Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BULLYBALL: Syracuse Transfer Yasin Willis Provides Power for Kansas Jayhawks at Running Back

Starting point is 00:00:00 Jayhawks just got an absolute power back in Yassine Willis. You're not going to want to miss this one. 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. Thanks for making it your first listen every day or bonus episode. second listen of the day, and thanks for making locked on the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:00:34 On this bonus episode of the show, another commitment for KU, Yassine Willis, who is a powerful 235-pound running back from Syracuse committed to KU, and we're going to be breaking down what he brings to the table, his game, how he fits in with the KU running back room, and is he going to be the projected starter? What's exactly the projected role here for Yassine Willis? do we call it 235 pounds i mean obviously jerome betis was the bus can we make an extension of that the the the willis on the bus go round and round um you seen willis i apologize for that he's a six

Starting point is 00:01:09 four one two hundred and thirty five pound running back who committed to k u on wednesday he's originally from newark new jersey and then attended nearby syracuse for the past two seasons so he's going to be a true junior in 2026 for KU with, obviously, that means a couple of years that he could possibly give KU of production. This feels very much like a bit of a Daniel Hyshaw replacement. This is a big, powerful running back. And we'll get into a little bit of the comparison between the two as we go on here and the scouting report. But second all, of all, this gives KU.

Starting point is 00:01:47 second portal edition in the running back room. Obviously, they added Jalen Dupree, who is the transfer from Colorado State, and really both guys are bigger running backs. Now, Yassine Willis is bigger than Dupree is. Dupree maybe a little more jump right off the bat in terms of immediate speed, but neither guy is a burner downfield. So maybe that's the next thing that KU could be looking for. But now it's starting to look like a full complete running back.

Starting point is 00:02:17 room. And third of all, this continues the trend of like KU maybe moving into their big boy bully ball football phase. It feels like you look across the board, whether it's a running back, whether it's in the offensive line, the linebackers they've added. A lot of guys who are like big dudes for their position. And that continues with Eccan Willis. And it's hard not to look at this and not think thematically that Lance Leipold and company wants to be a bully football team, which I love. I think that's a great idea for KU. So let's get into the Scouting Report here.

Starting point is 00:02:53 What has you seen? Willis bring to the table next? Thanks for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. The wild card round is here in the NFL and Fandwls officially in playoff mode. Every game day during the NFL playoffs, Fandwell has given customers even more ways to get in on the action. Because right now, every NFL playoff game day, Fanduel users get a profit boost pack waiting for them inside the app.

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Starting point is 00:03:58 Don't forget to check out our Everydayer Club as well. All right, so Yassine Willis transfer from Syracuse. What does he bring to the table? So he joined the Orange back in a couple of years ago, as a 2024 as his freshman year, as an 88-rated three-star recruit. So a high-end three-star recruit. I think he was the number one player.

Starting point is 00:04:15 in the state of New Jersey. And then he got a little bit of run as a true freshman for Syracuse. That was a really good Syracuse team. His freshman year, a 10-win team that finished ranked. He had 36 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown. And then this past year ended up leading the team in rushing yards. He had 129 runs for 558 yards. So 4.3 yards per carry to go with four touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Not much of her receiving back, only 68 career receiving yards on left. This is weird. He's averaging less yards per catch than he's averaging yards per run. That is like extremely rare. But honestly, like, I know we'll be making some Daniel Highshot comparisons because I think, you know, KU brings him on to bring the physicality that you lose by losing Highshaw on the backfield. But like, honestly, I watched some of these guys highlights. It brings me a bit of it. And I don't mean to go like this far with it because this dude was a.

Starting point is 00:05:15 a really good college back that had his career diverted from a non-football play, but then ended up recouping everything in the NFL and having a great NFL career. But it's Legerrett Blunt. If you remember Ligarrett Blunt, who was with Oregon, was a really good player there until the punch of the Boise State player, ended up in the NFL having a very lengthy career. And obviously, you think of him, you know, having a lot of good success with Tom Brady when he was playing there. And he was kind of a bigger back. especially in his prime, who despite being a bigger back, did have a little more explosiveness than you might think. He wasn't running a 4-3, but like he had more explosiveness than you might think.

Starting point is 00:05:54 He had the ability to like hurdle a guy. And you see that a little bit with Yassine Willis as a bigger back that he's able to do a little bit of that. And one of the impressive things that I found with Willis, standing to 235 pounds, you don't often see those guys returning kicks. That's what he did for Syracuse in 2024. There are those highlights of him hurdling dudes. He's got some good games against good opponents, too. 94 yards in an upset of Clemson, 91 yards, and three touchdowns in their season opener against Tennessee. He had 76 yards on 7.6 yards per carry against what was a really good Georgia Tech team. So good numbers all the way around.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Some of his more under the hood numbers, 3.17 yards after contact per run. That was about middle of the pack in the ACC's, about average there, 17th of the 36. qualified halfbacks in the ACC in terms of the yards after contact per run. But that typically is a number we see get better for backs as they get older. So could be even better this year. He also had a breakaway percentage of 29%. That was good for 21st of the 36 qualified backs in the ACC. So around average in both those categories.

Starting point is 00:07:06 But again, that's one of those things that's like he's a 235 back. You would expect him to be ranking toward the bottom of the breakaway percentage and be more so ranking highly. and, you know, some of the short-yarded stuff, right? The fact that he's even in the middle of pack shows you that maybe a little more explosive than you might think for 235 pound back. And also, like, out of comparison, the breakaway percentage of 29%. Daniel Hyshaw was at 19% this year for KU.

Starting point is 00:07:30 So there is an extra added level of explosion that you're getting with Willis than maybe you had with Hyshaw. And finally, the last under the hood stat I want to kind of mention here, he had 38 first downs this year that ranked 12th in the ACC for, halfbacks. If you only take running backs who had 150 or less carries, because, you know, he did have a little less than the carries, he actually would have ranked sixth in the conference in first-ounce game. And it also means nearly 30% of his rushing attempts move the sticks. Highshaw was at 24%. So that is an improvement for KU in that area. Definitely more of a between

Starting point is 00:08:08 the tackles guy than an outside guy, which is interesting because we know KU likes to use that wide zone and you's running to the outside. But it's interesting because I always felt like Daniel Hyshaw, even though he was kind of a battering ram himself, I don't know that he always had the best vision running between the tackles. And I think you get a little more of that with Willis that I think this is KU's answer to running between the tackles more. When you look at what they added with Dupree, I think that's your answer that he can do a little bit of everything. So you can have success anywhere. And then some of your young guys maybe are going to be drilled and trained and running to the outside.

Starting point is 00:08:43 Do they need to add another running back who's maybe more speedy, explosive? I would kind of like to see that happen, but let's discuss the running back room what it looks like on the other side. This is locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Ruggiet. Let's talk about something most men don't bring up,

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Starting point is 00:09:42 Ruggia ready, feel precedent, feel confident, feel ready. Thanks you for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks, making it's your first listen every day. So what does the KU running back room look like now that you've seen Willis has been added to the fold? I'm going to start right here. I think Willis profiles as being your starter right now. But that said, I don't discount Jalen Dupree here. I do think Jalen Dupree has a chance to be KU's running back one at this point in time. We'll wait and see if they add another.

Starting point is 00:10:09 player. I would like to see them add one more running back that like to me, I want somebody who has like the top gear speed like a four four running back, right, that you can throw in to give you a little explosiveness and kind of rotate in with these guys where it's like, Willis is your power back. DuPree is kind of your do it all back. And then maybe you get like an explosive, whether it's a scat back or receiving back or somebody who can who can bust a home run ball. Right. Like I think that would be a good. Maybe it's one of the freshmen, right? Like maybe a guy like Justin Thurman or Corey Mock. or John Kelly can fill that role. But I feel good about the youngsters with those guys. The question is, do you just add the one more? But let's say this was it. I think we're kind of looking at this being a situation of, because it's easy to remember, okay, Devin Neal is your all-time leader in rushing yards, right?

Starting point is 00:10:59 It's easy to remember how great Devin Neal was, and that's all true. But what we forget sometimes is if you go back to that 20-22 season for KU football, like up until Daniel Highshot, because it was what, like a dislocated hip, I want to say in the Iowa State game, up until that like Iowa State game when he gets hurt, and maybe part of it was just they wanted to keep Devonnell fresh for the back half of the season, but like both guys were getting an equal amount of carries. They were, they were getting like equal run basically.

Starting point is 00:11:30 Like I go back to that West Virginia game that KU won in Morgan Town. and two touchdowns. The Duke game, which was one or two games before the Iowa State game. Let's see. Daniel Hysha had 10 carries for 61, Devin Neal 9 for 54. I don't mean to do revisionist history. Like, Devin Neal is the better back. I don't mean to change that way.

Starting point is 00:11:56 My point is just when – because Devin at that point was a good player. He took an even bigger step as junior and seasoner seasons, whereas the high shot had to deal with injuries to step back. But like at that point, at that moment in time, let's not forget KU was splitting reps between the two guys. And that's how I view this with Eucine Willis and Jalen Dupree. I think it would very much be, okay, you get 10 carries, you get 10 carries right now. And then maybe the spare is getting three, four, five carries depending on the game. And the quarterback's running in there, too.

Starting point is 00:12:25 I think that's what we can kind of see. And there are some comparisons you could make. Again, I don't mean to put this high of expectations on Jalen Dupree specifically. I'm not saying he's going to do what Devin Neal did because, again, Devin Neal is the most accomplished running back in program history. But Jalen Dupree is kind of an all-around back like Devin Neal was. Jalen Dupree is not somebody who's running a 4-4, but he has a good burst of explosiveness for maybe the first 10 yards, right?

Starting point is 00:12:51 He's somebody who does a lot of things well and is a well-balanced back. Yacine Willis is more of your power back, which was Daniel Hyshaw. So I think that's what they're kind of going to here, is trying to kind of recreate that 22 backfield that KU had before the Hyshaw injury. And Willis really excited about this ad. And I've liked the way that the running back room has kind of come together here for KU. All right, that'll go for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:13:19 We'll see you next time for another edition of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BULLYBALL: Syracuse Transfer Yasin Willis Provides Power for Kansas Jayhawks at Running Back

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