If the Kansas defensive backs need to be convinced of the potential benefits of playing more aggressive coverage, beginning on Saturday against Arizona State, they need only look at their own body of work for evidence.
On one particular snap in Friday’s loss to Missouri, cornerback Austin Alexander played stifling defense on a wide receiver. It was such good work that defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald added it to his teach tape.
The problem is that in many ways it is the exception, not the rule, because dating back to last season, KU’s cornerbacks and safeties have struggled with giving receivers far too much space at the line of scrimmage, allowing for the sort of quick and easy completions of which Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons got far too many on his way to 292 yards and three touchdowns.
So McDonald has to instill in his players sufficient confidence to press opposing wideouts, in part by showing them that they have already done so with positive results.
“I just brought him in and showed him and said, ‘This is you, big dog,'” McDonald said of Alexander. “‘You just got to keep doing some more of that. You’ll be all right, you’ll be fine and we’ll start to make plays.'”
The awareness of this issue is clearly beginning to trickle down to the players themselves. Safety Corey Gordon said that it isn’t exactly that he and his teammates are being too conservative, but they “kind of play off a lot.”
“As defensive backs, we need to go get in people’s (faces), be aggressive and compete and then make those guys throw shots over our head,” Gordon said. “… Then we’ll adjust. So we’re going to be getting in guys’ (faces) and trying to compete.”
Looking back on the inconsistency of KU’s pass defense, it would be easy to place some of the responsibility on KU’s defensive line, which did not record a sack on Friday. But Simmons was delivering the ball with such swiftness, and meeting such little resistance as he attempted to pick out his targets, as to render some of the Jayhawks’ top defensive players in the trenches completely moot.
“So many people just think, ‘Hey, the rush isn’t doing good,’ and that’s not the case,” McDonald said. “You got to make a quarterback get to his second look, third look and by that time, we believe our ends and our defensive tackles can get there, but I think we did a poor job of locking on guys and getting to that second and third look, and that’s been the emphasis that we’ve been working on so far this week.”
The question is how much of that emphasis has to do with the scheme McDonald chooses to deploy. McDonald said there’s some work KU can do in that regard, “but there always comes a point where hey, you’re on scholarship to cover a guy. Let’s go cover.”
“Our corners are good corners, and they got to believe that, and they got to stress that, and they got to have confidence in that,” he added.
Their confidence will surely be tested on Saturday against what looks like one of the Big 12’s best wide-receiver duos. Boston College transfer Reed Harris, who is 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, caught nine passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns in Arizona State’s loss to Texas A&M, after six passes for 137 yards and a score against Morgan State the previous week.
“(He) made a ton of plays,” KU coach Lance Leipold said. “He’s an impressive player. They’ve got a couple others that go with him. (Omarion) Miller, another transfer, does a great job.”
Miller has a team-high 17 catches in the early stages of this season, although nine of those against A&M went for just 29 yards. The Colorado transfer showed flashes his first two seasons with the Buffaloes before breaking out for 808 yards and eight touchdowns in 2025.
“Yeah, they’re nice,” Alexander said.
Throw in a tricky scheme enacted by offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo and the KU defensive backs will have their work cut out for them as they look to take a step forward.
“They give you so many different looks,” Gordon said. “You got to have your eyes right … He’s really aggressive and has a good game style and game play. So they’re going to definitely challenge us in the back end and we look forward to the challenge this week.”
Kansas cornerback Austin Alexander runs the ball for a touchdown after recovering a blocked Missouri field goal attempt during the first half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in Lawrence.
Missouri running back Jamal Roberts (20) attempts to slip past Kansas cornerback Elijah Cannon (10) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Lawrence.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
AP Photo/Colin E. Braley