Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Breaking Down 3 More KU Football Portal Additions: LB Joseph Sipp, CB DJ Graham & OL Tyler Mercer

Starting point is 00:00:00 The transfers just keep on coming for Lance Leipold and KU football. 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 D Johnson Radio at Derek Johnson on Blue Sky, and this is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to every dayers catching each and every show. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts and on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks,

Starting point is 00:00:41 three more transfer portal editions for KU football. We'll also at the end touch on a little bit. They also added a player from high school ranks, and they lost their starting punter. So we'll get into all that on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by College Football Playoff on TNT. It's finally here, and you don't want to miss a moment of the action. The College Football Playoff, presented by Allstate,

Starting point is 00:01:02 begins with four first round games, December 20th and December 21st on ESPN, ABC, TNT and Max. Check it out. mercer and then a little bit on the kicker punter situation on damon greaves leaving uh for ku on this episode of the show joseph sip jr he is a six foot 225 pound linebacker from tampa florida went to hillsborough high school he's going to be transferring in from bowling green loki bowling green was was a real good mac team this season you might look at the record i think seven and five this year but they played like they played a couple uh real teams in Texas A&M and Penn State. So they were a very talented Mack squad. And he ended up playing 12 games as a true freshman with one start in the 2022 season. He had 13 games, 12 starts in the 2023 season. And then he had 12 starts in 2024, which means he will be a true senior in 2025 with 37 games played and 25 career

Starting point is 00:02:05 game starts under his belts to his name to this point in time. So experienced player. He had a good year this year. 75 tackles, 10 and a half tackles for loss, six sacks. What that tells me is he's a linebacker who can make chaotic plays happen, that he can has a good read of what gaps to go through or where to make the big play. You don't end up with 10.5 TFLs or six sacks as a linebacker without having those good instincts.

Starting point is 00:02:32 And also two pass deflections, fumble recovery, ended up earning all-MAC first team, so that's clearly an indication of what some of the other people around the league think of him. In total for his career, 167 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, six sacks, two pass deflections, and a fumble recovery. This season, he had five games with seven or more tackles. He had at least a half TFL in eight of the games, and he had multiple tackles for loss in three of the games. You look at the pro football focus grades, Sip ended up with a 68 overall grade among mac linebackers who had at

Starting point is 00:03:06 least 500 snaps this season he is ranked 11th of the 22 who would qualify there so kind of middle of the pack for looking at that but again on a good bowling green team and uh what i think is most impressive for me when i look at some of the pro football focus grades for sip is that he's just balanced across the grades gotta you know sometimes you see guys always a 65 grade he's a 70 in this but he's only a 55 in this that's not really the case for sip he is a 66 graded and run defense 70 grade in tackling 68 grade and pass rush and a 65 grade in coverage and as we've talked about that kind of 60 to 69 range on pff that's just like you're just kind of average starter level the closer you get to 70 the better that is right it's just so valuable

Starting point is 00:03:50 like if he can be well-rounded as a linebacker and we don't entirely know what ku is going to do under dk mcdonald are they going to stick with kind of the 4-3 is it going to be more of a 4-2-5 system is that fifth player so to speak is that an extra safety is it an extra corner is it more of a hawk type role where it basically is a linebacker that just has better coverage skills like what is that position going to look like what is the formation under DK McDonald how is that going to be for KU but you look at it and regardless of if you're playing that regardless if you're playing a dime defense even in substitution defenses you still have at least a linebacker out there and so you need a linebacker you can trust to stay on the field for three downs in a lot of cases you need at least

Starting point is 00:04:34 two linebackers you can trust to stay on the field for three downs i think you look at that with bangali kamara and with joseph sip as possibly being those guys. Now, I will say, even though the coverage rate comes in as 65 for Sipp, the numbers don't look as good. He was targeted 36 times and gave up 30 catches. That's an 83% completion rate. For his career, he has been targeted 60 times in coverage and allowed 48 catches. That's an 80% completion rate on what is a 105.3 nfl passer rating against so that's kind of my worry is that what if he is kind of toast in coverage but then again as a linebacker sometimes

Starting point is 00:05:12 the you know completions you can give up are what if it's a swing route what if it's a screen to the running back that you're technically the closest defender you know of course that's going to raise the completion rate kind of against you so i don't entirely know what to think there. Like, is he just a first and second down linebacker who, you know, with the jump in competition and athleticism, not going to be much of a third down guy? Or is some of those well-routed PFF grades that indicate he can stay on the field for all three downs? And if you are continuing to worry about it, you might look to the two games he played. I mentioned they played Penn State and Texas A&M.

Starting point is 00:05:46 He only had a 51 overall grade against Penn State. He only had a 48 grade against Texas A&M. Now, he only missed two tackles in those two games combined, which ideally you're not missing any or you're only missing one. But even KU linebackers are missing tackles around 15% of the time. And maybe you could view that as, okay, you know, he actually was a good tackler against the good athletes. That's good. You could also view it as maybe he just didn't miss as many

Starting point is 00:06:10 because he couldn't get there in time because he wasn't as athletic to do so. But that would be the word. To jump up in athleticism, how is that going to affect him as the linebacker? But still, the way I view it right now in the linebacker room, I mentioned Bengali Kamara. The way I view it, like on paper right now, Bengali Kamara, probably KU's best linebacker room i mentioned bengali kamara the way i view it like on paper right now bengali kamara probably ku's best linebacker he'll be a redshirt senior the transfer from i guess south carolina before that pit um you have jason gilliam back who i think has shown flashes throughout his career but has never really fully stayed healthy um and hopefully that's

Starting point is 00:06:40 something he can do this year uh and then you have a bunch of young guys like you you have tristan fletcher who seemed to make some inroads last year but we didn't really get to see on the field a ton he's a redshirt senior so i don't know really what to expect there and then like i said you have a ton of young guys who would like are any of them going to take a jump this year because even if one of them takes a jump i think that'd be huge logan brantley will be a redshirt sophomore jacori stewart and jonathan kamara who's just a freak athlete, are going to be redshirt freshmen. And then you have a true freshman, Malachi Kirby.

Starting point is 00:07:08 Can one of your young linebackers, basically one of those four, Kirby, Brantley, Stewart, and Kamara, can one of them take a jump up that they can supplant this starting group of linebackers? But I think right now I'd almost view Sip as being the second best linebacker on KU, right? Even if you do certain questions i think the production the experience the things that he can do i think i think sometimes you know i myself do this others do this focus too much on the things they can't do when we should focus on things they can do and the things he can do will probably make

Starting point is 00:07:39 him one of the more productive linebackers on ku and certainly things worked out well when you got jb brown from bowling green so you go back to that well get Sip and if I'm projecting the starting linebacker lineup right now I would imagine KU is still going to be searching for even more in the transfer portal because you know if you have basically eight guys right now you probably have room to add another scholarship player or so but I would be projecting probably Bengali Kamara and Joseph Sip to be your two starting linebackers if you do have kind of a hawk starting linebacker that would be more of the jason gilliam and then like i said if if one of those young players makes a jump they become the first linebacker rotates in and we saw this year really with you know three

Starting point is 00:08:18 linebackers mainly for those those two main spots the non-hawk spot right um you know jason gilliam alex reich marvin grant those guys were kind of splitting the hawk spots but for the two regular Those two main spots, the non-Hawks spot, right? You know, Jason Gilliam, Alex Reich, Marvin Grant, those guys were kind of splitting the Hawks spots. But for the two regular linebacker spots, it was basically mostly Cornell Wheeler when he was healthy and J.B. Brown, and then they rotated in Taiwan Berryhill. So who are those three going to be this year? Right now, my money would be on Bengali Kamara, Joseph Sipp,

Starting point is 00:08:40 and then, again, if you're using Gilliam as more of a Hawk, then maybe it's Tristan fletcher you just go with the seniority but honestly my money might be on that it would be adding another player out of the transfer portal because uh this position uh is one that ku certainly has room to improve this season all right uh let's continue on ku also added a corner former four-star recruit from oklahoma and utah state we'll discuss d Graham. Has that ever worked for Dee Graham at Kansas? We'll discuss that next. Our episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:10:40 Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. Continuing on on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks, KU's next portal command. I mean, they are rolling in portal commands, double digits at this point in time. Lance Lightbulb continuing to kill it and staff on the recruiting trail. Let's talk a little DJ Graham, who is a corner who was most recently at Utah State.

Starting point is 00:11:07 Before that, he was at Oklahoma. Before that, he was at Keller Central High School in Fort Worth, Texas. He's a 6'2", 200-pound corner, was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, goes to Oklahoma for four seasons. He had 28 games played, 12 starts for the Sooners before his most recent year at Utah State. But because of the 2020 COVID year, and then he took a medical redshirt in 2023, he's going to be a sixth-year senior in 2025 with one season left.

Starting point is 00:11:34 And that's a very interesting path here for DJ Graham. So he comes into college in 2020 as that four-star. He plays eight games. He has one start, 21 tackles, one TFL, an interception, pass breakup as a true freshman. Had a 74 PFF grade in 240 snaps. Then he plays 12 games with 10 starts. He actually missed the KU game that year in 2021. So KU didn't get to go against him and see him up close and personal in what would have

Starting point is 00:12:01 been the first year of the Lance Leipold era in 2021. But he ended up with 37 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble, two pass breakups. PFF grade went down a little bit, 62.3. Snaps went way up to 557. It can be easier to play better in a smaller role, maybe have more energy to do, maybe you have less to focus on. There are certain reasons that that stuff can kind of happen. And, you know, you look at his first year, he was playing most of his snaps in

Starting point is 00:12:30 the corner. That was still kind of the same thing in year two, but he did get a little bit more snaps in the box and kind of around the line of scrimmage. So I don't know. Then 2022, six games played, he had one starter corner, 14 tackles, two pass breakups, 57 PFF grade. But they ended up moving him to receiver midway through the season. And then he played some special teams, played some receiver, didn't register all these stats or anything. But he comes into the 2023 season in the spring game as a wide receiver. And he had a couple catches for 74 yards in the spring game

Starting point is 00:13:06 to where it was like, oh, this guy might have something. Clearly, he's a very good athlete, but he ends up missing the whole 2023 season with injury. Then he transfers to Utah State. He goes for 42 tackles this year, two pass deflections, three forced fumbles, two interceptions. He had a 69.4 PFF grade in 671 snaps. It was a 52 in run defense, a 63 in tackling, 77 in coverage. That was by far the

Starting point is 00:13:34 best grade of his career in coverage and the ninth best among Mountain West cornerbacks that are qualified here. There were 41 qualified Mountain West cornerbacks in terms of the number of snaps. And that ended up being the case for him. And again, played most of his snaps at corner. He did get some, you know, kind of in the box or in the slot a little bit or kind of at the line of scrimmage. But it'll be interesting to see how KU kind of uses him. You know, are they going to use him more in that third corner role as a slot guy are they going to use him on the outside what is going to be the game plan here uh for you know for for using him when you have uh already another

Starting point is 00:14:16 transfer coming in and julio hurley you have some interesting young pieces in the program already right uh you think of some guys coming back. And what's interesting here with Graham, he's an awesome athlete. You might go back, just look up DJ Graham interception versus Nebraska. It's an incredible like Odell Beckham type interception. The question I think here is this, because clearly the grades at Utah State are good. Was that just because he was athletically dominant over people in the Mountain West? Or was it that he was getting better, right? With experience, you tend to get better. Or is it that he was getting better, right? With experience, you tend to get better, or is it maybe just a little bit of both? Whereas you look to maybe

Starting point is 00:14:50 some past moments where, yeah, he had some good when he was at Oklahoma in the Big 12. He also had some struggles. Do you view that as when athletes were more up to his caliber, he struggled a little bit more? Do you also just view that as Oklahoma's defenses tended to be a mess for the most part when he was there, right? Most of those years, I don't know about most, but a couple of those years are with Lincoln Riley, is that coach when they didn't have good defenses. Some of that could be that.

Starting point is 00:15:15 Some of that could just be that he got better this year. Some of it could be the athleticism thing. But if it is just the athleticism thing, like he did play USC this year, and he had a 73.6 grade against usc he had a 74 coverage grade in that game specifically and so um i had him described to me by an ou fan as kind of a playmaking corner which is kind of right up the alley of what you had with mellow dots and and colby bryant now obviously some of these numbers are dependent to scheme to play calling to what's being asked of you what is weird he average he

Starting point is 00:15:45 allowed a 67 completion rate that's not ideal but he also allowed just 6.8 yards per attempt that is ideal um what's also interesting he hasn't been a guy who gets penalized a ton either so you know that's obviously a good thing he did allow four passing touchdowns that's not great but he also did get two interceptions so i i think some things on both ends and if you're going to go into this like can he be a full replacement for mellow dots or kobe bryant like i don't think that's how we should evaluate this because the answer is probably going to be no can he be a serviceable starter for you whether that's as the first second or third corner yeah i think that's uh that's very much in the world of possibilities but

Starting point is 00:16:23 that will become a question because i think there's a lot of competition in that corner room for KU. Jalen Todd, moving into his sophomore year, really liked what we saw at the end of his season as a freshman. Demarius McGee will be a redshirt senior, former really talented guy. He got a little bit of run earlier this season, but didn't necessarily jump off when he was out there, and I think was maybe dealing with some injury stuff. Jaleel Hur hurley the former top 50 recruit you just brought in from alabama um i think jameel croft and jacoby davis now in year three redshirt sophomores like they're clearly very talented guys like can they make that jump this next year i think austin alexander somebody people are really high on his retro freshman also got andre gibson who's retro freshman chris

Starting point is 00:17:04 mccorkle is a freshman. The way I view it right now, I would almost be thinking your top three corners are going to be Jalen Todd, DJ Graham, Demarius McGee. The question is, who's your starting two on the outside? Who's your slot guy? But I am open to the idea that one of those does get usurped by Jaleel Hurley, Jameel Croft, or Austin Alexander. I think it is going to be tight competition all the way throughout.

Starting point is 00:17:24 I don't think Kansas needs to add another guy in the portal. Croft, or Austin Alexander. I think it is going to be tight competition all the way throughout. I don't think Kansas needs to add another guy in the portal. This position, maybe they will. It seemed like they were interested in a lot of different corners, so maybe that tells you that they are interested in bringing in two guys and maybe that some of those young guys aren't as far along as they might hope to play at least this year and they want to give them another year to kind of figure things out. I don't know. That kind of remains to be seen.

Starting point is 00:17:43 But I do think Graham is somebody who I would view to be one of KU's top three corners, if not top two, if not your number one corner. But I almost think that like it behooves you better if you're a defensive DJ. Graham is your number two corner. I don't know. I kind of view that as being a better situation for you. OK, let's finish up. KU added an offensive lineman as well in Tyler Mercer.

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Starting point is 00:18:48 You can catch it live on TNT, True TV, TBS, and Max. Get ready for those impractical Jokers commercials. Finishing up on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks with, well, we'll touch a little bit on the special team stuff. Damon Greaves entering the portal. But Tyler Mercer is the other latest addition for KU. He is a 6'4", 290-pound interior offensive lineman, originally from Prosper, Texas.

Starting point is 00:19:14 Came into North Texas, shout out Buc-ee's, as an 85-graded three-star recruit. He is really impressive. He played in eight games with six starts, including the final five games as an interior offensive lineman. And he's going to be a true sophomore when you look at this upcoming season with three seasons left to play. Now, you look at now all three of KU football's offensive line positions.

Starting point is 00:19:40 Two of them are tackles. This one, an interior guy. But what's interesting is all of them played as true freshmen and have three seasons left to play with a fourth if you redshirt them a year but at the same point in time i almost think mercer is the least likely to end up red shirting now you look at him 565 snaps all of them came at the center position this season and that's where things become interesting and the pff grade is good 68.5 pff grade as a true freshman and that's for a bowl eligible north texas team he had an 80 grade in pass blocking how do you do that he only allowed three pressures all season that's really impressive 63 and run block so you

Starting point is 00:20:23 know it's not even like oh the run block was really bad the pass block was. 63 and run block. So, you know, it's not even like, oh, the run block was really bad and the pass block was great. Like the run block was adequate. The pass block was great. Really good production there. And obviously Bryce Foster is coming back for another season. So you're going to pencil in Bryce Foster as being your starting center. What does that mean for Mercer? I think you could view it a couple ways. One, if KU views that he needs more time, he becomes the backup center. Maybe he's the backup center and the backup guard, right? Maybe he's just used as a backup in a lot of ways, and then you're setting him up to be a future starter as soon as 2026.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Maybe you're able to, by having him as a backup, as the backup center, maybe you're able to keep him down to just backup as the backup center maybe you're able to keep him down to just four games played and he's able to redshirt right and then he's even more of a future piece or what if even he is the backup center but he starts at guard because the way you view it right now with the ku returning offensive starters on the offensive line it's kobe baines and it's bryce foster and then if you want to add calvin clements who we've seen start games then that would be three guys but that would leave a tackle position open that would leave a guard position open right um do you think you know he can take that guard

Starting point is 00:21:34 position i i think that's entirely possible right um obviously it'll depend how you adjust to playing against bigger stronger faster athletes and everything and that's going to be a big part of it. But the way you view it is you might have gotten your starting center of the future and possibly even a starting guard as soon as this year. That would be a pretty big deal. IKU did lose someone today. That was Damon Greaves, who was a sophomore in 2024 at the punter position. Did improve from year one to year two.

Starting point is 00:22:02 Went from like 39 yards per putt to 42 yards per putt. But Kansas went from last in the Big 12 in yards per putt, second to last in yards per putt. So like they did improve, but it wasn't like this gigantic improvement. So I say that to say this isn't an insurmountable replacement. Obviously, he was showing to get better, and he probably will be even better this next season i believe he is 24 years old so maybe that the curve isn't as much there obviously uh you know contributed in in a solid way for ku and

Starting point is 00:22:33 um that was uh an unfortunate story with his parents coming all the way out to see him play and then he didn't end up punting so i don't know if that contributed to him wanting to leave it all but that only leaves great at addison as the lone punter on the roster, I believe, right now for KU. So obviously they're going to have to go out and get somebody. But I should also mention they added Dane Efrid. He's a kicker from Branson High School in Missouri. I believe that'll be a preferred walk-on for KU.

Starting point is 00:22:58 All right, that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Apologies for the little camera issue there. This has been LOJ. Catch us on another edition with Nick Schwert on tomorrow's episode and a KU Brown preview on Friday. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Breaking Down 3 More KU Football Portal Additions: LB Joseph Sipp, CB DJ Graham & OL Tyler Mercer

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