Head Coach Lance Leipold Talks Spring Practices at Hawk Talk

The Kansas Jayhawks football team wraps up practices and head coach Lance Leipold talks with Brian Hanni at Hawk Talk

The Kansas Jayhawks football team conducted their final practice of the spring season inside David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, where they will host fans on Saturday, April 9th at 1:00 PM CT for their spring preview. The Jayhawks have had a very productive spring session, and this practice was similar to the rest, a step in the right direction. Head coach Lance Leipold conducted Hawk Talk with the voice of the Jayhawks, Brian Hanni. The show lasted an hour and talked about the up-and-coming season.

Jalon Daniels and His Progress in Spring Practice

© Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Coach Leipold fielded questions about the spring session and talked about why it was essential for the growth of this program. One of the first questions was about quarterback Jalon Daniels. Daniels was dealing with a minor injury, and they wanted to ensure he was healthy heading into the regular season. Leipold talked about Daniels spring participation, saying, "Jalon wasn't taking all the reps that I think we talked about that at one other time with the media. That rested up really from a small injury late in the year, and you give Jason some more work, and then Jalon was getting some 11-on-11 work here of late."

Leipold continued talking about Daniels and his confidence, saying,

"That kind of gets us in the later groove of where we were at later in the season has started to kind of come back and to watch Jaylon's confidence and not just confidence in himself, but the others and the command of the offense really getting us the verbiage and everything out is what we want to do. You can see really on all sides. You'll hear me talk about that confidence level."

The Improvement of the Kansas Jayhawks Defense

© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The Kansas Jayhawks coaching staff emphasized the improvement of the defensive side of the football, and they addressed that with the transfer portal. Coach Leipold talked about the transfers, specifically on the defense. One of the first he spoke of was Ohio State transfer Craig Young. Leipold said, "Craig, Young's an outside linebacker that I think right away when we take the field, you're going to notice him. Just physically, he's tall, athletic, and runs extremely well. He's feeling more comfortable in the defense each and every day."

The next transfer he talked about was Eriq Gilyard. Gilyard comes in from UCF and brings a lot of experience. Leipold talked about Gilyard, saying, "Eriq Gilyard is not going to impress you necessarily stature-wise, but he's an extremely steady football player who plays extremely well in the box. He feels very comfortable in what we're doing and very pleased. And he's shown up a lot here the last week and a half."

© Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The final transfer he talked about was Lonnie Phelps. Leipold said, "Lonnie Phelps is a defensive end with a lot of quickness and explosion. And I think he's a different type of player than Kyron Johnson, but he has the ability to give us that pass rusher off the edge that we are hoping for when we recruited him."

The defense is an area where many want to see improvement, and Leipold acknowledged that. He said, "We have to get better on defense. We know that, and I think it was very evident in the early part of spring that we are a better defense. Part of that is I mentioned earlier in our staffing by splitting up the defensive line with two coaches, there's more time, more attention to detail, changing a little bit of philosophy upfront, and becoming a little bit more aggressive, especially on the inside. I think it's really paid off, and it's made it difficult for our offense on many occasions."

Kenny Logan Jr. looks to continue his successful career at Kansas, and he is expected to step up and be a leader. This defense will need that leadership with a younger group of players, and Logan can make a difference with a culture change. Leipold acknowledged Logan's leadership and said, "He has a great personality, and again, as a leader, he continues to step up and do things that we ask of him each and every day. If you would've been out at our first couple practices, it was night and day difference from a year ago. You could see our players moving with confidence and understanding and knowing what we're doing."

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