The vibe inside Mrkonic Auditorium was largely quiet, including in Taylor Davis’ chair, where the redshirt junior safety from Missouri City, Texas shared repeatedly why this season will be different.
And then, BOOM!!, just like that, Davis slammed his hand down on the spring-loaded football situated waist-high on a steel contraption near the door and everyone in the room turned to look.
Some smiled. Some laughed. Others flashed eyes wide open, stunned by the sheer volume of the commotion.
That was Davis, whose eyes were the widest of anyone.
He had no idea that the simple gesture — one that has become habit, with KU’s defensive players encouraged by coaches to punch at the ball every time they walk in and out of the room — would be quite so loud or cause such a disruption.
Still, he couldn’t help it.
After calmly talking for 20 minutes about why he would be better this season than he was a season ago, Taylor gave in to his emotions. Not heated emotions. Not angry emotions. Not even all that fired up emotions.
Just excitement. Anticipation. Eagerness.
Dude is ready. And the move to slam the football on his way of Mrkonic was a symbolic gesture of just how hungry he is.
“I didn’t have the year I wanted last year,” Davis told R1S1 Sports during preseason camp. “But it won’t be the same thing this year at all.”
It already isn’t.
His body weight is up nearly 10 pounds to 205.
“This is the biggest I’ve been,” the 6-foot safety said.
He’s faster than ever, stronger than before and communicating at a level that has him convinced that, both on and off the field, this season and his impact on it will be different.
And he gives credit for that to a lot of people who have helped him get to this point.
Strength coach Matt Gildersleeve is one. Head coach Lance Leipold is another. And transfer safety Jaden Harris, who came from Georgia and has been battling with Davis at the free safety spot this camp, is another one.
A big one.
“I really want to thank him,” Davis said of Harris. “He doesn’t know how much he really did help me.”
The coaches do. And, in many ways, that’s exactly why they brought Harris to town in the first place. Not only did he add the depth that they covet up and down the roster. But every player they bring in — especially guys plucked from the transfer portal — is given the directive of trying to beat out the guy in front of him.
Davis and Harris will both play this season. But that’s only because Davis responded to the challenge like the mature veteran he suddenly is.
Leipold said he has noticed that Davis is a different player, and person, than he was a year ago. And he pegged him as one of the leaders the Jayhawks will be counting on during the season.
“The best thing about what TD did in that situation was self-awareness, self reflection and ownership of the situation,” Leipold said during camp, of Davis responding to his own disappointment about how last season played out. “Things that were controllable to him. He’s worked extremely hard to change that and it’s been seen for 7 months now.”
Credit Harris for some of that. How, you might ask?
Davis had no trouble explaining.
At left, KU's Taylor Davis screams during a game in 2025 [KAI photo]; At right, the spring-loaded ball Davis smacked out of habit. [R1S1 photo]
“He came in and pushed me right away,” the KU veteran said. “He’s learned a lot; he’s been in college longer than me. So, (I’m) just taking that role to kind of learn from him and we’re learning from each other. .. Bringing him in has pushed me to be better.”
Davis said that one of the biggest reasons that dynamic has worked so well is that the two players are remarkably similar in one important way.
“He is the same type of competitor as I am and bringing him in only brought it back out of me. I felt like I lost it for a little bit, but he brought that spark back,” Davis said. “When you’re around somebody that wants to push you and wants you to be better, you can only return that energy.”
So, Davis has. In the weight room. During film study. At practice. And more.
In fact, that friendly competition that has bordered on not so friendly at times because of how hard these two are willing to go at each other, has led to a bond that no one saw coming.
The two kick it away from the facility just as much as they do while there, going to dinner, hanging out and getting away from football.
Davis said one of the things he admires most about what Harris brings to the field is his aggression.
“Just being around him, I want to be aggressive,” he said. “His energy is really contagious. And we’ve gotten really close. When we feed off of each other, it can be really special.”
Like Leipold, KU defensive backs coach Brandon Shelby said he has been impressed with the new leadership qualities Davis has shown this offseason. He’s vocal in practice and team meetings. He’s one of the most active players on their group text thread. And he’s playing with much more confidence as a result.
“But I told him this, man,” Shelby began. “We got to carry that to the football field. You know what I mean? The things we do when nobody's watching, we got to do it in front of whoever's there (on game days). We gotta show up and we gotta do that when it's time to go. That's my thing with him now. We've done it in practice. We've done it in the locker room. Let's make sure we do it on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.”
No problem, says Davis. And he’s known that would be the case since his end-of-the-year meeting with Leipold after the 2025 season.
“Coach Leipold kind of brought me in and talked to me and gave me a shoulder to lean on,” Davis recalled. “Ever since then, I bounced back, clear head on my shoulders and ready to roll.”
“It wasn’t really even disappointment about my season, just mental maturity,” he added. “I felt like I went through a lot of battles on and off the field, and kind of grew, but my coaching staff helped me through a lot of stuff and I’m back. Back to stay.”
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