Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Biggest Strengths and Questions for Kansas Jayhawks Football in 2024 + Latest Preseason Camp News
Episode Date: August 2, 2024Top strengths like explosive offense, running the ball with Devin Neal, coaching with Lance Leipold and more plus top questions like pass rush, run defense, special teams and more for Kansas Jayhawks ...football in the 2024 season. Plus, notable quotes and news from the latest of KU Football preseason fall camp which started on Tuesday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Factor MealsHead to Factormeals.com/lockedoncollege50 and use code lockedoncollege50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next month while your subscription is active! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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On today's Locked on Jayhawks, biggest strengths, biggest questions for KU as we're about four weeks away from the season and the latest that has been said so far at fall camp for KU.
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 find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find our show.
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page where you can like and subscribe to the show.
Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every show.
Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day.
On today's episode, we're talking biggest strengths,
biggest questions for KU football in 2024
as we're about four weeks out from the opening game.
And with being 27 days away,
we're going to get into some of the latest that has been said
by coaches at press conferences as fall camp is officially started
for KU earlier this week.
So we'll round that up with some of the latest info that you need to know.
Let's start with the strengths.
We'll work ourselves into the questions and then get to some of the latest of what's going
on.
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All right, so what are some of the biggest strengths for KU football
ahead of preseason camp?
I think the number one biggest strength that I kind of think about,
or I don't know, maybe not number one.
I don't know that I'm ordering these, is coaching.
Because in general, having Lance Leipold, one of the best coaches in the conference in the entire country,
having coaching staff that was put together by Lance Leipold that you really trust.
You feel like Kansas is a very good or very well-coached football team, right?
There's a reason that they've had this turnaround and gotten to where they are.
And so you almost have trust in
that, right? To a certain point to where it's like, okay, you trust that this coaching staff is going
to get the most out of this team. You trust that this coaching staff is going to put this team in
the right positions consistently, right? And obviously there are a lot of new assistant coaches
this year, more than had to come in in the previous season, but there still are a lot of new assistant coaches this year, more than had to come in in the previous season.
But there still are a lot of bright minds that are around there
that you feel like that is going to be a plus for KU.
And in a lot of the games you're going to go up against,
you're going to have the better coach.
And I think a lot of times, you know, you can boil down.
Obviously it doesn't always end up this way.
But a lot of times you pick the best combination of coach and quarterback.
You're going to wind up with the correct team winning that game.
It doesn't always end up being the case because there are other things that
matter in football, but those are probably the two most important.
Like chiefs have Andy Reed and Patrick Holmes.
That works out pretty well, right?
Lance Leipold is one of the best coaches in the country.
Jalen Daniels is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, right right that is one of the best duos of those two in the entire country
so that is one of the biggest strengths uh running the damn ball that is a big strength for KU
football this upcoming season right you have a loaded running back room Devin Neal who is going
to be an all-american candidate all big 12 candidate Daniel Hyshaw who if Devin Neal would
have gone pro early last season I mean maybe Daniel H Daniel high shots popping up on, I don't know, some of these talks about,
you know, uh, maybe he's like Phil steel, third team, all preseason, big 12 or something like
that. I don't know. He's shown a lot, uh, in the past previously. So you feel good about where he's
at. Um, Savion Morrison, you know, former highly recruited guy. We haven't had to see it a ton on
the field, but we have seen some flashes of it on the field where it looks pretty good
and explosive.
And then Harry Stewart seems to be getting rave reviews so far.
Even Johnny Thompson, who redshirted last year,
sounds like he's shown some good things so far.
So you have a really good running back room.
You have a quarterback who can run the football in the case of Jalen Daniels.
Cole Ballard's kind of a moxie runner, right?
He's a tough runner, but he can run a little bit.
We saw that a little bit.
Isaiah Marshall can run the ball.
That goes back to his high school days.
So, like, you have running quarterbacks.
You have receivers who are willing to and really take pride in blocking down the field.
You have a good slew of tight ends, and you've got a good offensive line.
This team should be good running the football.
They were good running the football two seasons ago.
They were even better running the football a season ago. And last season, if you look at college football graphs, stats of war,
they were seventh in the country in rushing efficiency, basically,
meaning they were one of the most efficient rushing teams
in the entire country, right?
We know if you're comparing total yardage,
if you're looking at total rushing yards per game,
they might not be as high as some other teams
because Kansas played at a slower tempo a season ago,
and they were a balanced offense.
You have some teams who might run triple option,
and they're going to, of course, average more rushing yards per game.
But which one is more efficient?
Kansas was one of the most efficient running teams in the country last year.
That should continue and carry over into this year.
Offensive explosivity, I think, is something that feels like a strength for KU.
Now, maybe this one's not as
big of a known commodity as these other two that I mentioned because of the fact that you have a
new coordinator in there with Jeff Grimes to where Andy Kotelnicki was so good at finding those
explosive plays. Now, it wasn't just Kotelnicki, though. It was the players, right? It was guys
blocking up those big holes to allow a running back to take off. Devin Neal making a couple
great cuts that allow that explosive play.
Jalen Daniels or Jason Bean throwing a beautiful deep ball.
One of the receivers making an unbelievable contested catch downfield.
To a certain standpoint, as good as Andy Kotelnicki was to help them get those explosive plays,
the players made a lot of those explosive plays.
And you still do have them.
But yeah, how does having Jeff Grimes affect that in terms of some of the plays and you still do have them. But yeah, like how does having Jeff Grimes affect that,
you know,
in terms of some of the play calling certainly when he was at Baylor,
like maybe more receiver screens that than you were doing now,
but they did take some vertical shots downfield with Baylor.
So that was something that Kansas was so good at last season.
They were 29th in the country in plays of 10 or more yards.
They were 17th in the nation in plays of 20 or more yards.
Offensively, they were tied 10th nationally in plays of 30 or more yards. They were 17th in the nation in plays of 20 or more yards offensively. They were tied
10th nationally in plays of 30 or more yards, 7th in plays of 40 or more yards. They were 12th in
plays of 50 or more yards, and they were 33rd in plays of 70 or more yards. So regardless of kind
of which yard line you're looking at there, this was a very explosive offense, and you have the
band back together, so to speak, with all these guys coming back,
that you should continue to be a very explosive offense this season,
which you have to have that explosivity.
It's great if you can grind down the field and continue to have long drives
and exercise those and score on those long drives,
but that's not sustainable over a full game.
It's great that you can do that, and you do need to be able to do that.
But over a long game, if you have to grind it out every single drive,
eventually you might have a turnover.
Eventually you might have a penalty.
Eventually like something might happen that holds it against you
where you need those explosive players to kind of take the seal off
once or twice a game.
Playmaking secondary is another big strength that you feel certain about coming into this season.
So this goes beyond the corners.
I feel good about the playmaking ability of OJ Burrows,
who can get some interceptions this year.
Marvin Grant's a playmaker in terms of being a good run defender
and a pass defender.
We saw growth in that area of his game a season ago.
Obviously, though, this is led by the corners,
Kobe Bryant and Melo Dotson.
Both those guys are not just really good corners, but they are playmaking corners, whether it's providing a
big hit, the Kobe Bryant one against BYU, right, where it forces the fumble and he takes it back
for a touchdown. Getting a interception, getting a pick six like Mello Dotson, you know, had in
the game against Oklahoma, right? Playmaking secondaries can be so impactful in a game
in turning the momentum, in bringing you momentum,
as it kind of did in both of those games,
kind of setting the right tone in both of those situations
that I mentioned with BYU and Oklahoma.
You feel good about that, that that is one of the big strengths for KU,
that they should be able to take the ball away
and get it back for the offense.
What are some of the biggest questions for KU headed into the season?
We'll get to that and the latest going on in preseason camp on this episode
of Locked on Jayhawks.
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So what are the biggest questions for KU football headed into this season?
I mean, number one, you've heard it a time or two before,
and you're going to continue to hear it a time or two again
once we get to the season, ahead of the season, in the season.
What is the health of Jalen Daniels going to be?
That's the big storyline.
That's the big question for KU football.
That completely changes the arc and trajectory of this season.
Are you just a bowl team that has another good year,
showing sustained growth as a program under Lance Leipold?
Are you a team that can win double-digit games,
can make it to the Big 12 title, can win the Big 12 title,
go to the college football playoff?
Those upper-end scenarios rely on Jalen Daniels being healthy,
unless, for all we know, Cole Ballard is going to take this Jason Bean level leap,
or Isaiah Marshall is going to be like that good right off the bat, whoever the backup ends up being, but yeah, that is the big question here,
what is the health of Jalen Daniels, unfortunately, not really an answer, I mean, right now,
we can point to and say that everything looks good so far in camp, but last year, you know,
it just kind of came out of the blue, right, he's playing great for a couple weeks, and then it
happens, and it's an unfortunate thing that happens, like, I don't hold it against Jalen
in any way, he's not choosing this, it's just something that is a reality of this all and you have to kind of deal
with okay the other big question is pass rush now this is something that Brian Borland actually
will get to some of these comments in our next segment of the show but uh seem pretty pleased
with some of the athleticism there at that defensive end spot uh but certainly the experience
or on paper pass rush leaves a little bit to be desired. Now,
Jeremy Robinson, Dylan Woodkey, they have production at a division one level, Woodkey at
the FCS level of getting sacks. It's not to a degree of eight to 10 sacks per game, but it's
to a degree that you feel like, okay, each of them could pitch in three, four, five sacks this
season for KU. The question is that other defensive end spot,
which is more of the pass rushing defensive end spot,
the one that was departed by Austin Booker.
You also lost Hayden Hatcher there too, right?
So you have a lot of very talented guys in there.
There's no doubt that you're going to get future production
from that defensive end room, right?
You have Byjobe and Dean Miller and Dak Brinkley and Deshaun Warner.
We'll see what the health status is of like Dylan Brooks. But the question is, what are you going to
get right now? Because this is the year that you're trying to compete for a big 12 title, right?
Next year with all the seniors, you could be losing. I don't know. Maybe next year you're
more so competing to just make it to another bowl game, right? And I don't know. It's all
dependent on the transfer portal and everything. And we don't need to get ahead of ourselves.
Enjoy the moment you're in right now.
Point being, are you going to get enough pass rush?
Because you feel good about the DBs.
I feel good about the linebackers.
I think the defensive tackles I feel good about.
That's kind of the one missing piece to where if that kind of lives up to where it was last year,
the defense should be like sizably better than it was a season ago.
And it already made a big jump from the year before that,
which made another jump from the year before that.
Run defense, I think is a big question here.
And this is something that Brian Borland, again,
kind of harped on in his meeting with the media after,
I think it was Thursday's camp or maybe it was Wednesday's.
I can't remember.
So they were better last season against the run than they were in 2022.
2022, they gave up 209 rushing yards
per game on 4.8 yards per carry 2023 like i said they were better 162 yards per game so you know
that's almost 50 yards better from the year before 4.4 yards per carry almost a half a yard better
those are nice jumps for the deep it really is in what they did against the run but even that said even with the big jumps
you made even with the strides you made and run defense both of those still ranked outside the
top 80 nationally so you went from being one of the worst run defenses in the country in 2022
to being a below average run defense in the country in 2023 again give credit that's a nice
jump to have and you hope that the arrow stays up,
and it kind of has to.
And like I said, Brian Borland kind of recently mentioned that third down defense
and red zone defense.
Those are the keys to really improving for that KU defense.
But if you do improve the run defense, I think that goes back in line
with helping answer the previous question we just talked about, pass rush.
If you're in third and seven, third and eight, and eight third nine third and ten more often than you are in
third and three third and four you can kind of pin your ears back if you're the defensive end
you can kind of throw a pass rush blitz at the opposing quarterback you can get creative with
some of the stuff you're doing because if it's third and three they could run they could pass
right you kind of have to have to uh like for your defensive end you can't overrun it right you got
to maintain lane integrity but that might hurt your pass rush.
So, um, I think that would certainly help in, in both areas there. The last big question here
is special teams for me. So you lose Seth Keller, who it felt like kind of a limp to the finish line
with how the kicking was going, but still at the end of the day, he only missed two field
goals on the season. Obviously there were some of the block pat issues but um it feels like right now there there's maybe a question for the competition of that kicker
position uh i think damon greaves was last in the big 12 and in yards per punt though if you look at
like the net yards per punt it was more toward the uh middle of the pack in the big 12 so at least
that was better because he was able to get it up high in the air obviously we saw KU's special teams in the first half of the season was actually pretty good you had the
Trevor Wilson punt return for a touchdown but over the back half of the season too many mistakes the
muff puns the muff kick against Oklahoma obviously the muff punt against Kansas State what is the
special teams going to do can you get it to a point where like special teams is not one of those
things where it's like hey you were the 100th best offense in the country last yearances are you're probably not going to be the 10th best offense in the country next
season. That doesn't happen in college football. We see teams get a lot better, but we don't see
that type of turnaround. Special teams, you could go from being the 90th best special teams to being
the 20th best. There's just a little differences there. So that becomes the question for me,
how much better can that get into trying to boost,
to add another win or two and make it to the Big 12 title?
All right, let's talk about some of the pertinent things
that have been said or shared from preseason camp so far
for KU football on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.
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So we're 27 days away. How about that from the Kansas-Lyndonwood game, which means we're
officially less than four weeks away. That 27 sounds a lot like
when we were in the 30s, even that still kind of sounded like, yeah, that's kind of far away. 27
starting to feel really real for me. Maybe it's because camp has started, which I guess
yearly diatribe. Why is it called fall camp? It's not the fall. It's like a hundred degrees out. It's dead in
the summer. Anyway, regardless, fall camp, preseason camp, whatever you want to call it.
Here's some of the more interesting quotes that have been gathered so far that I wanted to at
least quickly touch on here between some of the coaches that met with the media throughout the
week. So Lance Leipold talked about Daryl Simmons,
who is the transfer guard from Iowa State.
He said, quote, he seems more comfortable.
He seems understanding his body's better.
That becomes interesting because it feels like that guard position.
I mean, if you're going to assume,
and we're going to get into another quote here that maybe takes away this
assumption, but if you're going to assume Logan Brown at left tackle,
you got Bryce Foster at center, Michael Ford at left guard, and Bryce Cable do it right tackle, that leaves the right
guard spot open. Okay, Kobe Baines would be a good candidate for that. Nolan Garchica could be a
candidate for that. Daryl Simmons would be a candidate for that. So that certainly sounds
good for Daryl Simmons. But it's not just about who is going to be that other starter. Because we saw last year, Kansas basically gave six offensive linemen
starter-level snaps.
Because you had Kobe Baines and Armage Reed Adams, in this case,
who were basically playing starter-level snaps.
So could that be Daryl Simmons this year kind of playing that role?
Lance Leipold on Caleb Taylor.
He's become a very respected leader in a very quiet way.
He adds that.
He adds so much of that as Taylor's total buy-in.
Early on, he was brought in on his terms, but now it's complete buy-in.
And he is somebody as Caleb Taylor, and that was from Matt Tate, by the way, of R1S1 Sports.
That was something with Taylor where, you know,
he played probably a little earlier than you would have liked, what,
two, three years ago, something like that, just in terms of typically
with linemen, you want to get their bodies right before they have to play
at the Big 12 level.
But Kansas was thin on defensive linemen and defensive tackles,
and he was playing a little – I think he talked about this last year.
I think he was playing at like 270 or something like that,
which is tough to do in the Big 12.
But more power to him because he actually had a pretty good year.
Again, I forget if it was the 2021 or 2022 season.
And that kind of got me thinking like he was going to have a breakout season
that next year.
Didn't really end up happening.
And then, you know, he kind of fell out of favor in the rotation a little bit,
wasn't playing as much.
And then kind of midway through last year, I forget if it was when there were some injuries on the defensive line or what caused it to happen.
But I want to say it was like the Iowa State game.
Started to rotate in a little bit more and started to show some flashes again.
And you started to see the guy that was exciting about.
And as the season went on, he just seemingly got better and better.
And I think you talked about, again, as regard to the weight like his issue was that um he would you would you would burn the calories you would lose the weight
as the season went on right because you're working out you're going to practice you're playing these
games and that's part of the thing like you hear all the time oh this player showed up at 320 to
camp okay but by the time the season starts he might be 300 there there isn't just mastery in
knowing how to get your weight up to the proper weight that you know matt gildersleeve and the
coaching staff once you play it's maintaining that weight over the course of the season when
you're working out all the time and finding the right diet and finding the right amount of i
don't know protein shakes you gotta you know have and all that sort of stuff to maintain that weight
and he kind of figured that out last year so i would not be surprised if caleb taylor ends up
having that breakout season this year in a very real way
like would it shock me if Caleb Taylor started next to DJ Withers no not at all okay this is
Jeff Grimes on Bryce Foster he said he already caught up well with terminology and needs to
prove to teammates he's the number one guy I think that makes sense you're just basically challenging
the guy who like I'm sure the coaches behind closed doors are like yeah Bryce is going to be our starter but they're not going to straight up tell him that because
they want him to earn it right and at the same point in time like even if they're assuming he's
going to be the starter they really do believe in the you have to earn your repetition so like
if he did fall on his face then yeah he wouldn't win the job but you know he this was interesting
though on Grimes.
He said he could potentially play guard and that Shane Bumgarner has had a good summer.
Now, this would be a good problem to have.
If all your offensive linemen are playing so well that you're like, I don't know who to start where.
All right, if Shane Bumgarner is, because it sounds like he had a big adjustment in the spring, which makes some sense.
But if Shane Bumgarner, it's like, man, we're just trying to put our five best offensive linemen on the field and he's one of those
and so we have to move Bryce Foster to guard like that's a good problem to have that's a good
problem to have if you have a guy that earned his spot because he's playing that well and now the
depth of your team is just that much better so I found that very interesting I do think that was
maybe more motivated to trying to make sure Bryce Foster,
you know, stays working hard and that Shane Bumgarner feels like he has a real
shot at this and just keep working hard and stuff like that.
So I would still expect Bryce Foster to be the starter,
but I think that's a very good sign between Bumgarner and Simmons about what
they could kind of bring to the table there.
Brian Borland, meanwhile,
said that he likes the defensive end group and that they're more athletic and
longer than they've been with good competition there. makes sense I think the ceiling the potential the athleticism
the length those things are better in this defensive end group than they have been in any
year mostly because those guys you have have such high ceilings but how do you get them to play
closer to that ceiling how do you raise their floor how do you get them knowing what they're
doing in all the right way it's going to very much be on the coaching staff. If those position groups have, I mean, I think Taiwo Onotolu,
very underrated what he has done for KU when you look at that defensive end position.
And so if he can do it again, I mean, work your magic, man,
because sky's the limit with the talent in that group.
The last one I wanted to mention here was Brian Borland mentioned
that the Hawk position has been filled by guys from the
safety spot. So Marvin Grant, the Dye brothers, which would be Jalen and Devin. And then they
even use Dre Gibson, who is one of the incoming freshmen corners from Desert Edge in the Cinco
some, which, so they have different versions of it. The Hawk and the Cinco are basically the same
spot. It's kind of that like nickelback linebacker third
safety type role but in the cinco role it's for more of a true db because i i don't know if the
cinco relates to because it's the nickel defense right that's what you do when you're in a more of
a passing situation uh versus the hawk is more of that craig young i mean craig young basically
played all of it for ku because he was such a freak athlete um but the hawk is more of that Craig Young. I mean, Craig Young basically played all of it for KU because he was such a freak athlete. But the Hawk is more of the like, okay, the Cinco is more of like a true DB.
The Hawk is like a DB linebacker hybrid. And then they also said that when they're playing,
maybe more two tight end sets. So basically heavier sets, you use another linebacker in
there, which would be Jason Gilliam or Alex Reich, which were a couple of the names mentioned.
And those guys are both, even though they're linebackers, they're kind of like between
linebackers and Hawks. So you're kind of like this spectrum. You have like all the way DB
would be Dre Gibson. And if it's passing down, then finding its way to Hawk in the middle could
be Marvin Grant and use a third safety with one of the Dye brothers or Mason Ellis, who got talked
up a little bit or Taylor Davis or something like that. Or one of the Dye brothers is at Hawk and
you have Grant and Burroughs as your
normal safeties. And then you go to the heavier set where you have, you know,
Gilliam or Reich as the other linebacker,
but both guys that have played that Hawk a little bit that you still feel like
you have some of that coverage in there.
So I like that for KU and that's kind of the beauty of that is that you do
have that ability to kind of mix and match. And I just think about, you know, the Moneyball quote where it's like,
well, we can't recreate or we don't have Jason Giambi anymore.
We just have to recreate him in the aggregate.
Like that's what they're doing with Craig Young.
They're like, we don't have Craig Young anymore.
We're just going to recreate him in the aggregate, right?
It'll be this guy here.
It'll be this guy there.
And I think that sounds strategy because I think KU has the players to do it.
That'll do it for
this episode of locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere. You get your podcast, including
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is tuning into each and every show. We will be back for you on Monday, barring any breaking news
over the weekend. We're going to talk some of the biggest camp battles for KU football, and we're
going to start getting into our position previews with the quarterback room. So you're not going to
want to miss that
in addition to all the other content we have coming at you throughout the week.
We're getting close to KU football season.
See you Monday on Locked on Jayhawks.