Kansas Football Recruiting 2012: Defensive Backfield

One area that we've looked at as a concern heading into next season is the defensive backfield. Much of that concern is depth related as the Jayhawks have some starting talent but they don't have much in the way of proven depth.

Greg Brown, Tyler Patmon, Lubbock Smith and Bradley McDougald all return and have shown the ability to start at times. At the same time this is also a group that has been picked apart in recent years and while you can deflect some of the blame to other areas and deficiencies, you can't deflect it all. Longterm this is an area that has to get better, short term we need to see Dave Campo and Clint Bowen put these players in a position to succeed. It should be an interesting year as we watch how this unit compares to a season ago.

Greg Allen

DB | 6 | 205 | Houston Texas / Alief Taylor

Allen Highlight Video Available at HUDL

Allen was a player that Kansas convinced to make a switch in the final weeks of 2012 recruiting. Previously Allen had committed to play his college ball in the Pac12 at Utah. Utah is a strong program and it doesn't hurt to snag a player from Texas and bring him back into the Big 12 Conference.

The biggest asset for Allen appears to be his speed. Allen has clocked as low as a 4.33 forty time and hovers in the 4.4 range fairly consistently. That speed is invaluable plus he has experience at both corner and safety but he appears to project as a corner at Kansas. Throw in the fact that he checks in at 6' and a shade over 200 and Allen has a good start from a physical standpoint to work toward contributing at the position.

Nas Moore

DB | 6'1" | 185 | Monterrey California / East Los Angeles College

As we touched on earlier, Nas Moore was a late junior college addition to the Jayhawk class after having said that he would likely wait until after signing day. Moore is an interesting story because he just moved to corner this past season for East Los Angeles College and he was a quick study and a big reason why they had a strong defensive unit this past year.

Prior to that time, Moore had been a receiver at the California junior college and checking in at 6'1" 185, Moore is another corner prospect that fits in that bigger corner category. Moore had offers from BYU and San Diego State as well as the Jayhawks and headed out to California after performing as a receiver and on the track at his high school in Georgia. Kansas offers that second chance to play at a BCS level program and Moore will be a prospect that is still fairly raw but has the size and athleticism to develop.

Moore will have two years of eligibility remaining at Kansas. He recorded 8 interceptions this past season.

Tyree Williams

DB | 6' | 190 | Sugarland Texas / Dulles

Williams is actually labeled as an athlete but the expectation seems to be that he will play in the defensive backfield in some capacity. This decision came down to Kansas and SMU this past week with Kansas prevailing over the local school for Williams. The Jayhawks have made a living in the past by targeting Texas players without TEXAS BCS offers and it's good to see that trend continue.

There isn't a lot out there on Williams. He had decent size, just like the other defensive back prospects that Kansas has targeted so that is a positive. His rating was only a two star which being a Kansas fan we've learned to ignore those at times, but it does suggest that he's likely a developmental type player and that is fine. That's where we have to hope our new defensive coordinator comes into play. He's had a pretty good track record with DB's and Williams, Allen and Moore will be his first crop of newbies.