Lance Leipold on scheduling Wagner, pleased with special teams

Kansas will play Wagner College for the first time in program history when the two teams meet on Friday night in Lawrence. Lance Leipold spoke with the media ahead of the Jayhawks’ Week 1 matchup, detailing how Kansas ended up scheduling Wagner, what he saw from D.K. McDonald’s defense against Fresno State, and the overall success of the special teams unit.

Small connection to Wagner

Stephen Matos worked under Lance Leipold as an offensive analyst at Kansas and a graduate assistant at Buffalo. Matos went on to be Wagner’s offensive coordinator in the 2023 season and is now back at Kansas as an analyst. Leipold said he doesn’t have a relationship with anyone on Wagner’s staff, but the game fit Kansas’ scheduling.

“We looked at our FCS scheduling and, you know, some of those northeast schools had expanded their games and again, it was something that kind of fit into the opportunities, so we took advantage of it,” Leipold said. “And again, the Friday night is something that, because of the holiday weekend, we thought would be the best way to fit it in as well.”

Wagner is in a similar situation as Fresno State, with a lot of unknowns amidst a new coaching staff. Leipold said Kansas might have to figure out what the Seahawks’ identity will be throughout the early stages of the game.

“You’re trying to find other ways to find out what identity would be,” Leipold said. “It’s a program, you know, being in Staten Island that doesn’t get a ton of coverage like many of us are fortunate to have. So it’s hard to dig up things that are happening daily in the program and things like that. So again, you got to be sound early in the game, find out what the identity of their game plan is going to be on both sides of the ball and then go play.”

Leipold pleased with special teams

The Jayhawks only had one misstep in the special teams game, with Emmanuel Henderson Jr. pressing to make a play on the opening kickoff that resulted in Kansas starting its drive at its 14. Leipold thought things were solid outside of that, praising Tate Nagy’s composure in punt return.

“I think Emmanuel’s excited, tried to make something happen. Kind of caught the kickoff, you know, momentum going a little bit backwards, and probably didn’t get it, didn’t block it as well as we needed to,” Leipold said. “But I thought, of course, for a true freshman in his first game, Tate Nagy did a very nice job in the punt return game for us. Made good decisions, had one return, something to build upon.”

Both specialists did their job as well. Finn Lappin flipped the field with two punts, including a 61-yard bomb that pinned Fresno State at its four-yard-line. Laith Marjan knocked in his lone field goal from 49 yards, a try that had plenty of distance.

“I thought Finn Lappin did a very nice job. Laith is probably everything we’d hoped he would be as well, and what he has shown since he’s been here in consistency,” Leipold said. “But both those guys, I thought, had excellent days. And again, we want that to continue.”

McDonald mixed up personnel

In McDonald’s first game as defensive coordinator, the multiplicity of defensive formations was something that stood out. Kansas did a good job mixing things up along the defensive line with different types of fronts and stunts. Lance Leipold said he hopes the defense is becoming like offense in terms of making communication difficult for the opponent.

“We’ve used some substitutions, still rotating a lot of guys given again, the looks, the different movements, things like that, all make things difficult in communication,” Leipold said. “Much like what we are on offense, hopefully we’re becoming a little bit of that on defense, a little bit more than we have been in the past. Giving different looks, anticipating where people are coming from, trying to mix, you know, cause communication gaps, protection breakdowns, all those type of things.”

Communication becomes all the more important with the different things that the defense is trying to do. It’s been at the forefront of D.K. McDonald’s coaching, and Leipold said he’s pleased where the group is trending.

“The thing DK has done a nice job of is demanding communication with our players,” Leipold said. “And though it still has to improve, our guys are talking more on the field and they’re communicating and making sure that we all know what’s going on and things. And I really like where that defense is trending.”