Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Austin Booker Leaving KU? + Kansas Jayhawks Football Depth Chart 'Update' Ahead of Bowl Game vs UNLV

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Austin Booker no longer with KU? We discuss into that what it would mean if he is gone from KU and a, I guess, quote-unquote, update, so to speak, on the depth chart for KU ahead of the guaranteed rate bowl with UNLV. 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 Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Starting point is 00:00:37 on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere that you get your podcasts. You can also find our show on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the action. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, talking a little KU football. It seems like Austin Booker may be no longer with the team for KU football,

Starting point is 00:00:57 so we're going to discuss what that would mean, the possible news there, what it would mean for the KU defensive end position and the defense in 2024, and for the bowl game against UNLV in the guaranteed rate bowl. Plus KU football sort of updated the depth chart a little bit ahead of their guaranteed rate bowl game with UNLV on Tuesday. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase with GameTime.

Starting point is 00:01:27 So I guess the first thing's first here. Technically on this 2-deep, which ties these two things together, Austin Booker is listed on the 2-deep. Now, we've talked about this before. When you look at the KU depth chart, there are a lot of positions where it's listed as an or. And typically, in pretty much every case, the guy who is on top of the other one with the or is actually ahead of that guy on the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:01:49 So Hayden Hatcher, even though he's listed as an oar with Austin Booker, Hatcher is ahead of Austin Booker there, which tells you he would probably start. 6'6", 245-pound defensive end who leads KU in sacks, just a redshirt sophomore, is opting out of the bowl game and did not travel with the team. The not traveling part, pretty indicative, if that is the case, that he would not be back at Kansas, right? I mean, you can opt out of the bowl game, travel with the team. Maybe you're just going to the NFL. You can opt out of the bowl game and not travel with the team. Maybe you're just going to the NFL. You can opt out of the bowl game and not travel with the team because you're, again, just convinced on going to the NFL and it

Starting point is 00:02:30 doesn't matter. But I guess there's a possibility at this point is what's unclear is if he's going to go to the NFL or transfer because, you know, I think from an NFL draft perspective, he's certainly somebody who would get drafted. But I do think another year of tape, another year where he could add a little bit more weight to his frame would go a long ways to him being like a day one or day two NFL draft pick. But maybe this year, maybe he is more being seen as a fourth, fifth, sixth round draft pick, something like that. So maybe he does enter the NFL draft, but I think the fact that he's not traveling with the team would be indicative that it's not a decision of, okay, maybe I go to the draft, maybe I come back to KU. It's a decision of either the NFL draft or I'm transferring from the program.

Starting point is 00:03:11 And I'd imagine Gage Keys, who is basically, I don't know, from what we've heard, he's like Austin Booker's one of his really good friends. And obviously the two of them were at Minnesota together, transferred from Minnesota to Kansas together. And when Gage Keys transfers away, well, A, you have a friend transferring to another program. But also the money rumors have been rampant about Gage Keys. I mean, numbers that have been tossed around have been over $200,000 for Gage Keys. I don't know if that's the case or not. Sometimes the NIL, you know, back channel stuff is who knows what is actually real and what's tangible and what's not. But the idea has been that it's over 200K for Gage Keys, which for a rotational defensive lineman from KU would be a lot of money for Auburn to spend on something like that. And so if you're Austin Booker and you see your good friend getting paid again, hypothetically, you know, $250,000 or something, you're probably sitting there going, okay, well, you know, Gage Keys didn't have any sacks this year. I had eight of them. What am I worth?

Starting point is 00:04:11 Am I worth $2 million? Am I worth a million dollars? You know, I'm going to go test it on the open market. So I do think from that standpoint, it does make it a little bit hard. We'll see what he ends up deciding. But if that is true, that he has not traveled with the team, which based on the team landing today and everything that's going on, it seems like that probably is the case. Why would he still be listed on the two deep? Well, we'll get into this later,

Starting point is 00:04:33 but KU doesn't really update the two deep that much. And also I think there's a bit of a competitive advantage thing. There were weeks where Jalen Daniels was listed as an or as a starter and he never had a shot of playing with you know Jason Bean or something like that they're just probably trying to make it so that UNLV has to still prepare for the thought of Austin Booker because of what he can provide on that end of the floor so the one thing I don't really totally understand is the money stuff though because and this is just me speaking personally I understand it for Gage Keys if Gage Keys truly was offered you know over 200K to go to Auburn and he's a rotational defensive tackle right now at Kansas,

Starting point is 00:05:11 you look at the NFL draft stock of Gage Keys, there's not really NFL draft stock at the moment. So for Gage Keys, you might not have an NFL future. Go take the 250K, take care of your family, take care of your future. I understand that. For Austin Booker, it's a little tougher because it's like, okay, I don't know how much K you would offer him to stay versus if you went to another school, but it almost seems short-sighted because at the other end of the rainbow, so to speak, is that pot of gold, which is the NFL, which is like, does it

Starting point is 00:05:38 matter if you make 300K in college this last year versus 500K somewhere else? Because there's a chance that if you stick around in the current environment you're in, you could turn yourself into a day one or day two pick and make millions of dollars. So I don't totally understand that, but either way you wish him the best. And he has an unbelievable talent with a phenomenal speed rush. He had an excellent season, 56 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, eight sacks, probably a better pass rusher than a run defender, but still, you know, all around great player, two forced fumbles, countless big time plays. Think of all the big time moments that he had a sack or got pressures on a quarterback that,

Starting point is 00:06:15 you know, forced a big stop for KU in a key moment of the game. He was just a one man wrecking crew as a defensive lineman with pass rush ability. And he actually ended up ranking number one in the entire big 12 on pro football focus for highest graded edge players across the conference. So unbelievable season by him, unbelievable pickup for KU getting him from the transfer portal this last year from Minnesota. You might be wondering, well, how can he transfer again? I guess he could graduate. I don't think he's supposed to graduate just a redshirt sophomore, so it would just be year three. I think it's more about there's this new rule that has been passed into legislation that allows players to transfer basically as much as they want, which I sort of understand from the freedom of movement, but it creates absolute

Starting point is 00:06:57 chaos and I think certainly makes college athletic side of things even more of the wild, wild west, so to speak. But obviously this would be a huge loss for KU. If you want a glass half full perspective, they've had to replace their top pass rusher every single year so far, right? You look at year one, they had Kyron Johnson, who ends up getting picked in the sixth round of the NFL draft by the Eagles. And it was like, okay, who's going to replace him? They had Lonnie Phelps from the transfer portal.

Starting point is 00:07:21 Lonnie Phelps is probably even better than Kyron Johnson was. He doesn't end up getting drafted, goes earlier than they thought he would. They thought they'd have another year there. And then it's like, oh, man, how are they going to replace Lonnie Phelps? And they bring in Austin Booker, and they develop him as a kid who wasn't really playing at Minnesota and turn him into this absolute stud, all-Big 12, first-team defensive end. So, I mean, eventually that's going to stop. You're not going

Starting point is 00:07:46 to continue to lose players and get better and better every single time. Eventually there is going to be kind of a reset there, but this staff has shown the affinity and or the ability, excuse me, to overcome that and find the next guy up, which is so important for the future of a program. They've been able to do that. That's the glass half full. There are ways that your defense can get better. Will it be better? What will the defensive end position get to? We'll get to that in a moment. As far as how this affects the bowl game for KU, obviously it's a big loss, right? Austin Booker arguably is your most valuable defender. He's certainly in the conversation because you have some other good defensive players up there with like Kobe Bryant, Mello Dotson, and some of the safeties and everything. But he certainly, because pass rush is just so valuable inherently in football,

Starting point is 00:08:27 probably the most valuable player when you combine how good he is and how valuable just that defensive end spot is. So to not have him against a UNLV quarterback in Jaden Maiva, who was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, and a really unique offense, and now you're asking guys to play more a bit uh this stage of the season will certainly hurt means more playing time for hayden hatcher and patrick joiner and maybe um even some of the guys who haven't played as much leading into this like a davion westmoreland or dean miller or a dylan brooks like maybe dylan brooks can be the next austin booker a guy who's a former

Starting point is 00:08:59 highly recruited guy with a good frame and maybe he can start turning into that maybe it gives more opportunity for somebody like that to become that guy for KU. But in its own, this would obviously be a huge loss if it certainly is true that he would no longer be with the team. Let's get to what it means for the defensive end group and the KU defense in 2024 with this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by GameTime. Buying tickets to your favorite sporting event

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Starting point is 00:10:10 Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, so again, if Austin Booker truly is no longer with KU football, how does that affect the defensive end group and the defense as a whole in 2024? Then we'll get to the rest of the depth chart stuff ahead of the guaranteed rate bowl for KU. If you're looking for basketball content, we had a KU Yale recap late last night. So you can check that out here anywhere you get your podcasts with Locked On

Starting point is 00:10:37 Jayhawks. So I guess this is a good thing that you got Dylan Woodkey from Youngstown State, who's a good defensive end coming up from the FCS level, because that helps mitigate this loss a little bit. Woodkey more of a, I think, run-stopping defensive end, but he does have some pass rush to him, so that'll certainly help. Maybe that's the path here. Maybe for KU, and they were better this year against the run

Starting point is 00:10:59 than they were the year before, but there's still room to improve. Maybe the level of improvement, if you're looking at the defense as a whole, if the defensive line can be better against the run, but you lose some in pass rush, do those things equal it out? You can still have that same kind of level of play here. You definitely need to get Jeremy Robinson back now for sure. He can have another year if he wants it. He can start a professional career. He can transfer. I don't know. It's impossible to tell with anybody at this point in time, right? but certainly it would be big time if they get jeremy robinson back who had a strong season this year but was a bit overshadowed by what austin booker did um obviously they're they're going to continue to scour the transfer portal for probably

Starting point is 00:11:38 another defensive end now elijah alston i saw picked up an offer he uh is from marshall he had like over a 90 pro football focus grade. So that would be an excellent get, but I'd imagine the line is going to be out the door for Alston and the teams that could possibly get him. Do we see the young freshmen now get any playing time? Like does Deshaun Warner or Dak Brinkley? Brinkley is going to be joining at mid-semester here. Do we see either one of those, if not both,

Starting point is 00:12:01 play in at least a rotational role? I mean, theoretically, if you can play both four games, if you still want to redshirt them, you could say the combination of Warner and Brinkley is going to give you eight games played. You just space them out and say, these four are for you, these four are for you, whenever those come over the course of the season, maybe alternate weeks, maybe pick first four, last, whatever it is.

Starting point is 00:12:19 And you have an extra rotational rusher between one of the two that just comes in on passing downs. I don't know, Maybe that's an option. Definitely puts more stress on guys who are backups or rotational players like, you know, just Davion Westmoreland, just Dylan Brooks, Dean Miller, guys who at one point had high potential for you. Can that come together in a big way this next season? The thing that sucks most is if Booker was back, this defensive end unit would be one

Starting point is 00:12:44 of the best defensive end units in the entire conference. Without him, it can range in a lot of ways. It just depends on who else comes back, on player improvement, on what the freshman can provide, on if you can add anybody else in the portal. There's just a lot more moving parts. Still, though, I do think that if you can bring back Robinson, a base of Robinson, Wootke, some of those guys like

Starting point is 00:13:05 Westmoreland, Brooks, Miller, maybe one of them can break out this year, Brinkley and Warner, and you add one more in the portal, I still think that can at least be a solid unit for you overall. As far as what this means for the defense, though, is it possible for the defense to be better next year without Austin Booker? Because I remember in the offseason last year when you lost Lonnie Phelps, I remember having an episode here on Locked on Jayhawks being like, it's hard to see how much better can they be without Lonnie Phelps because Lonnie Phelps was arguably their best defender. Maybe it was Kobe Bryant, but again, going back to the value discussion

Starting point is 00:13:39 of how important pass rush is, you would argue that, right? And at the very least, he's in the conversation. And it was like, yes, but it's just going to take everything else improving. Well, the good news for KU is that everything else did improve and they got similar, if not better, production from Austin Booker. So the first question becomes, will somebody break out to give you similar, if not better production than Austin Booker? Chances are probably not, but could you get similar? I don't know. Based on what this staff has been able to do the last couple of years, it is entirely possible. We talked about the PFF grades in Big 12. There was a lot of room to improve for this

Starting point is 00:14:13 defensive tackle group. Obviously, you lose Gage Keyes, you lose Devin Phillips, that hurts, but they're scouring the portal for D tackles. I think Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers, this is their first year starting. They should probably take a big step up next season. Maybe that's an area that gets a lot better. Maybe linebackers, JB Brown in another year. Maybe Logan Brantley starts to work into his own. Maybe you can add a transfer in the linebacker position. Maybe Tywon Berryhill takes a big step up.

Starting point is 00:14:36 Linebackers can take another big step up. So if the D tackles take a step up and the linebackers take a step up, if the DBs are the same, if not better, by having a lot of continuity and the depth overall of D end is better than the defense still can or will be better. So I think that you look at it, this certainly lowers your ceiling because I think if you had Austin Booker back, you would feel like you had the chance to be one of the, I don't know, top five defenses in the big 12. Maybe now you're looking more like, okay, can you just be middle of the pack next year, which is where you kind of were this year.

Starting point is 00:15:07 And then maybe the offense takes another step forward because by a couple things, I think mainly because the red zone offense struggled a bit and because you had quarterback injuries, the offense was still really good this year. But last year it was number two in the Big 12. This year it was more to that three to five range, depending where you're looking. Maybe you can take that step up back to being one or two, have this year's defense. Maybe that's enough to win nine or 10 games. I mean, they were close to winning nine, 10, 11 games this year, as is with everything. So I think you can still have enough defensively. It'll be another

Starting point is 00:15:37 year in the system and scheme. Obviously, everything waits to figure out who you're adding. But I think what we've learned with Lance Leipold and this staff and this team, you're more than one player. You are more than one player and you have to have trust in the staff and the scheme and the current players that are there to get it done. And so far they have, they've shown nothing to show that it would be the opposite. So huge loss and would certainly hurt for KU and would also hurt against UNLV,

Starting point is 00:16:02 but not one that is impossible to overcome because it's a college football program. You're going to lose players to the portal. You're going to lose players to the NFL draft, especially as you get better and better. You have to be able to churn. You have to be able to overcome that. You know, look at KU basketball, right? How many years do you lose your All-American? And the next year you have a new one.

Starting point is 00:16:19 You have to be able to fill and replace. And so far, Lance Leipold and KU have done just that. Let's get on to maybe notable other listings or changes on the depth chart for KU ahead of the guaranteed rate pull with UNLV. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. As the weather gets colder, the NFL offers stay hot on FanDuel. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 back if

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Starting point is 00:17:03 against UNLV, even without Austin Booker. I don't know, maybe without Austin Booker, you're like, I don't know. It looks like they could have some offensive linemen out too. Maybe I'm going on UNLV. I don't know. So again, fanduel.com slash locked on, FanDuel, official partner of the NFL.

Starting point is 00:17:20 All right, finishing things up here with Locked on Jayhawks, changes or notable things about the depth chart headed into the guaranteed rate bowl against UNLV. And we will have a KU UNLV specific preview coming at you Tuesday morning to get you ready for that game. So be on the lookout for that. Again, if you're looking for the Yale content, you can check that out last night.

Starting point is 00:17:39 This is more of just kind of an extra episode giving you updates. And I don't know, maybe you're driving somewhere, and maybe this is an extra 20 minutes that you killed in the car. Anyway, notable changes or listings on the offensive side of the ball. Armage Reed Adams is now listed as the starting right tackle with an or on Bryce Cabledew. But going back to the idea that usually the guy on top is the one who actually starts, he's listed on top of Cabledew, who's been your starter at right tackle. I think it's safe to say Reed Adams is going to be starting at right tackle. We've seen him mostly play guard, but he has played some tackle.

Starting point is 00:18:09 I think the idea there is with Cable Dew, he's injured, I believe, right now. So maybe they're holding out hope that he can play, but I believe the thought is he would be out. Now, if he is out, the guy listed as the backup behind him at right tackle with Reed Adams starting would be James Livingston. And then you look at the rest of the offensive line. Still some interesting stuff. We talked earlier in the week that Poonie is supposedly opting out of the bowl game.

Starting point is 00:18:31 He's still listed as the starting left tackle again, though. I think that's more procedural than anything else. I'm still assuming he's opting out. And the backup listed there is Calvin Clements. So I think the idea is Clements at left tackle. Michael Ford is your starting left guard. You're starting center. Still Mike Nowitzki, starting right guard, Kobe Baines, starting right tackle, Armage Reed-Adams.

Starting point is 00:18:50 And then off the bench, you have James Livingston as a backup tackle. You have Spencer Lavelle, Nolan Gorchika as backup guards, and Dre Dorian as the backup center. Keaton Kubeka is now the backup X with LJ Arnold. Tanaka Scott obviously gone into the portal. I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe we see a target for Keaton Kubeka in this game. Obviously, this doesn't count against his redshirt, so I think that would be cool if that can certainly happen. And then this isn't really, I don't know, a change, but Jalen Daniels is listed as QB3, so

Starting point is 00:19:19 I've kind of wondered if, yeah, Jason Bean starts the game and plays a majority. Do we see Jalen Daniels for a drive or two, maybe in the second half, yeah, Jason Bean starts the game and plays a majority. Do we see Jalen Daniels for a drive or two maybe in the second half, especially if you're winning the game? Maybe that discounts it by him being QB3. As far as the defense side of the ball, obviously with Gage Keyes gone, you had some shifting around. Caleb Taylor and Keenan Caldwell are both on the two deep without Gage Keyes. I mentioned with the Austin Booker thing, Hayden Hatcher had the order and was listed above him.

Starting point is 00:19:46 So I think Hayden Hatcher will get to fill in start for him, which I will say that is kind of cool that Hayden Hatcher gets to start his last game at KU because he is somebody who has embodied the program and worked so hard to get to a point of where he's at. So I think in the same way that it's really cool for Jason being and fitting for him to start this bowl game and have an opportunity to go out on top. Same kind of thing for Hayden Hatcher here. And then Joyner becomes the backup at the one defensive end spot.

Starting point is 00:20:11 Dylan Brooks is the other, which is a real opportunity for him to start jumping to the bed. One that I found interesting, kind of weird. I don't remember this happening over the course of the season. Mello Dotson listed as an or with Quinton Lassiter. Is that indicative? Is Mello dealing with some sort of injury? We thought Mello Dotson listed as an or with Quinton Lassiter. Is that indicative? Is Mello dealing with some sort of injury? We thought Mello Dotson was coming back.

Starting point is 00:20:29 Is that changed now? I'm assuming it's not, but I don't know. Is it just some weird thing? You just have a senior listed as an or in there? I don't know. Just kind of interesting there. As far as some UNLV news, I did want to throw this in here. They have a defensive end, Xavier Carter, who entered the portal.

Starting point is 00:20:43 He was actually their highest rated defensive player by Pro Football focus, 82.2 score, but he only played 157 snaps. So, you know, over 13 games for them, that's what, like 12, 13 snaps a game. So he wasn't really playing that much, but good player in the limited time. They do have a bunch of DBs. They have backup receiver. They have fourth string running back in the portal, most notable of which they have a safety of DBs. They have a backup receiver. They have a fourth string running back in the portal, most notable of which they have a safety who committed to Baylor. But besides him, it's mostly backups. So it certainly seems like between injury and opt-outs,

Starting point is 00:21:13 KU going to have more to deal with coming into this game than UNLV will. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also like and subscribe to us on our YouTube page. We'll be back with you Tuesday to help you preview the KU UNLV game. Have a great rest of your day. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Austin Booker Leaving KU? + Kansas Jayhawks Football Depth Chart 'Update' Ahead of Bowl Game vs UNLV

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