Watch the first defensive snap of any Kansas football game from the Lance Leipold era and you’ll almost invariably see Nos. 1 and 30 anchoring the defense.
Safety Kenny Logan Jr. has started in 33 of Leipold’s 35 games at KU; linebacker Rich Miller has started 32. Both are fifth-year seniors, longtime fixtures and consistent contributors who either (in Logan’s case) saw what KU football was like before Leipold’s arrival or (in Miller’s) saw what Leipold and his staff were like before they made the jump from Buffalo.
They now have just one game left to play in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. That would be the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State Saturday night.
“I always had a plan on changing the program, being part of the change,” Logan said Wednesday, “so just being able to be here through the ups, the downs, the ugly, and then just to be able to see where this program is going and just to see where this program has risen to is definitely exciting and kind of sad to see. My last time in the old Booth.”
He and Miller are two of the 19 Jayhawks who will be honored as part of Saturday’s Senior Day festivities. (The exact list is still being finalized.) The pair has witnessed the KU defense’s growth from one of the perennial worst units in all of college football, including as recently as last year, to a ball-hawking, boom-or-bust, periodically stingy group that at the very least gives its dynamic offense a chance in every game.
“It shows me that people can change,” Miller said Wednesday. “If anything, people can change. Because when I first got here, a lot of the people, they didn’t know their own capabilities, they didn’t know what they were capable of. Now everybody just understands how far they could possibly go and that it’s ultimately up to them to go that far.”
Miller followed Leipold, defensive coordinator Brian Borland and linebackers coach Chris Simpson, among other assistants, from Buffalo. The reliable middle linebacker is one of several former Bulls on the roster, including center Mike Novitsky; Leipold credited the pair earlier this week with helping “bridge the gap” from his previous school. (Dre Doiron, Nolan Gorczyca, Dylan McDuffie, Ronald McGee, Michael Ford Jr. and Trevor Wilson also spent time at Buffalo; most have eligibility remaining.)
Logan, meanwhile, was recruited to KU by former coach Les Miles but stuck around in Lawrence after playing in 21 games and starting eight his two years under Miles. He has now played in more total games (55) than anyone else on the Jayhawks’ roster, and is also the program’s all-time leader for tackles by a defensive back (361), after passing LeRoy Irvin during the Iowa State game earlier this month.
He said his favorite memories of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium — which will also be transformed by construction shortly after the Jayhawks conclude their regular season — are twofold. For one, he looks back fondly on the touchdowns he’s scored, a kick return against Iowa State in 2020 and an interception return to lift KU into the lead against BYU earlier this year. But he also values the fans, whom he has been known to rile up on third downs whenever possible.
“Just that little tradition I started to create, it’s a great feeling just to see how impactful they are, how dedicated they are to this team,” Logan said.
The Jayhawks will need all the help they can get from their sellout crowd when the Wildcats come to town; they would love to disrupt Kansas State’s long-running dominance in the in-state rivalry.
Miller, who said he has caught himself reminiscing this week, stayed in the moment long enough to tell his teammates Wednesday, “You got to get carried off this field this game, you know what I’m saying?”
“Don’t leave this field without someone feeling you, because they’re going to give us all they got, I know they are,” Miller told reporters. “They have every single time I played them. They always play with a little extra edge and now, hopefully, we can match that.”
Kansas safety Kenny Logan Jr. gets the crowd fired up for a third down against Oklahoma Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, in Lawrence.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World