Chris Simpson pleased with depth of linebacker room, transfer acquisitions

Kansas’ linebacker room will have a different look in 2025 after Cornell Wheeler and JB Brown, the guys who played the majority of the reps in 2024, both graduated. Linebackers coach Chris Simpson is excited about the depth at the position, bringing in three transfers, having young guys ready to take the next step, and returning experienced player Jayson Gilliom.

Simpson spoke to the media on Wednesday, discussing the depth in the room, what the three transfers bring to the table, and how going against Kansas’ offense helps prepare the defense’s discipline.

‘Really excited about the depth’

There are six linebackers fighting for four spots in the two-deep if Kansas plays in a two-linebacker set. Simpson is excited about the depth in the room, saying they feel good about going “three deep” and no one’s position on the depth chart is set in stone.

“I don’t know if anything’s been defined yet in terms of depth—where the ones, twos, threes, all that stuff lies,” Simpson said. “Everybody’s getting opportunities right now. Everybody’s getting a fair share of reps. It’ll start to weed itself out here in the days to come. But right now, I’m really excited about the depth and think we have a lot of guys that can help us win ball games.”

In 2024, Kansas relied on Wheeler and Brown to play the majority of the reps. Simpson said the Jayhawks will need to find players they can rely upon in crunch time, but there’s not much of a drop off across the board currently.

“I just feel like there’s probably not much of a drop-off right now, which is good for us, I think.” Simpson said. “There’s not much of a drop-off between this guy and that guy. And who those guys are, I don’t even know right now. But they all have things they’re really good at and they excel at, and they all have things they’ve got to work at just the same.”

Each transfer LB brings something different to the table

Kansas brought in three linebacker transfers– Bangally Kamara from South Carolina, Joseph Sipp from Bowling Green, and Trey Lathan from West Virginia. Each one of them does something different to impact Kansas’ defense.

The thing that easily stands out about Kamara is his athleticism. Simpson said he noticed it right away and he’s excited to watch him.

“He has some things that you’re not really coaching, or that I don’t really feel like I’m able to coach,” Simpson said. “He just has some natural instincts. There’s a couple of guys that do, and he’s certainly one of them. So it stood out right away. We’re excited to have him for sure.”

Sipp and JB Brown both came to Kansas by way of Bowling Green. Simpson said he had a conversation with the two about their skill sets and who’s better at what– Brown will go hit you, but Sipp’s instincts set him apart.

“But those guys told me straight up: JB will thump you now, which we all know he will,” Simpson said. “But Joe is as instinctive as there is, so he probably has better instincts. So excited about that because he’ll find himself around the ball quite a bit as well.”

Lathan put together a productive 2024 season at West Virginia, tallying 79 tackles, nine for a loss, and two sacks. The proof of Big 12 production helped Simpson want to go after Lathan, and Lathan can use that familiarity to help prepare the rest of the team for conference opponents.

“That obviously was a selling point when we were going after Trey—that he played in the conference and played significant reps,” Simpson said. “That is certainly a factor just because there’s familiarity. There’s times we’ll have conversations in the room and be like, ‘Hey, we’re getting ready to play such and such,’ and Trey is one that can validate yes or no, whether those are things we have to be prepared for. So that certainly helps.”

The offense helps the defense stay disciplined

Kansas does a lot of things with pre-snap motion and shifts to try and keep defenses off-balanced. The defense gets the chance to see that in practice every day, so they’ll be prepared when seeing it from opponents.

“Everybody probably does some semblance of all the extra stuff going on,” Simpson said. “So if we can handle the things that we see on a daily basis in terms of the moving parts offensively, I think we’ll at least have a good idea against the teams that want to do some of that stuff.”

Simpson said going against a complicated offense can help slow the game down when there’s not a lot of extra things happening. It allows the Jayhawks to keep better track of their assignments.

“It’ll slow things down when you don’t have all that stuff going on,” Simpson said. “Makes you disciplined with your eyes and your assignments and those types of things.”

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