Kansas Jayhawks Football: End of Year Defensive Grades for 2024

A lot of the early struggles for the Kansas Jayhawks football team was due to the inability to take care of the ball on offense. That led to the defense being put into tough situations many times through the first handful of games. Those situations played into the unit’s struggles, and ultimately affected their year-end grades.

Kansas Jayhawks Defensive Grades

Defensive Line

Dean Miller: A

Miller took a massive leap for Kansas this year, and ended up being the best defensive lineman on the Jayhawks. After being a non-factor his first two seasons, Miller led all defensive linemen in a majority of stats. He went from zero sacks last year to a team-leading six this year. He also had the most tackles and tackles for loss amongst the unit. His 10 tackles for loss were tied for the most on the team. He also collected three passes defensed.

His efforts garnered him a spot on the All-Big 12 Second-Team and will likely earn him a 2025 preseason All-Big 12 selection.

Jereme Robinson: B

Robinson was the projected leader of the defensive line after being Austin Booker‘s running mate last season. While Robinson certainly didn’t have a bad season, he didn’t take quite the leap that people expected.

Robinson increased his sacks by one, finishing with a respectable 5.5. His tackles went down by a few, but his tackles for loss increased by three. After having six passes defensed last season, he didn’t have a single one in 2024. He did, however, collect two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Perhaps his steady play and expected leap allowed Dean Miller to have the season he had.

Dylan Wudke: B-

The transfer from Youngstown State had a bit of a transition period when playing against tougher competition, but ended up being a solid contributor. Wudke did a little bit of everything for the Kansas Jayhawks defense. He collected 23 tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack, a pass defensed, and a fumble recovery.

Wudke had multiple tackles in eight games and at least one in every game except his first as a Jayhawk. He was overshadowed by Miller and Robinson, but the sixth-year senior was a steady contributor for the Jayhawk defense.

D.J. Withers: B

Withers was another player who stepped up to fill the massive void left by Austin Booker. He doubled his tackles and tackles for loss, while also going from zero to three sacks and adding a pass defensed. He, along with Wudke, didn’t get the shine that the top two received. However, they did their fair share to help the defense. If Withers returns for his senior season, he could be in line to be a major contributor.

Bai Jobe: D+

I only included Jobe because of the name and expectations he had coming into the season. The former four-star recruit (and top player in Oklahoma) was expected to be a major contributor after transferring over from Michigan State. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Jobe only played in seven games in 2024 and collected just nine tackles. Those were the only stats he accumulated this season, and they all came in four games. Hopefully 2025 is much better for Jobe, because him living up to his ranking would be a very good thing for the Jayhawk defense.

Linebacker

JB Brown: A

Brown had a spectacular final season as a Jayhawk. His 74 tackles led the team, as did his 10 tackles for loss. He was also third in sacks with five. He added a pair of passes defensed and a fumble recovery.

Brown was part a deadly tandem in 2023 with Rich Miller, and was more than able to take over the lead linebacker role after Miller’s graduation. He will leave a void much like Miller did after having a phenomenal senior season.

Cornell Wheeler: B

While Brown was able to fill Miller’s role, Wheeler was able to do the same as his partner in crime. Wheeler ended with the second-most tackles on the team (tied with O.J. Burroughs) and contributed in many facets of the game. He had an interception, forced fumble, and four passes defensed.

Brown was featured as more of a downhill linebacker, as evidenced by his five sacks. Wheeler, on the other hand, played more in the middle of the field, as evidenced by his four passes defensed.

Unfortunately, Wheeler missed a couple key games in the middle of the season. Had he played against TCU or Arizona State, the Jayhawks may very well be in a bowl game. The Sun Devils ran for more than 300 yards in their four-point win. I have to imagine Wheeler would have been able to prevent at least some of that yardage. If he had played all 12 games, his grade might have been a letter higher.

Taiwan Berryhill: C

With the way Brown and Wheeler played, there almost had to be an underperformer in the linebacker group. Unfortunately, it was Berryhill. He had his worst statistical season since his freshman year (when he played just five games). Excluding the freshman season, he had his lowest amount of tackles and sacks, which are his only real areas of contribution.

He equaled his number of tackles for loss in 2023 (two), but came nowhere near his career-high (six in 2022). After conceding a starting spot to Brown, Wheeler, and Miller in 2023, he was poised to get back to his production from 2022. Unfortunately, it just didn’t come together as hoped.

Defensive Back

Cobee Bryant: B+

The secondary was supposed to be the calling card for the 2024 Kansas Jayhawks. While they had solid individual seasons, the group as a whole just didn’t click like it was expected to. Bryant was thought to be the main factor in the secondary’s success, having landed on the preseason Chuck Bednarik, Jim Thorpe, and Bronko Nagurski Award watchlists. He certainly didn’t have a bad season, but he didn’t take the all-star leap like many thought he would.

Cobee Bryant seems to be the bigger name of the Kansas corner duo attending Shrine, but don’t sleep on Mello Dotson.
+ 6’1/190 5th Year CB. 46 Starts
+ 12 Career INTs | 25 PBUs | 4 Pick-Sixes
+ 2,471 Snaps at Outside Corner

First AP All-American DB from Kansas since Aqib Talib😳 https://t.co/PITSruX17X pic.twitter.com/wS7VBrF90D

— Clay Fink (@clay_fink) January 18, 2025

His counting stats were nearly identical to what they were in 2023. He had 37 tackles this year compared to 32 last year, tackles for loss were four versus five, interceptions were both four, and passes defensed were seven versus five. He didn’t have a bad season, whatsoever.

Bryant became a three-time All-Big 12 selection and will hear his name announced at next year’s NFL Draft. It was just a little disappointing that he didn’t improve even more after a stellar junior season.

Mello Dotson: A

Dotson had a similar season to Bryant, as his numbers didn’t improved drastically or at all from last season. The reason his grade is slightly higher is simply that he wasn’t expected to be one of the best secondary players in the entire country like Bryant was.

Dotson did have one more interception in 2024 compared to 2023, but his passes defensed dropped by four. Otherwise, his numbers were basically identical to his 2023 campaign.

Dotson ended up leading the team in interceptions (two of which were for touchdowns) and tied Bryant with seven passes defensed. If you can collect five interceptions and seven passes defensed, that’s a great season regardless of expectations. His efforts even got him a spot next to Bryant on the All-Big 12 First Team.

O.J. Burroughs: B

Burroughs continued his play as an overlooked member of the Jayhawk secondary. Last season, Kenny Logan got all of the eyes in the safety room (for good reason) and now Burroughs shared the spotlight with Marvin Grant.

Burroughs played more of the high safety role, collecting an interception and six passes defensed while also compiling 64 tackles and four tackles for loss. He was a steady contributor during his four years in Lawrence and will leave one of many holes on this defense next season.

Marvin Grant: B+

While Burroughs played the deep safety role, Grant occupied more of the box enforcer role. As evidenced by his three sacks, Grant played closer to the line than Burroughs did for most of the season. However, Grant also collected six passes defensed and finished with 59 tackles.

His versatility was on display throughout the season, as he was able to make plays in both the backfield and secondary. The Purdue transfer made a big impact in all three of his seasons as a Jayhawk and, like many others from this group, will be missed in 2025.

Taylor Davis: B-

Davis didn’t have a monster season by any means, but I think he deserves some shine for his 2024 performance. The redshirt freshman wasn’t expected to be much of a contributor in 2024. He was the fourth ranked secondary player in KU’s 2023 class and there were four more ranked higher than him in their 2024 class. He saw a bit of time in the season opening blowout win over Lindenwood, but wasn’t asked to be a significant contributor until October.

In the seven games from that point on, Davis tallied 33 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a pass defensed. There were five games where he had at least four tackles, including an eight tackle outburst against BYU. It will be a tall task for the Jayhawks to replace the players leaving the Kansas secondary, but seeing the performance from Davis this season should help ease that concern a little bit going into the offseason.

Overall Grade: B-

The Kansas Jayhawks defense was hindered early on by the offensive turnovers, which caused them to be put into tough spots multiple times. Still, the unit as a whole was a bit underwhelming. They allowed basically the same amount of points as last season and with how many players returned from that team, specifically in the secondary, that is a bit of a letdown. The coaching staff certainly has their work cut out for them in the offseason, as all but two starters could be gone in 2025.