Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - All-Big 12 Center Bryce Foster Returning + A New Portal Kicker for Kansas Jayhawks Football?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, Kansas gets a huge boost to the offensive line. Bryce Foster coming back for another year. Plus, is Kansas going to get a new kicker? And a little update from Bill Self on Shaquille Moore. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? Derek Johnson here. We got a bonus episode of Locked On Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every episode. And if you've already caught our episode from earlier today, thank you to you. We'll have a KUNC State Preview coming at you tomorrow. And thank you wherever you listen to the show, anywhere you get your podcasts or on YouTube. So on today's episode, this little bonus show,

Starting point is 00:00:49 Bryce Foster announced earlier today. He's going to be coming back for another year in Lawrence. We're going to get into that. Also, KU may be picking up some steam with a transfer kicker that is pretty interesting in Laith Marjan. So we'll discuss that. And then we'll finish things up with a little on uh bill self discussing a little bit about shaquille moore so let's start here with bryce foster foster

Starting point is 00:01:13 was the center for starting tenor for ku football this past season and he had a chance to go pro if you wanted to i think he would have been drafted if he decided to go into the nfl draft he was somebody that was seen as having you know pro potential before he transferred in um to lawrence and i think he had himself a really good season enough that if he would have got drafted now the center position is one of those that it doesn't get drafted as high in general so maybe he's looking at a day three pick but it's a big deal to pick. But it's a big deal to have him back. It's a big deal to have a future pro player who was all-conference level player for you back for another season in 2025. And as you look at it, not a ton of starters returning for KU.

Starting point is 00:01:55 You have Jalen Daniels back in tow. Now you have Bryce Foster. You have Colby Baines back in tow, but that's three returning starters. That's it, right? So important to get as much as he can and he was one of KU's best offensive linemen obviously being the center you're kind of the leader of that line and you know uh having a guy back in the system and everything is so important he is six foot five 330 pounds he's a mountain of a man uh if you don't remember the

Starting point is 00:02:21 story he was a big-time recruit out of high school, goes to Texas A&M, starts right away as a true freshman, plays a ton of football for them for three years, transfers in the summer to Lawrence and was an absolute home-run addition. And I think the most interesting part to me is that a lot of times the guys who transfer in post-spring ball in the summer, there is a bit of a catching-up process during the offseason, during fall camp, and I think there probably was a little bit of a catching up for bryce foster during the way but you know we've seen guys who join during the summer before and maybe they don't have as

Starting point is 00:02:54 good of a season as you might have hoped based on their the previous you know uh accolades or stats or whatever it was foster translated and then some he had a really good season for KU. He wound up all big 12 second team, and he had a pro football focus grade of 74.7, which was put together with a 73.8 run blocking grade and a 68.2 pass blocking grade. He allowed just seven pressures all season long. So he was awesome. He's played over 2,500 snaps in his career.

Starting point is 00:03:24 He's played a litany of games. I'd imagine part of the reason wanting to return isn't just wanting to come back for KU football and help push this team back to bowl eligibility next season. We talked about this a lot. When he was being recruited by KU, he wanted to be a two-sport guy. He wanted to not just play football, but he wanted to be a thrower in track and field. And if he goes off to the NFL, that coincides with the timing there that he wouldn't really get to do the track and field thing.

Starting point is 00:03:49 So he gets one final season now of track and field, assuming that he'll come back for another season of football and then go to the NFL drafts after that. And so I think it made sense from that perspective, but you would have understood if he did decide to go pro because he did have that pro potential. But it's huge to have him back. It's huge to have Jalen Daniels back.

Starting point is 00:04:07 And now, I mean, this is a very important piece on the offensive line because if Bryce Foster doesn't come back, I mean, the short answer to this is it'd probably be somebody from the transfer portal, but you would start worrying yourself about who's going to be the starting center next season because you already lost Dre Dorian, who he goes off to like the CFL draft and stuff. You are bringing in Anderson cop who might profile as a center, but he's going to be a true freshman.

Starting point is 00:04:35 And then you have a mere herring from Michigan, but I don't know. Does he profile more as a guard? Does he profile more as a center? So you would be scrambling on the transfer portal to bring in a starter. You would probably be scrambling on the transfer portal to bring in a starter you'd probably be scrambling in the transfer portal to bring in somebody for depth so now you don't have to worry about that as much that's huge and now basically gives you two and a half i guess you could say returning starters on the offensive line i say two and a half because okay kobe manes and uh bryce foster and then calvin clements would be the other one clements wasn't a full-time starter that

Starting point is 00:05:02 belonged to logan brown and bryce cabledewtime starter. That belonged to Logan Brown and Bryce Cabledew. Before that, it belonged to Dom Poonie and Bryce Cabledew. But we've seen Calvin Clements start football games when Logan Brown or play in football games have to rotate in, right? If Logan Brown was hurt or with Bryce Cabledew going down for a little bit. If, you know, the bowl game, Dom Poonie opts out. And at that point, Logan Brown was out for the year last season with an injury. So you've ended up with Calvin Clemens starting games and getting real game action, rotational action, going in for somebody who's hurt, that it becomes like two and a half starters back. And that makes it a lot easier when you're looking at offensive line construction.

Starting point is 00:05:38 It makes it a lot easier in the portal that you only have to target a couple positions, that you only have to target, okay, we need maybe a starter or two, maybe we're comfortable with norm nolan gorchika being the other starter one of these guys making a big step this year amir herring whoever it is right um but maybe now in the portal instead of being like we need this this this and this it's we need this and this right and that can be a little bit easier that can be a little bit easier sure on your budget you would think um and it just makes things a lot better there. And obviously, when you're talking about best centers in the Big 12, he was all Big 12 second team this season. He's going to be in the running for being the best center in the conference in 2025.

Starting point is 00:06:13 So, of course, it is a big deal for him to come back. All right. Kansas might have a new kicker? Question mark. We get to that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by game time, which is a new feature called game time picks that makes getting tickets to

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Starting point is 00:07:14 with KU landing a kicker out of the transfer portal. You know, it's funny. It feels like there's two new offers every hour that you might see on social media, that you might see on a recruiting website or something that KU is sending out. And that you might see on a recruiting website or something that the KU is sending out. And that's just the nature of the business right now,

Starting point is 00:07:28 the transfer portal for teams across the country. But I hadn't seen this one, but then some crystal ball picks popped up on 24 seven sports. The name is Laith Marjan. I don't know if that's the word, right? I would pronounce it Marhan maybe. So he was originally at East Carolina.

Starting point is 00:07:42 Then he transfers the South Alabama and ends up becoming the starting kicker. Didn't really kick it at East Carolina. Then he transfers to South Alabama and ends up becoming the starting kicker. Didn't really kick it at East Carolina. And he would be a redshirt senior in 2025. So you have one year left to play. KU brings him on. It'd be similar to when they brought on Seth Keller for one year of play. Obviously, you lose Tabor Allen. If you're Kansas, you know, know taber allen i don't think was

Starting point is 00:08:05 um it's not like somebody who was hitting like 55 yard field goals for you but he had a very solid season he was 12 to 15 kicking he had a long of 47 um i don't think ku was super comfortable with him taking field goals you know 40 yards or longer and a lot of those and the field goal percentage does look really good a lot of those were like shorter field goals. If you just look at the ones like 30 yards and be along or 30 yards and longer, 35 and longer, 40 and longer, it's maybe not quite as good. So he was a solid enough kicker for this year. But there's a difference between being a solid kicker and being a weapon at the kicker position. And I think if you do end up landing Marjan, that's what you're getting. He went 16 of 17 on field goals this past season.

Starting point is 00:08:45 He was 42 of 44 on PATs. So that's kind of weird when you have a guy who has more missed PATs than field goals. Like, was that just they got blocked? Or I don't know exactly. But he was four for four inside the 30-yard line. He was six for six from 30 to 39 yards. He was six for six from 40 to 49 yards. And he had a long of 49 yards. His lone

Starting point is 00:09:07 miss on the season was a 50 plus yarder. So this is a really good kicker that would be brought into the program. And obviously, you know, it would be very helpful for KU. Lance Leipold's not the most aggressive on fourth down. You look at the last couple of years, KU has been near the bottom or at the bottom of the big 12 and fourth down attempts. So you need to invest in a good kicker if that is what you're going to do. And it seems like they'd be doing just that. Let's finish up some other news. This from the hardwood. Bill Self gave a little bit of an update on Shaquille Moore. We get to that next on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, where you can get in on the action for KUNC State this Saturday. Get ready to tackle the NFL action as well with FanDuel,

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Starting point is 00:10:40 including on our YouTube page. Bill self spoke with the media and kind of gave a bit of an update. I mean, he kind of talked about, you know, some stuff, and he said that they had a good practice yesterday and that, you know, it's been good that they've had this kind of schedule to have this time off in between games and everything. He also gave an update on Shaquille Moore and kind of said that, yeah, you know what, he's kind of back to like practicing.

Starting point is 00:11:05 And I don't know that we're expecting him to play on Saturday. I'm kind of paraphrasing here, but we could use him back in the long term. There's been some rumors kind of going around about what exactly is going on here. Is Shaquille Moore just, you know, upset with whatever? Or at this point, he just wants to take a medical red shirt. Is he going to transfer away from the program at some point, he just wants to take a medical red shirt. Is he going to transfer away from the program at some point? What is going to happen here? That might be good news from Bill Self. It still was vague enough that it could be open to all sorts of things

Starting point is 00:11:36 happening. Maybe they'll are able to figure out if there is anything happening. Maybe it is just all the injury. I don't know. Here's what i do know if kansas has an opportunity to get shakil more back into the lineup back into the rotation they need to explore that option to do so and it's easy to say now kansas coming off two losses on the road they're they're at their low point at this point of the season but like you look at this kansas team and don't you think they could use some more athleticism don't you think they could use some more bounce off the dribble from a quick athletic guard who can get his own bucket don't you think they could use a really good defensive guard I mean you could argue he is uh their best defensive guard I know you have to want Harris but different types of

Starting point is 00:12:18 defenders maybe um but he'd be up there right I look at it for Kansas and I think it'd be really fun and and you know even when we did see him it was limited minutes i don't think that was necessarily indicative of like how bill self views him as a player i think that's just where he was coming back from the injury and you have all these players you're trying to play but like with ku struggles i have a hard time thinking that if he is fully healthy and good to go that he would not be one of ku's whatever seven or eight best players on the floor. And that he would not add a really good element

Starting point is 00:12:47 that this team could use more of if he was on the court. So if they can get him back in any way, I think that'd be big. And we'll see what ends up happening there. Because yeah, certainly the rumors are flying. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts,

Starting point is 00:13:01 including on our YouTube page. We'll be back tomorrow with a KUNC State preview. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - All-Big 12 Center Bryce Foster Returning + A New Portal Kicker for Kansas Jayhawks Football?

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