Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - DEPTH CHART REACTION: Cole Ballard Wins QB2 Over Isaiah Marshall, WR Intrigue, Texas Pipeline & MORE
Episode Date: August 19, 2025Kansas Jayhawks football depth chart revealed: Cole Ballard secures QB2 spot over Isaiah Marshall. Is he the future face of KU's offense come 2026 post-Jalon Daniels?Derek Johnson breaks down the Jayh...awks' latest roster moves, analyzing Ballard's rise and its implications. Key discussions include the offensive line shake-up, Jon Jon Kamara's defensive potential, the wide receiver room's interesting 2-deep, young players emerging and KU's evolving recruiting strategy. Johnson examines how Lance Leipold's tactics are reshaping the Big 12 landscape, highlighting the team's growing Kansas pipeline and Texas connections.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEUse code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off your order!DripDropRight now, DripDropis offering Locked On listeners 20% off your first order. Just head to https://dripdrop.com and use promocode LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Stock up now before the heat hits hard.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONMLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.PrizePicks — Run Your Game.Click Link Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEOpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonmlbGametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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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Discussion (0)
The depth chart is out for KU football.
Cole Ballard wins QB2, which is very important possibly for the future KU starting quarterback,
but also some very interesting 20-25 stuff.
We got freshmen littered throughout the two deep.
We got some young players stepping up.
It should be very interesting in week zero against Fresno State.
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.
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where you can like and subscribe to the show.
And on today's edition of LOJ, we're breaking down the KU football depth chart,
which is officially out now.
We get some interesting takeaways, what it all means.
And we're going to talk a little bit about, you know, the Depture showed us maybe where Kansas is recruiting pipeline, so to speak, are how are they doing in state?
How are they doing in some of these other states?
Where are they looking to fill out their Too Deep?
We'll get to all that on today's episode of the show, starting off with our biggest takeaway from the Too Deep, which is that QB2 battle with Cole Ballard beating out Isaiah Marshall.
Okay, so let's start right there for the episode because it's funny.
in most situations you would think the QB1 battle would be the big you know for most schools like
that is the biggest um storyline like who's going to be QB1 you know you look at like school like
Auburn and it's like oh there's three quarterbacks that are competing it's like a constant
storyline for so many years with KU football we've had that storyline which it's refreshing not to
have it in some of the Lent's life hold days but point being we don't have that this year
Jayland Daniels is the starter and as long as Jayland Daniels stays healthy which you hope
he does, that's going to remain to be the case for KU, that Jalen Daniels is going to be the
starter for the Jayhawks this season. But the QB2 battle became very, very interesting to me
and to many other fans because it's not just about, okay, you're the backup quarterback in a
situation where we've seen Jalen Daniels get injured in the past and you could be one play
away from having to come in and save a game or save a season as we saw, you know, Jason Bean
really do a couple times for Kansas. It's also the implications.
of what it means for the future of KU football.
And for 2026, Jalen Daniels is a redshirt senior this year.
Now, I know this was going around.
If you saw the depth chart that came out, the picture of it, said Jalen Daniels is a
redshirt junior.
That is not accurate.
He's a redshirt senior.
If you go to the KU football website, he's listed as a red shirt senior,
here's my guess what happened on the depth chart.
They just pulled up the same template from what they used last year for the depth chart.
And they're like, oh, see, Jalen Daniels still QB1, and they forgot to change the year that he is.
It's not a big deal.
is a retro senior. So there will be a new quarterback in 2026. And, you know, it could be somebody
they bring in via the transfer portal. It could be one of these young quarterbacks who still is
young with Isaiah Marshall or David McComb, who with another year under their belt, the talent
starts to meet with the experience and the expectations and the consistency the staff wants
of them. And that over these next, you know, three months in practice and then in spring football,
they do end up being the starting quarterback. But it is.
is right now a clear indication that if the 2026 season started today, a year early,
that Cole Ballard would be the starting quarterback for KU come 2026. And that comes as a surprise to
many because Cole Ballard began his career as a walk-on. And Isaiah Marshall was a near four-star
recruit who won the state title in Michigan. And David McComb is somebody who, depending
where you look, like, you know, high-end three-star, low-end four-star recruit, who a lot of people
are very high on his long-term ceiling as a quarterback prospect.
Now, I did find it interesting if you looked at the depth chart.
You know, most spots are, it's mostly a two-deep, but there are spots where they have
three guys.
Some of that's because there's an oar, right?
Either the starter's an oar or the backups an oar, tight end, there's four guys.
But two, three, four are all oars.
They're all number two technically.
What I found interesting for this one at quarterback is that Isaiah Marshall is not an
or with Cole Ballard yet he's on the essentially three deep the depth chart there and i find
that interesting because again that's not something you see a ton of throughout the two deep you do see
it here or there like marcus calvin as a defense tackles an example i can't help but think like is
that something that's an ode to because theoretically if you're not on the depth chart
like as a player or maybe a parent of a player or guardian whatever you start to see that as oh my guy
could be third string he could be fifth string right you're in the abyss you're in the abyss you're in the
abyss if not on the depth chart. If you're at least on there, even if it's the third string,
you do know that like, okay, here's the set spot that he's at. Maybe it's also dangling the
carrot, so to speak, that like, hey, Marshall, we have you at the third string right now because
we want to see you do this, this, and that during practice during the season. But we're putting
you on there because we think you can get to that point where you usurp Cole Ballard at
some point in the season. Maybe that would be the case. I just find it interesting because that's not
something that the staff is doing a lot of with putting that kind of extra guy on there.
Now, what this mainly means to me with Ballard beating out Marshall, you know, let's again forget the part where, okay, the backup quarterback job is very important because Jalen Daniels does get injured.
They have to come in.
And from that perspective, Cole Ballard does know the offense the best.
He's been the most experienced.
And the thing that this staff values above all else, you'll hear this in them talking about players and you'll see it reflected in who gets most playing time.
who is the most consistent right you could have a player who has an a potential but sometimes they
have a low floor sometimes they look like a d player sometimes they look like a c sometimes they look like a
b sometimes they look like an a in practice versus a player who constantly is in that b plus c minus range
they're going to go with that player because they want to know somebody they can trust down in down
out play in play out to execute what they want from them and that's where ballard seems to be kind
of a steady eddy and so it would make sense that he would have kind of the staff's liking but
what this means long term i think is one of four things number one cole ballard is a lot better than
some people think and that's the one that i kind of want to harp on the most but we'll get back to
that in a second number two isaiah marshall is going to be a longer term project than we thought
he's not as as you know complete of a prospect it's going to take more time number three
isaiah marshal just is never going to cut it at k u and eventually he's going to
going to have to transfer out from Kansas. Definitely possible. And number four,
Isaiah Marshall is being listed on the depth chart as QB3 is dangling that carrot to say,
if you do ball out during the season, you're going to usurp Cole Ballard. And, you know,
it's funny because I think of like a guy like Will Huggins where it's like he was buried on the
KU depth chart for so long. And then he got an opportunity at an FCS school last year. And now he's
the Oklahoma starting tight end. And it's like, sometimes guys just need opportunity. Sometimes guys are
better gamers than they are practice players. And maybe that's the.
case too for Isaiah Marshall. We've seen a lot of KU football quarterbacks who would fit that
billing like Todd Reese and Carter Stanley and even to an early an extent like Jalen Daniels at the
beginning of his career, better in games than they are in practice. And that can make things
difficult to evaluate as well. But if we're looking at the number two and number three, Isaiah Marshall
would be more of a long-term product or eventually he's going to have to transfer out. I mean,
it is the reality of the sport that if, you know, we get into 2026 and Cole Ballard is ahead of
Isaiah Marshall and he's only, you know, one year older in classification. And you also have
David McComb in the quarterback room and you got other guys coming along in the class of 2026 and
then, you know, they'll be bringing in future quarterback commits as well. It would only be
natural for Isaiah Marshall to see what else is out there for playing time at that point in time.
Now, would he give you spring football to compete and see if he ends up, you know,
winning the starting job over him? And then if he loses it, then he leaves after spring ball.
That's entirely possible, right? But it is at least a possibility you have to be open to
I'm not saying it's going to happen.
I'm not saying I'm rooting for it to happen.
The best case scenario for me is Isaiah Marshall, this very talented kid who I've wanted
to see play football for KU ends up getting in the FCS game against Wagner, balls out,
does well in practice, and then all of a sudden he takes off in spring ball and he's your starting
quarterback in 2026 and he's a stud.
That's the perfect scenario, right?
Because as much as I do think Cole Ballard is better than people are giving him credit for,
I do acknowledge the ceiling on Isaiah Marshall is probably higher than that of Cole Ballard's.
Now, going back to number one, Cole Ballard's a lot better than people think.
For my money, that is what I'm choosing to believe here as why Cole Ballard is ahead of
Isaiah Marshall.
Like, sure, Isaiah Marshall probably does need more time and seasoning.
I think that's fair.
He probably needs to get more consistent.
I think those are probably all fair things.
But I also think people want to view this is, like, not everybody, some people want to view
this is an indictment of, well, the reason Isaiah Marshall lost to Cole Ballard is because
Isaiah Marshall is just not very good.
When it could just be Cole Ballard beat out Isaiah Marshall, because Cole Ballard,
pretty good, you know, and we saw him get into games as a true freshman. Again, you hear the
walk-on billing. Players go up from walk-on to earn scholarships and have, you know, really solid seasons
all the time, they're college football. Like, it's not an indictment that's happening in Kansas now.
Cole Ballard comes from good lineage, good genes, you know, he's got a dad who's a GM in the NFL.
It's not like this is your, oh, his dad is five foot six and his mom is five foot two. Like, where
did he get these jeans? Like, oh, my goodness, he's just this ultimate walk-on story.
No, his dad's an executive in the NFL.
This is not your normal walk on.
Beyond that, he got playing experiences as a true freshman in big games.
Yes, he wasn't perfect in those games.
Yes, KU had to cater the offense in a different way.
Like, he hung in there.
He was tough.
He wasn't like a problem in the games.
You know, we see quarterbacks all the time who are kind of game managers
or Rocco-Bects of the world.
Cole Ballard be Rocco-Bect.
You bet your buddy could.
And so I do, I'm choosing to believe this is like,
I think Cole Ballard is better than what people are giving him credit for.
And, you know, he's going to get a lot better from where he was a couple of years ago.
And so I think it's natural to say, okay, you know, that's where he was when we first saw him.
And, you know, it wasn't the best quarterback KU's had, but it wasn't the worst either.
He's going to get better over his next couple of years.
He's going to gain more confidence from that.
So it also doesn't rule out that like David McComb, he's probably got maybe the biggest potential
because he hasn't had that full season under his belt.
Maybe he could grow even more coming in the next year where maybe David McComb is your starter come 2026.
But if you're putting betting odds on it right now, just based on the information we have,
you'd have to say Cole Ballard is the favorite right now to be quarterback won in 2026.
But again, Marshall could beat him out during the season.
David McComb could take off at any point in time.
They can go to the transfer portal if they don't feel great about it.
So we'll wait and see.
Now, beyond that, I think the biggest winners beyond Cole Ballard in the first depth chart,
Carson Bruin, Amir Herring, Austin Alexander, Tate and Aggie, and returning wide receivers.
I'll tell you why next.
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Okay, the depth chart notes for KU football, we mentioned the Cole Ballard stuff.
They also mentioned the captains, Jalen Daniels, makes sense, Bryce Foster, makes sense,
Justice Finkeley, that's really cool to see there, and then they're going to kind of rotate that
fourth guy.
So I want to start with receiver.
I think that is the most interesting position.
that got released on the depth chart like there's certain things that weren't surprising oh
daniel and daniels is the starter daniel high shaw's the starting running back like those aren't surprises
receiver henderson is the lone um starter without an or next to his name which that part's not
surprising what is a bit surprising is his backup for one bryce cohoun i mean kansas brings in four
freshman receivers can says all these transfers coming in now uh bryson can'tee the transfer from
Columbia who might end up one of the two or three best receivers on the team has been dealing
with injury.
Lance Leiple talked about he's been back at the last couple of practices.
Maybe he works his way back in above one of these guys.
But Cohoon is a former walk-on.
Now, he was a scholarship player at Syracuse.
I don't know if he's earned a way to scholarship now at this point.
But yeah, just a bit of a surprise he works way on there.
But speedy receivers, so again, that can be kind of a cool thing if one of those guys, you
know, develops into a real player.
The other one is it seems like there's been a lot of hype picking up on Cam Pickett.
So surprising a bit that Doug Amelia and,
got an oar with him. Now, we do see this a lot. Lance Leifold likes to give guys
with seniority an opportunity early in the season to earn their playing time. And he's
going to, you know, I think of Hayden Hatcher and Austin Booker. Hayden Hatcher gets the start
in the first game, Austin Booker comes out there and they're playing similar snaps and
Booker looks like one of the best defenders on the team. And boom, all of a sudden,
Austin Booker's playing more than Hayden Hatcher later in the season. He's going to give that
nod to the upperclassman, give him a chance, but, you know, wouldn't surprise me
picket ends up usurping a million then again maybe this is a good sign for dug amelian same kind of thing
with keaton queca or levi wents but again that could be a spot where it's bryson canty at the end of the day that is good news though
that queca has emerged to that point because he could be somebody you're really counting on in 2026 on on the offensive line
you get Calvin clements at left tackle bryce fostered center Kobe bane's at right guard all of that's as expected right
we don't actually get the full answer to who's going to be the starting left guard and who's going to be the starting right tackle
And Lance Lightbill talked about they're going to rotate them, which makes sense early in the season.
We've seen KU, you know, in the past kind of used six offensive linemen for a majority of the snaps for five spots.
We'll see what that ends up being.
But you get Amir Herring or Tabaki Tuiko Levatu at the left guard spot.
And then you either get Nolan Gorsica or Enrique Cruz Jr. at the right tackle spot.
Now, Cruz Jr. comes from Syracuse.
Gorsica has been in the program a bit after transferring in from Buffalo.
And then Mayor Herring was a former highly recruited guy.
from Michigan, comes over, spends last year with KU, and obviously with Tuico Lovatu,
he had some injuries to deal with during spring ball coming over from UCLA.
Herring is the guy that I'm giving the favorite to start the job.
I mean, there's a quote from Lance Leipold talking about how he consistent he has been in this,
you know, fall camp.
What did I say earlier?
Lance Leipold, the staff, they love guys who are consistent.
So I think Herring is the one.
Now, the other one I have no idea where that's going to go with Gorsica or Cruz.
So that'll be interesting.
You also get Tanner, Mercer, and Livingston is the other bad.
backups. KU really likes to have a top eight where it's like your five starters, a six guy who's going to rotate in for big snaps. And then the other two backups, you know, you can either, it's somebody who can either fill in for either guard spot or can fill in on the left side or fill in on the right side. And they'll just kind of use it that way where it's like realistically, one guy is the backup to multiple positions, but they're going to put multiple names on there, you know, to give kind of credit to the work that they've had. Tight end, Sean Hanukas, tight end one. That's not surprising what, I don't know that's surprising, but the
interesting, Carson Bruin got an oar with Leight and Cure and Broden grown as the backup tight end.
I think Carson Brun could end up being tight end too when it's all said and done for KU, which
would be, again, a good development for 2026 as well.
You look to the defensive side of the ball and the defensive line, Harris or Brinkley behind Miller,
again, makes sense there.
Alex Bray behind Finkeley seems pretty straightforward.
DJ Withers and Tommy Dunn went out at defensive tackle.
That was just something where I was like, okay, is Blake Harold going to start?
but made sense with those guys being seniors.
Harold's basically going to be a third starter.
So, you know, it is what it is.
But no Gage Keys on the depth chart.
I don't think that's necessarily because Gage Keys isn't somebody who's going to play.
I just think Gage Keys is hurt right now.
I think when he's playing, they're going to use him as a rotational defensive tackle.
But it was cool to see Marcus Calvin on there.
And obviously, Keenan Caldwell took advantage with that Key's injury.
At the linebacker spot, Lathen beats out Joseph Sip.
Now, that might have partially been due to injury as well,
with him being kind of banged up here recently.
I don't know if he'll be available for the first game or not.
But I'd imagine both play a lot when both are healthy.
But I think it's a good sign that Trey Lathen is coming on because he's somebody who brings some athleticism to the linebacking room for KU and a lot of production and proven play in the Big 12, which is obviously a good thing.
I was really excited to see John John Kamara as the backup to Bengali Kamara at the other.
That's also going to be, I just realized, kind of interesting that you have two Kamaras at the linebacker.
So it's like, oh, Kamara made the play.
And it's like, yes.
Oh, wait, which one?
But that's really good because John John Kamara is one of the best freak athletes on the team.
I mean, maybe if we're talking overall athletes on the team, I know Daniel Hysha was on the freak list,
you might be able to argue John Kamara.
And so the fact that he's starting to make inroads that you feel like, okay, he's going to be a rotational guy this year and a real player,
maybe a starter in 2026, that excites me because of the potential that he brings and what he will allow you to do
with having a freak like that in the linebacker room in terms of passing.
coverage having speed out there i'm super excited for that now uh the hawk role is very interesting because
it lists jason gilliam is the starter with said gives behind him and mason ellis behind him and you can view
that as a depth chart where it says jason gilliam's a starter and side gives a second string and mason
ellis is third string i don't i think that's a position where they're basically saying those three
guys are based on the package that k u wants to play if k u wants to play with a linebacker as that guy
it's jason gilliam if k u wants to play with another corner out there
you know, more of a passing down.
That would be Gibbs.
If KU wants to play kind of a hybrid role
where they want another safety out there
who can do a little bit of both,
that would be Mason Ellis.
It depends on the package.
Which guy do I think we're going to see the most?
I actually think it's going to be Mason Ellis,
which is really cool for a local Kansas kid
who was a former highly recruited guy,
really good athlete as well.
Then in the corner room,
Austin Alexander, actually head of DJ Graham.
That's huge news.
Now Graham been dealing with an injury.
We'll see if you usurps him once he's fully healthy.
But you've got two young corners.
Austin Alexander, Redshirt freshman,
Jalen,
as a sophomore, who are very talented players.
And overall, that corner room now for KU, the top four on that two deep,
Jalen Todd, Austin Alexander, Jaliel Hurley, DJ Graham,
that's three guys who can have a couple years with you for KU.
But all four of those corners, including Graham,
are players who are at least 88 graded three-star recruits.
It's a very talented room, even if it's not as experience as it was last year for KU.
Then at safety, Taylor Davis, lyric rolls, no surprises there.
Die Brothers is the backups.
Mason Ellis kind of soaring up.
He's the backup on the two deep there and also playing, I think a majority of the snaps
as that third safety in the Hawk position for KU.
Special teams, no surprises with kicker and punter.
I do love that we see Henderson and or picket in kick return, get the explosive players
of ball.
And how about Tate Nagy returning punts, the son of Matt Nagy, the offense coordinator
for the chiefs, who was a quarterback in high school in the Kansas City area,
comes over to KU, talk about a transition to receiver, just making guys miss and being a
reliable player. So cool to see that and he'll be returning puns. Now, we did not get to learn
who has the edge for running back three. So maybe that's something we'll find out in the first
couple weeks of this season. I want to talk about where these players come from because I think
it shows a little bit of a recruiting pipeline that KU is developing. Today's episode of Locked on Jayhawks
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So we talked about the two deep and obviously it doesn't end up being just a too deep.
It's a depth chart.
There's certain positions where three or four guys are on there.
So it ends up being more than, you know, the 44 that you would have, I guess, for 22 starting spots,
offense and defense times two, plus you got the special themes, whatever.
But I'm just looking at the offense and defense here.
So let's call it give or take 50 guys who are listed on.
on there, right? It might actually be a little bit more than that. I don't know. I guess I could
quickly calculate it right now. But regardless, of those, give or take, 50 players or so that is
on there, nine of them are from the state of Texas with five starters from the Lone Star State. Six
of them are from the state of Kansas, second most on the team. Five are from California, five from
Florida. You also have four from the Deptarton, Illinois, four from Michigan, three from
Alabama, two from Iowa, and then one each from Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia,
Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
So a couple of things to look at there.
I named a lot of states.
One, that shows you that this staff goes around.
They look for a lot of unearth rocks, on earth diamonds,
places that they can find connections,
places they can find players that are interested.
And they are really doing a lot of work geographically scanning
to find the best players to come into KU football.
That is kind of cool that it is this mix of really everywhere.
But it also shows you Texas is the primary, which, you know, for Mark Mangino, Texas and Oklahoma were so big.
Obviously, Daniel Hysha being from Oklahoma, you combine it with the five other starters from Texas.
That's kind of the case here for KU this year as well.
But it also shows you that they're really making, whether you want to call it making inroads or finding guys in those, I would call like talent rich, highly populated states.
Like when you think of big football recruiting, Florida, California, and Texas, those are the first three that come to mind to me.
There's other great ones like the Ohio, Pennsylvania area has great high school recruiting, the Carolinas, the Atlanta area.
Like, there's a ton of great spots for high school recruiting.
But those might be the three like most known, you know, Florida, you get your speedy kids, California, you get your quarterbacks and skill players, Texas, you get a little bit of everything.
I don't know.
there's just a lot of talent-rich players in all of those areas.
And that means Kansas, you heard me say, Texas with nine, Kansas was six, California with five, Florida of five.
So Florida, California and Texas, those talent-rich states, 19 players who are on your depth chart are from those areas.
Kansas is specifically targeting those.
And then obviously, there is the Kansas part of it.
Like, it feels like that is growing for Kansas.
I would love to look back at a previous two-deep.
I mean, obviously, Devin Neal, you know, on the depth chart, local kids.
from Kansas. And Kansas had other players from the state, but it feels like that is growing,
and it's only going to grow even more. Because you look at the class of 2026, KUS 7 of the top
14 recruits in the state of Kansas according to 24-7 sports. They continue to have a pipeline
in Kansas that they're building right now and seemingly is getting bigger and bigger by the day,
by the month. And they're really going for those talent-rich states. And they're finding success
in doing so. They're getting high-end three stars or low-end four stars from those places.
It's really impressive what Lance Leipold and Company are doing specifically.
But, yeah, I really like to see what they're doing in the state of Kansas as well
with six players on the depth chart from the state of Kansas as they continue to build out
that local recruiting trail.
All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks.
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See you on Wednesday's episode, doing some season-long prop bets with Nick Springer for KU football,
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See you then.