Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - 2022 Kansas Jayhawks Football Season Recap with Locked On Big 12

Episode Date: January 12, 2023

Recapping the 2022 Kansas Jayhawks Football season with Josh Neighbors of Locked On Big 12. The importance of Lance Leipold, Andy Kotelnicki and the staff. Big player breakouts and personnel surprises. The Heisman candidacy of Jalon Daniels and how good he was and more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we share some of the show that we had with Josh Neighbors on Locked on Big 12, recapping the 2022 season for the KU football team. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well. Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts or on YouTube. And on today's edition of the show, had a fun conversation with Josh Neighbors of Locked On Big 12, kind of going over, recapping the 2022 season for the KU football team and surprises,

things that we learned, maybe looking ahead to 2023 a little bit. So wanted to share that here on our platform with Locked On Jayhawks. Let's get right into it. Hey, everybody. Josh Neighbors here at Locked on Jayhawks. Let's get right into it. Hey, everybody. Josh Neighbors here at Locked on Big 12 Podcast. Joining us today, Derek Johnson, the host of the Locked on Jayhawks Podcast, covering all things KU. This is our look back at the Kansas football season that was a good season that ended in

somewhat disappointment, question mark, but a successful season obviously overall a whole lot to get into when it comes to kansas their commitment to football moving forward in the new and changing big 12 conference you are locked on big 12 your daily podcast on the big 12 conference part of the locked on Network, your team every day. Once again, Josh Nabors here, Locked On Big 12 Podcast, joined today by Derek Johnson of Locked On Jayhawks. Make sure you guys subscribe to both channels, wherever you all get your podcasts and on YouTube as well.

You guys can follow him. Don't fire him. Follow him on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. Derek, thanks for coming on. I know you are in the throes of college basketball season, but we need to take a look back and look at the season that was for Kansas that ended on really what was an amazing game against Arkansas, the Liberty Bowl, right? I mean, what a fun, well, fun, back and forth is the wrong way. It was back and forth in the end. It was kind of back, then forth,

then back and forth, if you will. But what a compelling end to a very compelling season for Kansas. Yeah, and I think you saw everything in that last game that kind of was the Kansas season this year. Explosive offense at times. Jalen Daniels looking really good for this team. Defensively at times kind of looked like teams were just, you know, slicing through them like a knife through butter. And in the end, you came up with a very competitive game that, I mean, you just kind of fought every game. Even in past games you had this year, like against Baylor, you get down 28-3, and then all of a sudden it's a one-score game with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Just kind of showing that fight, that resilience that you showed all year long. I think it was kind of indicative of how the season went for Kansas. Competitive. That's the key word, right? Competitive. I know Lance Leipold has really been kind of on the, on the path of no moral victories. That's not something he wants to hear. But while you consider that this,

this program, it took more than one step forward this year in several areas. You know, it was kind of like two or three rungs up the ladder. And that was the big key. I think you mentioned, you look at the wins, six wins. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But the losses, right? TCU loss was a, I mean, that was a back and forth war.

What a great game that was. The Oklahoma game, right? I mean, they get the big stop around halftime and that thing's a game and they're kind of still in that thing late the baylor game like you mentioned right there just weren't many times where this team rolled over like kansas teams had in the past and a lot of that was coaching and also personnel this i think that's the one part of this we have to talk about is that their, while they've got a long way to go in that department, was better than they had in years past, for sure. And I think because of that, that is what allowed them to stay in and win as many games as they did.

Yeah, they definitely need even more depth on the defensive side of the ball. I think we really saw that impact at the end of the Arkansas game where, I mean, they ran six plays. If you count the two-point conversions, they scored on four of them. Like, clearly, you were gassed at the end there. But yeah, defensively, even they did get a lot better with the two deep and the depth they had. And you just look at some of the dudes they had, whether it was guys that they added with the transfer portal, Lonnie Phelps on the defensive side of the ball, like Craig Young on that end of the ball, or guys that were kind of holdovers from the Les Miles regime

that this staff either put in the proper position or the players just got to that point, whether they were going to get there with the previous regime or this regime. We know this staff has done in the past a great job of developing players and there were comments from players like over the past couple seasons about how yeah in past years with the miles regime like there weren't any um mandatory weight lifting times but with this staff there is so it's just like those small things that lead to player development and you know when you see a guy like Jalen Daniels

have this unbelievable season, when you see a guy like Kobe Bryant be an all-Big 12 first-team corner, yes, those players were brought on with a different regime, with different coaches, but I think you have to give this staff credit and how they've kind of developed them and guys like Andy Kotelnicki, the offensive coordinator, and how they've put them in the proper situations to really succeed this

year. More of our podcast with Josh neighbors on locked on big 12, recapping the 2022 Kansas football season in just a moment. But first this episode of locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by bet online. Bet online is your number one source for sports betting information, stats, news, and analysis.

Get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there from pro football to college bowl season to basketball and soccer. They've got it all at BetOnline.net. If you love sports podcasts, you can even find those at BetOnline, too. They're the fastest and easiest way to get your betting information. Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more you can bet on kansas whenever that line comes out probably friday afternoon for the game saturday against iowa state you can i don't know maybe you can get an early line on on kansas uh to win the big 12 next year jaylen daniels to win the heisman they do have a bunch of futures up there you can definitely bet on kansas to make the final four

win the title win the big 12 those are up there on bet online bet to make the Final Four, win the title, win the Big 12. Those are up there on BetOnline. BetOnline, where the game starts. Back to our podcast with Josh Nabors of Locked On Big 12, recapping the 2022 Kansas football season. Let's talk about the coaching staff. I will say I think Kansas got pretty lucky because with the way modern college football works, it is hard to retain guys unless you've already shown in the past that you have made some commitments to football, right? Like Kansas really hadn't made any. these big games they had this year and the kind of you know needing to bring in outside resources to make sure the stadium atmosphere and the stadium experience would be up to snuff right

and you know there was a period of time I think especially after the Nebraska job became open that um you know we had to start thinking about right, this will not be the only job that opens. What does it look like for KU to keep Lance Leipold? And Lance Leipold, luckily for them, is the kind of guy who's like, I will wait for these things to get built. You have to commit them to me, but I will sit here and wait for them to get built. I will sign the extension. We'll get the pay raises for the assistance. We'll commit the money to building new

facilities and i will stay through all that as opposed to being like am i gonna wait for this stuff all to get built he has said yes some of the staff has said yes particularly andy kodamecki which is huge um so talk about really you know what what that has meant the fact that they kind of lucked in the situation they don't have a coach who's got eyes for other places when they obviously could after a six, one year at KU. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's funny because there's that constant battle. When you're a program like Kansas of, Hey, if we're becoming a school where everybody's trying to poach our coach,

like, isn't that technically a good thing, but also, yeah, you'd prefer to just have the guy stick around with that program and it was kind of unfortunate this year that Kansas finally gets back to a bowl game for the first time in 14 years and boom of course that happens and the two jobs that would make the most sense for Lance Leipold of being his I guess quote-unquote like dream jobs like he got his his graduate assistant start at Wisconsin. That opens up. He has all these ties with his wife and his past coaching career

in the Nebraska area, and Nebraska opens up. It's like, of course, those things happen to open up in the same year. But, yeah, I mean, you kind of just work out that you get there. But I think there's also credit to the boosters for putting that commitment in place with committing to the stadium renovations and you know having all those things line up and and i think as big of a part as as any in this is that and this was written in the contract of lance leipold it's not just about the assistance and the facility upgrades it's about the and how much he's getting paid it's about the nil money how much are they going to be willing to invest with nil in the football players because if you're

a coach and you're trying to work the transfer portal and high school recruits and kids are asking well what can i get with the nil uh situation or you have current players that you're just trying to i mean we're saying j Daniels signed a NIL deal with Adidas. And, you know, I don't know how much like truth there ever was to any of this. I think it might just be kind of fan panic happening, but there was talk for several weeks about, oh, would Jalen consider entering the portal and seeing a huge sum of money come his way? He's originally from Los Angeles.

Would he go to UCLA after they are, we're going to be graduating Dorian Thompson Robinson before they added a different transfer quarterback and just little, little snippets like that. Not that that was ever going to be a thing that happened. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but you see something like that.

And, and I know Adidas signing an NIL deal is, is different than like a booster given one out, but those are going to be important as anything for Kansas, that and and i know adidas signing an nil deal is is different than like a booster giving one out but um those are going to be important as anything for kansas because as much as bringing in players with that's going to be key it's going to be retaining the guys you have that you have developed that's going to be important for this program so that was as key as anything there for for kansas and the booster seemed to show commitment there so uh we'll see how that goes over the next couple

years but tip of the cap to them for kind of being committed there. And this team really, I think the best part of this team this year was the offense, right? That was part of the team that was a lot of fun to watch. I think regardless of who was playing quarterback, you know, I know, look, sure, at peak efficiency, when this thing is at its best, it was Jalen Daniels, right? That was kind of the best version of this with the running and the throwing that he was able to do.

And I thought just Andy Kotelnicki with the creativity, too. Like, there were a lot of times, I know the last play of the game, people were upset about what we saw with Jason Bean, obviously, and Roland Wright and Lance Leopold. And look, we're out of plays, which makes sense, right? You only have so many plays that you can drill. I mean, there's a lot in the playbook that the players have to nail down. You don't want to bog them down with like 12 two-point plays. It's just kind of a waste of time to do that. But we saw more than once the two quarterback packages, the way they pull pull guys a lot of the rpo stuff that they did just incredibly creative a fun offense um that really got the most out of its players and you know sometimes slow starters right but uh once they kind of got things into gear it was a fun offense to watch

then also an offense that was still really good even with the backup quarterback all year i think it's a credit to coaching and it's a credit to coaching. I think it's a credit to continuity and how all these guys plays. I mean, we were never, I was never previewing games talking about, well, you know, it's not going to, this game will not be about, hey, does Kansas' offense score enough points? The answer was usually yes. And that category is more about the defense. But the offense, fantastic to watch all year long

obviously they've struggled a couple guys but like it was not a bad offense when Jason Bean was in there no it wasn't I mean they they really were well balanced kind of throughout the slate now Jalen better than Jason Bean but yeah Jason Bean is about as good of a backup quarterback as you could have had I mean we saw other teams in the big 12 have to go to their backup, Oklahoma state, Oklahoma, and that did not look pretty. So Kansas was very fortunate to have that. And they're going to be missing that next year and looking for someone to kind of step into that role. Um, but yeah, I mean, you look across the board, Andy Kotelnicki did a great job designing this offense. That was something that was such a, a, I guess calling card when they they hired this staff it was that they're going to be i don't know adjustable they're going to be kind of like an amoeba to what to figure out

whatever this this kansas roster was uh the talk was that yeah when they were at buffalo and they had tyree jackson who ended up being an nfl quarterback they led the Mac in passing his like last year, last two years. And then once he, he left for the NFL draft early and they have these really good running backs like Jarrett Patterson, and they don't have as much talent in the passing game. They adjusted the offense and they switched it over. And then all of a sudden the next two years, instead of being number one in passing, they're number one in rushing in the max. So they were able to change. And I think that's always a good sign of a good coach. You stick to your core fundamentals and principles, but you have to be able to adjust to what

talent you have to kind of take advantage of the players. And I think they did a great job. I think offensive line coach Scott Fuchs did a phenomenal job really developing these offensive linemen. And what you got from Dominic Poonie, a transfer from D2 this year, was fantastic for them. The receivers, I think, were the most underrated unit you had on the team. I haven't checked after the bowl game, but coming into the bowl games, Kansas ranked fourth in the entire country on pro football focus in receiving grade this year.

The receiving group didn't have any guys that like stood out and jumped off the page, individual numbers, but that's just because they had kind of a balanced offense throwing it around. Like Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm were dudes. The tight end group was, I, I, I'm being dead serious. I think the tight end group is going to be top 10 in the country next year. You look at Mason Fairchild. He was an all big 12 tight end. I think he has a pro future to him he'll be coming back uh jared casey was fantastic and kind of that h-back tight end role he is such

a good blocker too you have some other guys that you brought in from the juco ranks or that uh the the staff seems to be high on that are developing behind him they just added uh one of the top recruits in kansas and jayden ham at the tight end group like i'm really excited what that group can be and then yeah uh you have really good running backs behind it with devin neal and kai thomas one of the top recruits in Kansas and Jaden ham at the tight end group. Like I'm really excited what that group can be. And then, yeah, uh, you have really good running backs behind it with Devin Neal and Kai Thomas transferring away,

but he was a talented kid, Savion Morrison, Daniel high shot until he got hurt. So it was just a well-balanced, well-oiled machine on offense. And no matter which QB you stuck in there, you were going to be able to make it go. But yeah,

it kind of raised to, I think the biggest difference between Jalen Daniels and Jason mean it was just the the floor was raised with Jalen in there both guys showed a really high ceiling but Jalen was a little better at making the consistent plays making the short passes uh reading the defense on read option like Kansas wasn't really able to do the triple option with Jason Bean because he wasn't really as good at at reading the option but yeah you were pretty blessed and fortunate to have two legit. Yeah, you and I haven't talked about it too. Like Jason Bean, not as like bendable of a runner, right?

I mean, probably in a foot race. I guess I don't want to really stop. Like probably faster, right? Jason Bean is in a foot race, the fastest kid on the team, weirdly enough. Right. But like when you watch them, this is a weird thing to say, when you watch them run the football, you'd rather have Jalen Daniels, especially if you're going to run read option,

because a lot of that is like it is not fallout, running back clears, a gap run. It's not really how it works, right? A lot of it is i have this guy one on one how do i get around him and oftentimes like straight line speed is not the not the way that you do it right so that's why kind of jaylen daniels is the better uh is the better runner for a situation you know like that um bringing him back right i mean this this is a i know we tell you that the heisman stuff was really interesting early on but like this is a really special player this is a very special player they're bringing back quarterback yes um

i it's still funny because we don't know how true like the Heisman stuff was, but let's just say, cause Kansas is going to have, I guess we never know what the transfer portal at this point, but on paper, they should have 17 starters back between both sides of all offense defense. And that doesn't even account for guys. Like I mentioned, Jared Casey or Daniel Hyshaw, who played kind of a starter's role but didn't actually count as a starter. So they're going to have a lot of players back. We'll see what the schedule looks like. We still don't know how that's going to work out with the Big 12. Kansas is a six-win team that comes back from that. I don't think the expectation, like I'm assuming that Vegas

is going to set the over-under around, I don't know, five and a half, six wins, something like that, that if they have a seven-win season, I think that would be a success. You would improve whatever. But it's not like out of the realm of possibility that a six win team that brings back 17 starters. If the schedule breaks right for them, maybe they could win eight or nine games. And if they do, and Jalen has as good of a season as you think, why wouldn't he be in the Heisman conversation?

And I think the Arkansas game and the bowl game was a good reminder that the first half a little shaky at those two bad interceptions. It was like, eh, what's going on here? And then the second half in the overtime, I think that was the biggest takeaway for me from the bowl game that he looked like that guy again. I mean, he was insane. I forget the exact stats.

I think it was like 23. It was over 500 yards of passing, right? Well, I just mean in the second half. Yeah, it was, I think, 23-35, over 300 yards. You had three touchdowns passing, another rushing touchdown, no interceptions. And, yeah, the Arkansas defense isn't, you know, one of the better defenses in the country.

But, man, that was such a good reminder of what this kid can be. He's really special. I think the biggest thing you just go into next year is you say, can he stay healthy? We obviously saw the injury this year. He got injured in his true freshman season in 2020. He got injured in the kind of training camp of 2021 that kind of took him out of the race and allowed for Jason Bean to win the job.

So that's going to be the biggest question. Can he stay healthy in 2023? But otherwise, I mean, the talent on this kid is something special. Even more of our podcast with Josh Neighbors of Locked On Big 12, recapping the Kansas football 2022 season in just a second. But first, this episode of Locked On Jayhawks is brought to you by Built Bar. We just got through the holidays, and I know my goal is to eat a little healthier this year.

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grab a 13-bar box with hit flavors like brownie batter and churro. You can thank me later with Bilt Bar. Back to our conversation recapping the 2022 Kansas football season with Josh Nabors of Locked On Big 12. On defense, so I think for them obviously you have to like this is the big difference right depth depth depth you already been talking about depth like that's that honestly people think a lot of this is like on the on its face is talent it's it's not talent does not normally outright just talent when it's like you have to have multiple people at a position because normally not all 22 guys are going to make it through a season.

Basically never. Right. And sometimes it's a lot of those guys. And the big question is, do you have that? And like making sure the drop off is not that big while they weren't winning many games with Jason being in there. You mentioned,

this has been a huge talking point across the whole conference. Look at the teams that did well, Will Howard quarterback, Kansas state, obviously backup, uh, Max Duggan, the Austin, you know, ostensible backup for the TCU. Obviously start the season. look at the teams that did well will howard quarterback kansas state obviously backup uh max duggan the austin you know ostensible backup for the tcu obviously start the season jason bean they were competitive you know you could argue hey the reason why ku got to

win number six was because garrett rangela is out now i'm not discounting the win but like you know it shows that they should have more depth there but the same reason they were competitive with baylor same reason competitive ou so on and so forth right so this now applies the defensive side they need to build more depth and I think this this defense is not going to get very good overnight but the one thing they can do is be like an old school big 12 defense and just give a recent example like TCU was in their game against Michigan maybe they'll give it up some but they'll force some turnovers. And then when they do give it up, that's the thing they do well. They force the turnovers.

They score points maybe and mostly put their offense in better positions. That's kind of the key to success, I think, for this KU defense because once a couple knocks started to get in there, I think we saw it in the TCU game, things really began to kind of get sideways for the defense. Yeah, and honestly, looking back, I'm like, how did they only give up 38 to TCU after what they just did to Michigan? But yeah, it's kind of a weird spot with the defense

because you're looking at, I mean, they improved by like a touchdown from last year, which seems like a reasonable, strong improvement before the season. If you're like, they're going to improve by a touchdown,, which is like a reasonable, strong improvement before the season. If you're like, they're going to improve by a touchdown, you'd be like, okay, that's going the right way. But, you know, the way the season finishes and not just in the Arkansas game where you give up, you know, 55 points, but really down the stretch with Kansas State and Texas Tech and Texas that you can't stop anyone. It just, it feels like you're left with a sour taste in your mouth there. I think you're a hundred percent right.

And I think TCU was in kind of a similar spot. I think they had given up about 35 points per game last season before they came into this year. And that's what Kansas has given up. And if everybody comes back that you're expecting to like Lonnie Phelps could be a game changer. Kobe Bryant on the outside, the secondary could be pretty good.

Kobe Bryant, all big 12, first team corner. He'll be a junior next year. Kenny Logan coming back for his extra season with the COVID year. He's a former all-Big 12 first-teamer. OJ Burroughs and Marvin Grant. I thought Burroughs had a really good year. He was the bowl game defensive MVP for Kansas. Grant, former starter with Purdue, and then Mello Dotson started all the games this year. That could be your strength of the defense. They still have to sure up linebacker. That went from being one of the worst positions in Power Five in 2021 to this year was better, but probably still the worst linebacker unit in the Big 12.

And they have to add depth there too. And so, yeah, can they add that depth to, you know, survive the fourth quarters a little bit more? Because what you said with like, basically when other teams got going, it was an avalanche and you couldn't stop it. So surviving till that fourth quarter, having guys who are more fresh, that's going to be of pivotal importance surviving to the end of the season. So if they can, yeah, if they, if they can just be better at forcing turnovers and just making

kind of chaotic plays, even if they're not a good defense, if they can just be one that's opportunistic, that's really the difference for them. And yeah, adding that depth would certainly help them kind of bear over the course of the season. And I think that's going to be the biggest part of the transfer portal here to try to show that up. Well, that's going to do it for this edition of Locked on Jayhawks. That was our episode with Josh Neighbors of

Locked on Big 12, recapping the 2022 Kansas football season. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to subscribe to the show wherever you get any of your podcasts on YouTube or anywhere else. Google Play, iTunes, basically everywhere that has your podcast spot on Spotify. You can find

it with Locked on Jayhawks. And we'll be back tomorrow. Preview the Kansas-Iowa State game. Till then, you can catch me on Rock Truck Sports Talk later today on KLWN in Lawrence. Have a good rest of your day.