Helmet tape at camp the latest indicator of how much first-year Kansas football coach Lance Leipold cares about players

By Matt Tait     Aug 10, 2021

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Kansas football coach Lance Leipold has added first names to the strip of tape on the helmets at KU's preseason camp this year. (Photo courtesy of Kansas Athletics)

First-year Kansas football coach Lance Leipold has put a new spin on preseason camp that further illustrates how — and why — he cares about the players he coaches.

Tape across the top of a helmet with a player’s name written in a big, bold Sharpie is nothing new to KU camp.

But the fact that Leipold has chosen to put first names on the helmets this year is different. Don’t worry. The last names are still there, too. They’re just on the back now, giving the KU coaching staff three different opportunities to get a player’s attention — first name, last name and jersey number.

There’s also the good, old-fashioned, “Hey!” too, but that does not appear to be the favored choice among the current Kansas coaches.

The first-name option is, and it serves two purposes.

First, for Leipold and those other coaches and staff members who are still new to the program the approach provides an easy way to absorb and process the 100-plus new names that have been thrown at them.

Remember, this staff had limited time in the offseason and also did not have spring football to get acquainted with the new players.

The second purposes gets right to the heart of who Leipold is as a football coach and a man.

He’s demanding, intense and expects to get maximum effort at all times without having to beg for it. Calling these players by their given names — what their friends, family members and loved ones call them — increases the odds of that happening.

The tape itself does not do anything, of course. But calling a kid Jalon or Mason, Malcolm or Luke, might. If nothing else, it shows these players that Leipold believes they’re worth getting to know as people and football players.

Super senior Kyron Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound defensive end from Arlington, Texas, who is going through his fifth KU football camp, is the only Kyron on the roster that was handed out at the start of camp and one of two Johnsons on the team.

That makes it easier. But there is some potential for a few mix-ups. The two-tape approach makes those easier to navigate, too.

At Monday’s practice, senior QB Miles Fallin and senior fullback Ben Miles were working together on a ball security drill and whether they were coming or going, you could read Miles on one of their helmets. Throw QB Miles Kendrick into the mix, too, and you’ve got a name that works either way for a few Jayhawks.

But Johnson said it’s clear that the entire coaching staff appreciates and follows Leipold’s approach to learning more about these players than a name or a number.

“I feel like that’s important to him,” Johnson told the Journal-World of Leipold’s approach. “I feel like he wants to get to know everybody individually because when he first got here he literally sat down with each and every one of us and talked to us all.”

That might not lead to that extra yard on a key fourth down or a better angle in pursuit of a ball carrier on Saturdays. But what if it does?

The signs that Leipold is the type of coach that truly cares about the people he surrounds himself with have been easy to spot since he was hired back in May.

Several staff members followed him from Buffalo to Lawrence.

Some of those colleagues have been with him for much of his career as a head coach, if not longer.

A handful of Buffalo players — talented, proven players — also chose to join Leipold at KU after first entering the transfer portal.

And then there were the words from those who know him. From first-year KU AD Travis Goff to former KU coaches Mark Mangino and Glen Mason, the early read on Leipold’s people skills as “a regular guy” scored high marks. Heck, last week at practice, I asked Todd Reesing what he thought of the new KU coach and he, too, was impressed and said he was a very likable guy.

A piece of tape with a few letters scribbled onto it might not appear to add much to that list. But to his players, it means an awful lot.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.