Logan Brown’s bond with Matt Gildersleeve helped the Jayhawks bring him to Kansas football
LAWRENCE — Part of the draw to play for Kansas football, Logan Brown said Tuesday, was the relationships he could have with his coaches.
Brown, a redshirt junior offensive lineman who transferred in from Wisconsin, noted he could have normal conversations with them. He felt they were all down-to-Earth people. And that experience all stems from the official visit he took.
But Brown didn’t forget to name Matt Gildersleeve, the team’s director of sports performance. Brown said the two of them went to the same high school in the state of Michigan. And that history mattered in Brown’s decision to continue his college career with the Jayhawks.
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“I first met Gildersleeve when I was a freshman in high school,” Brown said. “He said something to me that — during my visit he was like, ‘I remember you running around the high school.’ And I was like, ‘That’s weird.’ My sister is about the same age as him, one of my older sisters is. So, just, definitely already — it’s nice knowing.”
Brown loves what Gildersleeve is doing with Kansas’ strength program. Eye-opening and mind-blowing were descriptors that came to his mind. It’s intriguing to him, the extent to which the data Gildersleeve and the staff accumulate are integrated into what the team does in workouts and practices.
Brown understands not every program views those analytics the same way, and feels the way the Jayhawks use them is always for a reason. There’s an intent, from his perspective. Brown knew about the wearable technology the team used through Catapult, which tracks data for athletes through practices and games, but Gildersleeve was the first to outline to him why it matters.
To date, the bulk of the improvement Brown has seen from it all has come through his mental approach. A big thing for Brown is the extent to which he’s able to control his breathing. Considering the level to which they practice up-tempo, and use multiple huddles, it’s as if he’s forced to learn how to breathe.
“When we’re doing two-huddle, I can notice myself just breathing and trying to stay in the moment,” Brown said. “You get up to the huddle, you jog out and you jog back in, and then you’ve just got to refocus.”
Brown has personal objectives for this season. He wants to do his best and help the team win games. But in addition to not letting himself down, he also doesn’t want to let Gildersleeve down because of the connection the two have.
As head coach Lance Leipold tells it, so far Brown hasn’t. Leipold said he’s enjoyed having Brown around for a number of reasons, such as the maturity Brown provides. So far, Brown said his work has focused the most on right tackle.
“He’s such an easygoing guy for a man that size, and he’s so light on his feet and athletic,” Leipold said. “Again, he’s been through it and played at a high level, and understands the process of learning. But he doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t get rattled in learning, he takes coaching and he continues to get better as well.”
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: Logan Brown’s bond with Matt Gildersleeve helped Kansas football
