Lance Leipold explains how Kansas will be better in year two

Kansas football had a long way to go when Lance Leipold took over late in the coaching carousel cycle, leaving him a short window to transition everything about the program into his image of what success looks like in college football. While the Jayhawks struggled to a 2-10 record, a first-half lead over Oklahoma and late-season win over Texas built some much-needed momentum.

During Big 12 media day, Lance Leipold spoke at length with reporters about how he plans to use the addition time over the spring and summer heading into the fall to create a more fluid look and build on early progress.

“I think so, again, especially on the defensive side,” said Leipold. “We were asking guys that were outside linebackers to become defensive ends.

“I think part of the things we’ve done in recruiting is tried to recruit a little bit more to that and what we were going to be, again, trying to — that limited time and without a football, without spring ball, what are we going to be, where do we hang our hat, what are we going to try to be good at offensively, I think we’ve been able to answer some of those questions and find ways to be more multiple on each side. But with that, it’s still going to come down to fundamental execution.”

Lance Leipold on progress at Kansas

While moral victories and one conference win will not gain Lance Leipold favor for long, it does provide him with enough attention to showcase whether he can propel Kansas on another step forward in 2022 and beyond. Before he does that however, he wants to make sure everyone knows the biggest areas of improvement in the program beyond the end results and scoreboard updates.

“On those notes, and we talked a lot about the time frame, and I understand that, but when you look back at — some things I think kind of get lost in the shuffle,” said Leipold. “We went from one of the most penalized teams in the Big 12 to being one of the least penalized teams in the country. And that says a lot about the job our assistants and our players did, and I think also the job we did in ball security and some of those things.

“Now, the next thing you do is continue to develop your playmakers, find ways to be more diverse on both sides of the ball, and I look forward to that in year two.”