvin, he's like someone you would want to date your daughter, right? Like that shows you the level of trust and that he understands everything they're asking of him. Tough to unseat that. From a talent perspective though, it would not be crazy if Demarius McGee did usurp Kalen Girvin for a certain level, right? Like maybe with Kalen Girvin, the trust level, you feel like he's more of the guy that you can fill in as the third corner when you have three corners on the field. But hypothetically, if there were an injury to Mello Dotson or Kobe Bryant, and you had to start a different corner

Starting point is 00:13:13 on the outside, maybe that's point, that's where the talent level comes into play because you're going up against these bigger receivers, that Demarius McGee becomes the guy in that situation. I don't know, but I mean, I think he's very talented. We've heard a lot of good stuff about it so far that I think he's coming and he's close to, you know, being into that range. At the very least, if you're the fourth corner, you still will get rotational play. You'll still rotate in with fatigued upper players

Starting point is 00:13:36 or injuries or just in certain formations. And I think Demarius McGee can make a big impact on this team, even if his bigger impact would come, I think, in the future years after that. The corner, though, too, man, you feel good about some of the freshman corners, too. Brian Dilworth, someone who redshirted last year who came in as your top recruit from the year prior. Jacoby Davis and Jameel Croft are guys that come in as true freshmen that we've heard really compete their butt off so far. And that gives you a lot to work with where you're talking about like seven guys and

Starting point is 00:14:10 i think the beauty too of this position now and what the staff has done is they have built it up to a point with the depth and the level of competitiveness competitiveness and the top tier guys that they have in the corner room that you don't really have to worry about having where you go back to 2021 and you are playing a freshman Melo Dotson as a starter toward the end of the season. You are playing Kobe Bryant as a freshman as a starter. Well, Jacoby Davis and Jameel Croft and Brian Dilworth and a lot of the guys you're going to have in the class of 2024 because you have those three stud corners that are coming in in the class of 2024. Are guys that are talented enough that, you know, in years past of KU would be like, oh, well, this guy's really talented.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Let's get him on the field right away. At the same point in time, you want to add weight. You want to add strength and speed to their body and get them in the program with Matt Gildersleeve and have them even more comfortable with the scheme and the playbook and everything that the coaching staff is asking of them. You want all of those things. And you didn't have those in recent years with KU. They have now built this room up that's great, like Brian Dilworth and Jacoby Davis and Jamil Carr.

Starting point is 00:15:18 Even though they are talented enough to be playing, that because you have these other guys in front of them, they're not going to play until not just they're ready at all. They're not going to play till they're really ready, that you have enough depth there that you don't just have to throw players in the fire because you think they're talented enough, but you don't really have any other options and you don't have the depth there. So really impressed with what the staff's been able to do

Starting point is 00:15:39 in building out that secondary room and give a lot of credit to Jordan Peterson because of his recruiting ability. And when you look at the splashes they're going to be adding next year too, this room is only going to get better. It's maybe the room that you feel best about, not just for the short term, but when you combine the long term as well. Maybe you'd say quarterback because you have Jalen, Jason Bean for short term, maybe Jalen for another year after this. You have David McCombs for a few years from now, Isaiah Marshall for a year from now. So those would be the positions that you feel best about between combo of right now and the future, probably on this team.

Starting point is 00:16:09 All right, we're going to finish things up with future names to keep an eye on with Locked on Jayhawks and what this group could look like for next year. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Football season's about to kick off at FanDuel, and they're giving you a chance to win all season long because right now, when you bet on the Super Bowl winner, you can get a bonus bet every time they win in the regular season. All you got to do, pull up your app. They've got the little promo. You've got to make sure to opt in, read through all the things. There's a max of the bet and certain details you need to know.

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Starting point is 00:17:24 Alright, so future names to keep an eye on here for KU sportsbook. That's Fanduel.com slash LockedOn. All right, so future names to keep an eye on here for KU football. I mentioned Brian Dilworth as somebody who came in, he was your top recruit, and what would that have been? The class of 2021? Redshirted last year, and or maybe that would have been the class of 2022, whatever.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Redshirted last year and heard really good things about him in spring and so far in fall. Now, I don't know how much he's going to have the opportunity to play this year when you have, you know, those three corners that are returning and Demarius McGee. If you're the fifth corner, it's going to be tough maybe to get on the field consistently. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a bright future and still couldn't make an impact for this year's team. And who knows? Maybe he can even beat out Demarius McGee and be the fourth corner on this team. I guess I wouldn't rule that out either.

Starting point is 00:18:06 But you fast forward to 2024, Melo Dotson will be a senior, and Kobe Bryant would be a senior. But both of them potentially, if they have a good enough year this year, could have the option, and you think of this more for probably Kobe Bryant, at least right now, to go pro at the end of the season. So maybe that's a spot. Regardless, you do have Kalen Girvin gone at the end of the season. So maybe that's a spot. Regardless, you do have Kalen Girvin gone at the end of this season. So there immediately is a chance to move up to maybe corner four,

Starting point is 00:18:30 corner three, just by guys departing. Then again, you do have to overcome, you know, if they bring in anybody via the portal or the incoming freshman guys, you do have to beat them out as well. But then you go to 2025. Dotson's gone. Kobe Bryant's gone for sure. Just like, you you know graduation for

Starting point is 00:18:46 both those obviously Girvin would be gone at this point Demarius McGee would be a redshirt senior but at that point the other starting corner spot would be kind of wide open so you could be starting as a redshirt junior be a rotational guy as a redshirt sophomore maybe get in here or there this year as a redshirt freshman I he's someone that I'm definitely keeping an eye on for those future years because I think once he does hit the field, he'll hit the ground running. And same goes for Jamil Croft. He came in as listed as a safety. So we'll see if he ends up staying at corner or if eventually they move him

Starting point is 00:19:13 back to safety because you know what happens at the end of this year, Kenny Logan gone, Marvin Grant and OJ Burrows will be seniors in 2024. Maybe you eventually move Croft back to safety for 2025. But for now, if he is a corner, whatever he ends up being, he's someone who was a late riser in the recruiting game, probably would have ended up with a higher recruiting ranking if they would have kept adding to it in some way, or if he would have kept just rising up. But he's someone who has been super competitive in camp so far and someone to definitely keep an eye on. And then you also just add the 2024 recruiting class,

Starting point is 00:19:47 that entire class with the DBs you're bringing in, guys to keep an eye on for future names. All right, that's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for our position previews. We're going to get to our KU football offensive depth chart predictions coming up on tomorrow's show. On Friday's show, we'll finish up with the KU football defensive depth chart predictions here with Locked On Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:20:08 See you next time. You can find us wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Cobee Bryant Leads Strength of the Kansas Jayhawks Football Defense: The Defensive Backs

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