After missing Kansas football’s season opener, Brian Borland says he’s ‘better than ever’

LAWRENCE — Kansas football defensive coordinator Brian Borland seemed to be in a good mood Tuesday as the Jayhawks continued to prepare for their home game Friday against Illinois.

Borland was less than a week removed from missing Kansas’ game this past Friday against Missouri State, after he underwent a medical procedure the day prior. He had watched the Jayhawks’ season opener on television at home. But from what he and head coach Lance Leipold have said, his recovery has continued to go well.

“I feel good, feel great,” said Borland, who’s thankful for the care he’s received. “So, better than ever, quite honestly. So, the miracle of modern medicine.”

A quick return

It was unclear how soon Borland would be back coaching at Kansas (1-0), when Leipold provided an update on Borland’s status postgame after the win against Missouri State.

Prior to the contest, a KU official had said Borland wasn’t there due to a personal matter. Leipold was the one who highlighted that a medical procedure was the reason for Borland’s absence. And, as he explained, Borland was doing well at home. Leipold went as far as to add that things were moving in a positive direction and they expected Borland back in the building soon.

But it turns out, as Leipold would note a couple days later, Borland was back in the office working the very next morning — this past Saturday. Leipold added Borland remained there to the point they nearly had to kick him out. And while he described his assistant being back at it was unbelievable, Leipold said what Borland was doing wasn’t surprising.

“Some people miss more time on colds and sniffles than Brian Borland,” Leipold said Monday.

A staff that stepped up

Senior linebacker Rich Miller and redshirt junior safety Marvin Grant each indicated postgame after the victory that they learned the Wednesday before the Friday game against Missouri State that Borland wouldn’t be present for the matchup. So, the players had time to get their minds around Borland not being there. But, both Miller and Grant downplayed that not having Borland around was not jarring in any way.

Miller, who noted Borland told him that everything was all right, explained they trusted that defensive backs coach/defensive passing game coordinator Jordan Peterson was ready for the opportunity to fill in and call the defense. Considering they had a game to play, Grant added, they were focused on taking care of their responsibilities.

And from their perspective, getting through game day didn’t feel all that different.

“Seamless, for real,” Grant said. “It was all — felt smooth, like he was still up there. So, I mean, everything went along smooth and everything was good.”

Leipold and Borland have both praised how Peterson stepped up, as well as the staff around Peterson. Neither Leipold nor Borland seemed to have any doubt Peterson would be able to fill in how he did.

Borland, though, did describe watching the game on television as weird. It was a unique experience he doesn’t want to go through again.

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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: Brian Borland says he’s doing well after missing KU football's opener