Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BLOCKING MACHINE: Carson Bruhn ELEVATES Kansas Jayhawks—How Can Andy Kotelnicki IMPROVE His Game?

Starting point is 00:00:00 I think Carson Bruin's going to be a future long-time pro at the tight end position. Let's see what he can do in another year with KU Football. Plus, we'll get into our corner preview and maybe an unpopular opinion I have on Mr. Cole Ballard. 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 going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Thanks for making it your first listen every day. and thank you the everydayers catching each and every episode. We're going to break down a little bit on Cole Ballard. We'll get to our Kansas cornerback room preview, and we'll start right here with breaking down Carson Bruin, the soon-to-be redshirt sophomore, I guess third-year tight end for the KU football team. So I did another film review this time of Brune, and that's over on my substack.

Starting point is 00:00:57 All you're going to do is go to substack and search for Jayhawks Overflow. You can also find a link to it at D. Johnson Radio, on Twitter and breaking down like four different games from Carson Bruin this past season and going over some of the different clips and everything. And man, when you go back and watch it, because I don't think you go back and look at like the pro football focus grade and like, I don't know, it doesn't jump off the page necessarily. I've always had kind of a theory and I think some of the grades there back it up that like tight ends don't always get as much credit as I think they should on certain blocking plays because they either come as doubles or they come in situations.

Starting point is 00:01:35 where they don't get as much from a scoring perspective on PFF's grading system. But I always thought of in watching the games last year that Brun was a good blocker. And going back and watching some of these games, I feel even better about his blocking. And I do think this dude is going to be a future longtime NFL pro. Now, I'm not necessarily saying he's going to be, you know, Travis Kelsey. But I could see him being a contributing NFL player, whether that's a second or third tight end on an NFL team for, you know, six to eight to ten. years. I mean, you're talking about a dude who's like six foot six. At least that's what he's listed at. I mean, that means he's like six, five. Has good weight to him, is a good blocker, is

Starting point is 00:02:14 willing to get his nose dirty, is going to be a very experienced player by the time he, you know, is ready to move on from his KU football career. And can he grow in the receiving game? Well, certainly have the right head or the right offensive coordinator to kind of help you with that with Andy Kodalnicki, right? So I think sky's the limit here for Carson Bruin. And I'm excited what he can do because, you know, it was kind of found money for him being a real player and playing a lot of snaps a season ago as a redshirt freshman, you know. It felt like after he came in, you know, he's kind of the forgotten gift that was left by Andy Cotonnicki who helped bring him in his recruit to begin with. And when you look at Brune, it was like, okay, maybe we'll see him on the field in a couple of years. And then all of a sudden, he's your starter at different points, partially because of injury to some of the guys in front of him.

Starting point is 00:03:05 but took advantage in a real way. Even when there wasn't injury to some of the guys in front of him, he was still playing a role on the team, right? And a big reason why was because of the blocking. So I highly recommend going to check out that substack because you'll see some of the really fun blocking clips of Carson Bruin in some of the games that I went back and watched. And two of my favorites from that article,

Starting point is 00:03:28 there's one where he does a really good job blocking Zion Young for Missouri, who ended up being a second round pick in this past year's NFL draft. Like that's a tight end on a, you know, high level pro defensive end. There's another play where he's, you know, blocking Malachi Lawrence. And I think that's actually the very first clip I have on the article. Lawrence ended up being a, what, second round pick, first round pick. I think of the Cowboys or something like that out of UCF. And he just kind of like manhandles him.

Starting point is 00:03:58 And it's those plays where I saw there were some inconsiderate, like when he was getting one-on-ones with defensive linemen. There were some inconsistencies times or you could feel like, okay, he's still a young player, but there were other flashes like that where you go, man, this dude could end up being like a road grading, tight end. And when you think of KU in wanting to be a run first team, that becomes really important. But then when you think of how KU likes to run the football, they like to get linemen out on the move.

Starting point is 00:04:27 They like to move their tight end out into space and block somebody, whether it's the wide zone plays, whether it's the speed option plays or getting somebody to the edge, Kansas wants to be able to block on the run and block on the move. And when you look at Carson Bruin, I see somebody who can be kind of a lead distributor, a point person for whoever the running back is behind him at a given time at Kansas as a lead blocker. And it's the ability to basically give KU an extra offensive lineman when he's on the line of scrimmage and just sitting back and blocking.

Starting point is 00:05:00 it's the ability to pass block, the ability to run block, the ability to execute double teams, the ability to block on the, you know, on the run. Like this dude is, I think already had a really good first year and I'm excited to see what he can grow into even more, especially now with Kodiliki's tutelage kind of backs. Now, what steps can he take in his third year in total in the program here? Can he become a more complete tight end? I think is the big question here, right? I don't really have many questions about what he is or,

Starting point is 00:05:30 is going to turn into as a blocker. It's more so what is he going to turn into as a receiver? As good of a season, he had. He only had five catches last year. The receiving tight ends for KU more used season ago were Deshaunanaica until he got hurt and then Bowdoin Grune, right? That wasn't as much of Bruin's game. Well, now those guys are gone.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And for KU, they did bring in some interesting transfers with Jalen Butler and Carter Moses, who could be those receiving tight ends, right? So do we just see Brune, you know, reintrodu? invigorate the same role he had in the offense last year, or do we see it grow a little bit more? And I always think back to how Mason Fairchild really developed under Andy Codolick. And you could throw Jared Casey in there, too, for how he developed under Andy Codolnicki. And, you know, for Fairchild, it's interesting because the part of his game that grew under Codalnicki was the blocking side, right?

Starting point is 00:06:23 But it was really his all-around game, but mainly the blocking. Well, Brun already has the blocking. So can he grow the receiving? And I think it helps to have Andy Cotoniki because how many times last year did we see Boden Grun, who, like, listen, Bowden Grun wasn't the most nimble or agile athlete in the world or the fastest tight end of the world, but running wide open against opposing defenses. If you know what to do, if you know the right place to be, like Andy Cotonicki's offenses are going to get you open. And I know last year was not Codolniki was Zabrowski, but, you know, same kind of coaching philosophy and coaching tree and everything. And so the question just becomes, can you have sure hands? Can you look things in?

Starting point is 00:07:03 There's some plays from the film review where you see Brun maybe, you know, not real in something that maybe he could have. Maybe that's just an early young player mistake. There are there plays where it looks like he has soft hands. There are other players where it looks like he has good focus and good adjustment at the second level to kind of know where he needs to go to open grass. And you like to see that from a young player, that kind of spatial recognition that you can't always teach. So I guess point being is this, like, I have a very high thought process on Carson Brun here. The question is, what are we going to see right now in year three is coming off that injury? Could this be something where Carson Brun ends up being an all big 12th tight end for Kansas?

Starting point is 00:07:41 Could it be in 2027 or could it be in 2026? That's kind of the question I have here. But I have a very high bar and expectations for what he's going to do this year for Kansas. So once again, go check out that substack link in Jayhawks Overflow where we looked at a lot of what he did. over his first season playing for KU football. All right, let's move over to the cornerback room for KU. They struggle the season ago. How much better can this room get?

Starting point is 00:08:08 Because quite frankly, it needs to get better. All right, so today is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. It's one app for accounting. It's another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odu comes in.

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Starting point is 00:09:00 offense is humming here, right? When you have Carson Bruin getting going, well, when Carson Bruin catches a big pass, it's not just Carson Brun. It's the quarterback throwing him the ball. It's the offensive line blocking in front of the quarterback. It's the play caller, dialing up that play. It's the head coach enabling the offensive coordinator and helping to build the plan and being the CEO. It's the athletic department, helping to give the money to hire the coaches, right, and afford the roster and the players and everything, right? It really is everything from the top to bottom. And great organizations, because operations do matter, right?

Starting point is 00:09:32 And that's why you should get Odu. Try it for free at Odu.com slash locked on. That is Odu, ODO, ODO, ODO, dot com slash locked on. Thanks again for joining us here on our KU Football Friday. Don't forget, we've had plenty of KU basketball content this week, breaking down some Melvin Council stuff. We did a Dennis Parker preview. So there's been a lot to talk to this week or talk about this week

Starting point is 00:09:59 we went Phil Steele on earlier. If you can't get enough KU football, check out our KU Football preview with Phil Steele. from, I think it was Tuesday's episode of the show. Okay, so you look at the corner room for KU, and I think the big theme here is this, how much better can this room get? And what's interesting here is there's other rooms for KU that need to get better, and I think will be better than like, I look at the safety room,

Starting point is 00:10:20 or probably do the safety room next week. Well, the safety room has a lot of new names. Like you brought in Corey Gordon and Christian Pritchett and Jaden Harris and Kejohn Cummings-Colman, like you have a lot of new names to try to do that overhaul. When you look at the corner room for KU, it isn't a lot of new names, you know, like you add Elijah Cannon, he's more of like a developmental player. Lenny Brown comes in as a first year player, like, but I don't think either of those guys is really going to be part of the two deep for KU this year. The one guy who might have an impact on the field, well, he'll certainly play. But to what level will he be your third corner? Will he be your fourth corner? Will he start and be your second corner? Is Roman Pearson, the six foot three starter coming over from. Ball State, who before that was at the FCS level, right? Like, he'll be making an on-the-field impact to some degree, depending where he works out in the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:11:11 But most of the improvement that's needed from KU just has to come from internal improvement. Now, I do think you have some talent there to, you know, hope that that can be the case. You look at Jalen Todd, he did have a good year last year, right? In a room that overall wasn't good enough for KU, Todd did have a good season. And he was really good in man coverage specifically. he was playing more in the slot. I think the idea is for him to be back on the outside a little bit more. Maybe that helps KU because it can take up a little bit more of the field and kind of a more prevalent receiver on the outside.

Starting point is 00:11:42 You look at Austin Alexander, had a lot of ups, had a lot of downs last season. But he was playing as a redshirt sophomore. And he's a former nearly four-star rated kid. Like he's somebody who I would think has the potential to take a big step forward. And we'll use that early playing time he got. to become a better player. Like, this isn't the case of a guy who was a walk-on just having to play last year because KU wasn't good enough.

Starting point is 00:12:07 It's like, yes, it would have been nice if KU had better corners that you didn't have to throw a young guy in there maybe earlier than you'd want to. But the good news is now you have a really talented player with experience. That usually works out that Alexander could end up being a good player for KU, right? You look at Ty Gibbs, fifth-year player, has a lot of powerful experience. Joliel Hurley is a player who will be in his fourth-year, former Alabama transfer in like four-star recruit and then you add Pearson to the fold it's an older group it's one that you expect to have internal growth and then there's also the element of this where it's d k macdonald's second year's

Starting point is 00:12:38 defense coordinator is there more comfortability for those corners just being around this system for the second year and banking on the continuity for it to improve plus if you know again jumping ahead to that safety room if you feel better about the safeties this year does that help the confidence of the corners knowing the guys behind them and are playing with them uh or better when you look at the projected starting lineup, Jalen Todd, that's an easy projected starter. I think it comes down to a battle between Pearson and Alexander for the other starting corner. I would personally lean Alexander right now. I think he's going to use that experience and talent. And then you're looking at like Saeed Gibbs, Roman Pearson, Jal Hearley competing for a couple spots off the bench. If you're going with a three

Starting point is 00:13:18 corner look, who ends up being that guy, that's interesting as well. If you're facing a bigger receiver down in the red zone, maybe Pearson comes in. So there's certain things you can kind of do there. I think the best player in the room, again, definitely Jalen Todd had over 70 pro football focus grade a season ago, even though the pieces around him. It was not always set up for the most success. But he was one of the better corners in the Big 12 in man coverage, specifically struggled a little bit more in zone coverage. So can he be a little bit better in zone coverage this year? Or, you know, by moving him to the outside, does that allow him to be in man coverage a little bit more? And can KU do a better job of utilizing him in that way?

Starting point is 00:13:55 but really talented corner you have on the outside. Then we get to my guy in the system. And you know what? I think that would probably still be Todd. I don't really know. Maybe I'd go with like Joliel Hurley. I'm just kind of intrigued by the potential there. But honestly,

Starting point is 00:14:12 the most important player in this corner room, I actually think is Austin Alexander. Because the whole idea of this group improving comes with Austin Alexander taking a jump. If Austin Alexander is the same player as he wants, was last year. I guess Roman Pearson, maybe he could start over him and be an improvement, but I don't know how much of an improvement that is from what you had last year. Right. So I think if you get a jump from Alexander, you're now looking at saying, we go from struggling last year to now having two good corners on the outside, right? Because I feel

Starting point is 00:14:51 good about Todd. And if you can feel that way about Alexander, that would go a long way. So I think he's the most important player in the room to getting that jump overall. The best future piece in the room, well, I mean, most of these guys are like fourth, fifth years. You could look at Elijah Cannon as a third year player. I mean, it's interesting because Jalen Todd is still just a third year player. So technically the best future piece is actually the guy who's already playing right now, Jalen Todd. But pretty much if you're looking at first or second year guys, you're either between Chris McCorkle or Lenny Brown. So I have no idea.

Starting point is 00:15:25 I have no intel on which of those guys has emerged above the other. So best future piece, you have to go with the guys that are currently there as well and either be Todd or Alexander. There is a worry for me that Jaylon Todd has already had a lot of success. If he balls out even more this year, is he going to find a bigger check somewhere else in NIL money? So maybe you go with Alexander for the best future piece there. A biggest strength here, honestly, might be size.

Starting point is 00:15:49 This is actually a pretty good sized corner room for KU. Austin Alexander is six feet tall, which, you know, from corner perspectives, once you get to like six foot and above, that's good size. Once you get to like six two and above, that's really good size. So Alexander being six feet tall, especially at the collegiate level, that's solid size. Pearson is six foot three. That is huge from corner perspective. Hurley is six foot two. That's good size there. They have some guys with some good size at the corner position. We'll see if that helps them in somewhere or another. And then like I said, it's also a pretty experienced group overall. Like like I said, Jalen Todd, is a third-year player, but he's played a lot of snaps. It was a starter all of last year. Roman Pearson is a fifth-year player. Saeed Gibbs is a fifth-year player. Austin Alexander, third-year player, but, again, was playing a ton of snaps last season.

Starting point is 00:16:34 And then even Julial Hurley is a fourth-year player. It's a pretty experienced cornerback room for KU. The biggest question, I mean, just in general, can you cover well enough and get enough interceptions? Because last year, KU didn't get interceptions. You know, I'm trying to think they get any interceptions from the corner room, specifically. I know they had interceptions as a team, but did the corners get any? I can't remember. I want to say there was like some crazy stat about they didn't and they were one of the teams that

Starting point is 00:16:59 didn't for X amount of years and something crazy. But yeah, you got to start getting interceptions. I get it. Like when you look at getting interceptions and when you look at having good coverage, it helps if you have a better pass rush. It helps if, you know, the linebackers and the safeties are covering well also and it's forcing the quarterback to throw into tight windows. All of that. you know, it is very, I don't know, everything kind of synchronizes on each other in at least a little bit of a way. But yeah, the coverage just has to be better. You have to be able to force more. Like, and that's the thing.

Starting point is 00:17:33 If you can at least do one of the two, if you can be more shut down or if you can get more interceptions, that will at least make it a better unit if you can do one of the two, right? And then, you know, what is the level of improvement in a second year with D.K. McDonald's scheme, right? how much is another year in the system worth, which does seem to be kind of a complicated system at times, how much is that worth for these players and for KU? So the ultimate question here, is this group better, worse, or the same than it was a season ago? I think it's better. I expect Jalen Todd, who already was good a season ago, to take another at least little step forward. I expect Austin Alexander to take a step forward.

Starting point is 00:18:12 I do like the ability to have some of these bigger corners. I think it's an older room in general. another guy take a step forward, you know, that that kind of remains to be seen. But I do think it's better. Again, the question just is how much better, right? Do you go from one of the worst units in the big 12 to still a bottom fourth unit in the big 12 or do you go to at least being an average unit in the big 12? Because that would be a pretty big jump and be pretty helpful for Kansas. All right, we're going to finish up here. I might have a bit of an unpopular opinion on Cole Ballard. I think I'm going to officially be a Cole Ballard stand. We'll get to that next. What's up, Derek Johnson here?

Starting point is 00:18:53 this is locked on Jayhawks and I am officially staking my claim as Cole Ballard stand not to say that I'm not an Isaiah Marshall guy you know honestly deep down I'm still a big chase Jenkins guy but I just I feel like there there is becoming too much against Cole Ballard here right and the way I look at it is this KU had a chance to beat Texas Tech I think wanted it being an eight win team that year when Cole Ballard was he wasn't the starter for the game because he ends up taking over for Jason being early in the game. And that was of no prep for a guy who was a true freshman at the time, right, against Texas Tech. And I get it. It was more about the running game and the defense that game. But honestly, they should have beaten Kansas State, right? He should have been,

Starting point is 00:19:36 if Kansas wins that game, if Rich Miller catches the pick six or Trevor Wilson holds on the punt and Kansas beats Kansas State, how much differently do we look at Cole Ballard knowing that he was the guy that ended the streak against K State? And you look at that game, you go back and look at it, you go 11 of 16, 16, 16 yards. That's actually good numbers on the 11 of 16. but one touchdown to two interceptions. Okay, go back and watch the game. Do you know that one of the two interceptions was on a fourth down and long

Starting point is 00:19:59 where he just had to throw the ball up to give his guy a chance? He also had 10 carries for 55 yards. He had a total QBR in that game of 62.4. Like, that's not that far away of the QBR that Jalen Daniels just had this past season. He actually, that season between the tech game and the K-State game, had a QBR of 64.9. Again, you look at Jaylon Daniels this past season, he was in the high 60s for the entire season. So, and that was two years ago.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Three years ago, sorry. He's allowed to get better. I get it. He's not the most skilled quarterback in the world. He's not the most athletic. He doesn't have the biggest arm. He also has a really good throw against Iowa State. I think we're overblowing.

Starting point is 00:20:35 You see like the athletic, he comes into the number 108 quarterback in the country. I'm going to tell you right now, when you combine the Andy Codolnicki offense and how they're going to scheme it up and protect him as the quarterback if he ends up being the starter, I would be surprised if he ends up having that. I think it's just going to be a better impact on that.

Starting point is 00:20:54 And like, here's the other thing. Rocco Beck, is Rocco Beck like that much more physically souped up than Cole Ballard is? Like, no. And Rocco Beck's had a very nice, solid, like, collegiate career. He's been a winner in a lot of ways. Rocco Beck last season had, what, 16 passing touchdowns to like nine interceptions. Can Cole Ballard do that?

Starting point is 00:21:16 Iowa State won eight games last season. I would take six for Kansas this year. You know what I mean? here's the other thing though. Honestly, this might be what turned to me. There's been a lot of people piling against, like, it can't be Cole Ballard. If it's Cole Ballard, that's not a good sign about how they've developed Isaiah Marshall or that's not a good sign.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Why can't Cole Ballard be good enough? Why can't it just be that Cole Ballard is good enough? And I think that my favorite TV show of all time, if you've ever seen the TV show Friday Night Lights, right? Not the movie, the TV show. If you ever seen my favorite TV show of all time, right? And I don't know how many people have seen this. So if you understand this reference, thank you to you. And not only are you in every day or but you're a man after my heart or woman.

Starting point is 00:22:01 And you know, you look at Matt Saracen, the quarterback in Friday Night Lights, who is the backup quarterback. He's this. He looks out of place at the position. He's not the prototypical quarterback. He gets thrust into the job because the starter gets injured. Sorry if I'm spoiling anything for you from the very first. episode of a TV show from 20 years ago.

Starting point is 00:22:24 But he ends up getting in there. And again, he's not the most physically gifted quarterback. Like he's, but the team respects the crap out of him, which there have been some recent quotes that seems like that's the case with the team and respecting Cole Ballard. He knows the playbook. He's going to do everything on the field to win the game. But sometimes there are going to be physical limitations.

Starting point is 00:22:46 And I have decided that Cole Ballard is Matt Saracen. and he's the underdog that can get it done that a lot of people don't see as the prototypical guy and are always going to be looking to replace with the flashy next thing. But you can win a lot of games with that guy. And I've decided I'm going to go all in on Cole Ballard. I'm going to be a Cole Ballard guy. So that's where I'm at headed into the offseason. Let's get some KU football, baby.

Starting point is 00:23:15 All right, that'll do it for this football Friday. You can catch our show anywhere, get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BLOCKING MACHINE: Carson Bruhn ELEVATES Kansas Jayhawks—How Can Andy Kotelnicki IMPROVE His Game?

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