What’s the next step for Kansas corner Cobee Bryant, after he earned first-team all-conference honors in Kansas’ resurgent 2022 football season?
“I’m going to shock the world again like always,” he said Sunday. “Me and the DB group.”
Bryant provided plenty of flashy plays for the Jayhawks in his sophomore season, none more prominent than a game-sealing overtime interception against West Virginia in KU’s conference opener, as he finished the season with three picks, 11 pass breakups and a forced fumble.
But that wasn’t enough by any means to carry the team’s pass defense, which allowed an average of 260.2 yards per game and struggled against the Big 12 Conference’s high-flying offenses. Bryant, the accounts of teammates and coaches suggest, is now taking it upon himself to improve the unit via a two-pronged approach.
For one thing, defensive pass game coordinator Jordan Peterson said, he’s moving beyond his natural strengths in press and man defense toward “completely understanding the big picture of the coverage,” in order to “help him make consistently better decisions on when to be overly aggressive, because he’s aggressive by nature.” Redshirt senior Kalon Gervin said of Bryant, “He got so much room to get better — he’s that good, and he got so much room.”
“He’s taken more notes than ever, he’s practicing harder than ever,” Peterson said, “he’s leading the group as far as being able to be a little more vocal than he is typically.”
That’s the second facet of Bryant’s growth: Whereas he was previously known by his teammates for being talkative in a jokey way, junior Mello Dotson said, “coming into camp, his whole demeanor changed.”
“I remember late night, two days or the day before camp, we got a text message in our corners group chat,” Dotson said, “He making sure everybody step up, everybody listen in meetings, taking notes. He sent out a text like, ‘We got to step it up this year.'”
This new attitude isn’t borne of a sudden self-importance on the part of the preseason all-Big 12 selection, Gervin said.
“We know how to keep him humble,” Gervin said, “but he’s a humble guy already.”
Bryant’s increasing mentorship, as he segues into becoming an upperclassman is especially crucial with young players joining the unit in freshmen Jameel Croft and Jacoby Davis, plus the continued growth of redshirt freshman Brian Dilworth.
“I’m coming out of my comfort zone now, talking to DBs, making them work harder,” Bryant said. “Anything they do wrong, I’m telling them how to work to get better as a DB player.”
Kansas junior Cobee Bryant runs through drills during the first day of Fall Camp on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.
Kansas cornerbacks Cobee Bryant (2) and Kwinton Lassiter (8) during Fall Camp on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant waits to reel in a pass during a drill on Aug. 6, 2023.
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
Henry Greenstein/Journal-World photo