LAWRENCE — In the early days of fall camp, Brian Borland outlined a point of emphasis for Kansas football’s defense.

Borland, the Jayhawks’ defensive coordinator, highlighted a desire to not just be hungry for more improvement, but starve for it. Given the experience the team brought back from last season’s squad, there’s an opportunity to take the detail they possess schematically to another level. Given the talent of some of the younger players on the roster, there’s the added benefit of being able to bring them along to the point they could be able to be effective on the field.

But if Kansas is going to further unlock its potential on this side of the ball, its ability to rush the passer can’t be an afterthought — both in its own program and for opposing offenses. In addition to senior defensive end Jereme Robinson, there needs to be a threat or combination of threats that can cause opposing quarterbacks fits. And as the initial stretch of practices of fall camp have unfolded, the Jayhawks’ plan for 2024 is starting to formalize.

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“I really like our (defensive end) position,” Borland said Aug. 1. “I know Jereme Robinson’s probably the only guy with a ton of experience, but if you looked at — if you just like watch our defensive end as a group doing things, man we’re longer, we’re more athletic probably than we ever have been overall from top to bottom. So, I do feel like there is good competition for some of those other spots, some playing time.”

Asked a handful of days later about who could line up opposite Robinson, head coach Lance Leipold rattled off a group of players. The list started with redshirt junior defensive end Dean Miller, a potential breakout candidate after Austin Booker’s decision to turn pro after the 2023 campaign. But Leipold, who noted Miller continues to improve, didn’t stop there.

Borland talked about their intention to rotate multiple guys in at defensive end each game, and soon after Miller’s name got brought up Leipold pointed toward redshirt senior defensive end Dylan Wudke. Wudke, who transferred up to the FBS level from FCS-level Youngstown State, is someone Leipold mentioned has being hampered by a hamstring injury in the spring. Now, though, Wudke is starting to show up on the field.

The competition also includes redshirt freshman defensive end Bai Jobe, a Michigan State transfer who’s been slowed by a hand injury but was at practice Monday. There’s also redshirt senior defensive lineman Ronald McGee, who missed last season due to injury, and redshirt sophomore defensive end Cole Petrus. There are also a pair of freshman defensive ends in DJ Warner and Dakyus Brinkley.

“We can be really good,” Robinson said about the whole defensive line after the first fall camp practice in late July. “We’ve got most of — including the depth, we have, like, a lot more experience. So, most of these guys have been on those past year teams and know what to do, know what we have problems in. So, yeah, we’ve got a lot of experience.”

It could be challenging for Warner and Brinkley to earn roles so soon in their college careers. Speaking generally about younger players taking that step, Borland noted it’ll take consistency over time and more than talent alone. It could be something where that level of snaps played in games doesn’t happen until deep into the season — or in another season entirely.

But both Warner and Brinkley have made impressions early, physically and otherwise, at a position of need as Kansas chases a Big 12 Conference championship this year. Both certainly arrived with talent as 247Sports Composite four-star prospects out of high school. And Robinson, the team’s leading returner in sacks with Booker off to the NFL, did not hold back in his praise for Warner.

“Oh my gosh, DJ Warner, he’s a freak, man,” Robinson said. “He has that natural ability to pass rush. He can bend off the edge. He can get there. He can show that he can get some good playing time this year.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football's pass rush plan for 2024 is starting to take shape