Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Does Jalon Daniels & Jason Bean Give Kansas Jayhawks Football the Top QB Two-Deep in the Big 12?

Episode Date: July 31, 2023

Do the Kansas Jayhawks have the best football quarterback two-deep in the Big 12 conference led by Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean? Who will win the battle for the 3rd string between Mikey Pauley and Ben Easters? What about the future of the position including Isaiah Marshall?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're discussing the Kansas quarterback position. Does Kansas have the best QB two deep in the entire Big 12? 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. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking the Kansas quarterback position.

So if you could, hit the like button, subscribe on our YouTube page, find us again, wherever you get any of your podcasts and should be a fun one today is we're going to start our positional previews. But the main question here, writing this with the quarterback position for KU, because overall this position should be very good. It should be a strength for KU this season. You have Jalen Daniels, who was the preseason offensive player of the year in the Big 12. Jason Bean, who filled in admirably 14 passing touchdowns to four interceptions last year, put up monstrous numbers in the games that he came in as a backup quarterback. I mean, if Jason Bean was your starting quarterback, we'd probably be looking at him as being one of the

top half, at the very least, quarterbacks in the big 12 this season which means if you have two of the top you know half and your number one is the number one it's hard for another team to beat that now in theory there could be another school like you know if you look at Texas and it's like well Quinn Hewers has all this potential in the world and Arch Manning's the backup maybe from a pro perspective that one's higher but in terms of collegiate production I think you can make the case that is the fact for Kansas but you go all the way through the roster there's going to be a quarterback competition for who's going to be the third string probably outside of that but really no competition up at the top Jalen will be the starter Jason Bean will be the backup and you feel very good about both

of those guys now going back to the question the underlying big question here. Does Kansas have the best two deep of quarterback play in the entire conference in the Big 12? Well, I think it's entirely possible. You know, when you look at this position to the rest of the Big 12, even if you don't have Jalen Daniels as the number one quarterback in the conference, which, you know, I guess that can kind of vary person to person. Again, he was awarded the Big 12 Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the conference, which, you know, I guess that can kind of vary person to person. Again, the, he was awarded the big 12 conference preseason offensive player of the year. So, you know, that would tell you that the people voting on that, a majority thought that that was the case, but also you, you know, we had our locked on quarterback rankings and Jalen Daniels came in at number four in those rankings, right? I mean, there's probably not a ton of separation between, you know, maybe those top four with Dylan Gabriel, Will Howard, and Quinn Ewers.

From a production standpoint, Ewers would be on the next tier, but with Ewers, everybody's just kind of expecting, well, you're two in the system, a lot of talent around him. He has all the pro potential in the world. He's got the throw power, all this sort of stuff, that if it does click for him, it could be like Heisman level good, right, which is why he's in that discussion. And then maybe you set off the tier two, which would be the group of like John Rice Plumlee and maybe some of these other quarterbacks that are going to be in

quarterback battles. But it's like, well, well, Chandler Morris won the job at TCU and then put up amazing numbers, right? Some of those guys kind of becomes the thing. But you can make the argument very well that Jalen Daniels, and we did, that is the best quarterback in the Big 12. You just look at the production last year. We did this a couple weeks ago and talking about him being the best quarterback in the conference. And automatically at a position where this isn't wide receiver where you're rotating a two deep, you're rotating a three deep.

The only reason you're going to rotate to your backup at the quarterback position is if there is an injury. So I mean, inherently, because he's going to be the only guy on the field barring injury, which we know has been a thing with Jalen and you hope doesn't happen this year. Barring that injury, basically, you could just say the team with the best quarterback room in the Big 12 is just the one with the best quarterback. But again, we go back to Jason Bean. And, you know, Jason Bean's numbers were ridiculous. Again, 14 passing touchdowns, four interceptions. He had a couple more rushing touchdowns as well.

If you would have prorated out Jason Bean's numbers into a full season for KU, he would have been on pace to have like 40 touchdowns. I mean, that's all American level stuff from your quarterback. And if you would have done that for a full season, what he prorated out to do in those three and a half, four games, then you're talking about somebody who, yeah, would be viewed as a top four or five quarterback in the Big 12, which means you could very well have two of the top four or five quarterbacks in the conference. And with Jalen, the big question again goes back to the health because the talent is there, the arm strength is there, there the running ability is there the poise is there the smarts that are going around at the end just most come down to Jalen Daniels health because

if you are saying who has the best too deep of the quarterback position in the conference, right? Most likely a big piece of that is going to be banked on the starter to where even if he does get hurt, then it becomes a bit of a question here because then your third string who might not be as ready as what you have here is not going to be as good as some of these other schools where their third string might be a four-star guy, right? So this question kind of does come down to, yeah, just what will the health of Jalen Daniels be?

And if he is healthy the full year, like what can we expect from him? Well, it's funny. I think FanDuel put out passing props over-unders for Jalen Daniels. His touchdowns, it was set at 21 and a half. His yards was 2,500. And if he ends up with a season where he has, you know, 2,500 yards and 22 passing touchdowns, are we going to be looking back at him and being like, yeah, he's the best quarterback in the big 12?

Probably not because there's probably going to be other quarterbacks in the conference that put up 3,000, 3,500 yards that do put up 25, 30 or more touchdowns. Now with Jalen, you do have, he'll probably run for a good amount of yards. He'll run for a good amount of touchdowns. That's going to add to it. But I think both those numbers just come down to this conversation of health, right? If you told me Jalen Daniels is going to be healthy for all 12 games, you're pounding the over on both of those.

If you knew he was going to play and start in all 12 games of the regular season, those numbers from FanDuel probably go up to, yeah, 3,000 yards and, you know, to 26 touchdowns or 28 touchdowns or something like that. So that's the way I view it. I kind of view it as like, you know, a per-game basis, probably around 200 passing yards per game for Jalen, you know, maybe closer to probably like 225, something in that range. Um, and that 225 gets you to, I don't know, around like 2,700 yards, something like that passing. If you go the full 12 games, maybe it's even higher than that.

Maybe it ends up being like two 30 to 40 to 50, somewhere in that range, but two 25 ish passing yards per game. Um, maybe around, I don't know, like 40 rushing yards per game. There'll be some games where it might be like 70. There are other games where it might be like 25, right? So if you get 40 rushing yards per game for full season, that gets you around 500 rushing yards. I think last year the pace was obviously going to be much higher. I'm just wondering if they're going to make him take less hits,

if he's going to run out of bounds, slide more so that he can maintain that health. And then passing touchdown-wise, the way I view that is like, okay, maybe two per game, a little over two per game at another, maybe, I don't know, rushing touchdown. The way I view it is like, if he plays all 12 games, maybe three touchdowns per game on average. So those are realistic, I think expectations if you are healthy the full year. And so if that's what you end up doing by the end of the year, you have, you know, 2,800, 3,000 passing yards. You have another 5,600 rushing yards you have 35 plus total touchdowns and your team does well and you have one of the best offenses in the

conference and you're at Kansas where there is that just natural curve of well he's doing more with less then you are going to be viewed in that ilk and if you have the top guy it's hard to say you don't have the best QB too deep in the conference because even if Jalen is the third or fourth best quarterback in the conference which I think he is the best you can still make the argument they have the best two deep in the league because Jason Bean is probably the best backup right again if you want to say the pro potential like Arch Manning or something like that or whatever like you want to say other people are on par with him but do any of the other teams that are in contention with Kansas for the best quarterback, which again, if it's that group of three others,

like Dylan Gabriel, we saw what happened when he went out last year. Now I'm sure they have a better situation this year because of what happened last year that maybe they addressed it more or maybe just more experience, but you know, you feel better with Jason being than the Oklahoma backup. And you could argue Jalen Daniels better than Dylan Gabriel with Texas. Jalen Daniels, better production than Quinn Ewers. You know, you feel better with Jason Bean than the Oklahoma backup. And you could argue Jalen Daniels better than Dylan Gabriel. With Texas, Jalen Daniels better production than Quinn Ewers. You know, again, Jason Bean more production than Arch Manning. And then with Kansas State, Will Howard, like if you want to argue he's better than Jalen Daniels, I would not. But, you know, it's like, OK, well, who's the backup then for Will Howard?

Is he just as good or better than Jason Bean? Probably not. So I think to me, this is a clear answer that KU does have the best QB too deep in the league. And what is that worth? That's probably worth a good amount of wins, right? If you think you have the best quarterback position, which is the most important position in football, I'm not saying that's, you know, 11 or 12 wins, but isn't that at least worth a bowl game? Isn't that at least worth contending for a bowl game making, you know, getting to a point where you're winning five, six, seven games? Obviously, the defense, other factors into this, you know, like John Elway went five and seven his last year of college. I think Patrick Holmes went five and seven his last year of college.

So there is those possibilities there, right? But at the very least, that's contending for a bowl game. And I think there's potential for even more than that. All right, let's get on to a conversation on, you know, some more of the quarterback room going all the way through. What's the future of the position coming up here with Locked on Jayhawks? First, though, this episode of the show is brought to you by eBay Motors. For a championship team, it's all about making sure every player is a perfect fit. It's the same when it comes to your vehicle. Every part needs to fit just right. So the next time you need parts and accessories,

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and that they had like some way of cross-checking and being like, he will fit check mark or like, oh, that's going to be a bad fit. They wish they had this, that eBay motors has it. Just like in sports confidence is the name of the game. When you shop on eBay motors and with over 122 million parts to choose from, you'll be back in the game in no time. After all, it's easy to bring home a win when the right parts are guaranteed. Get the right parts, the right fit, and the right prices on ebaymotors.com. Let's ride. eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. We got into some more conversation about the Kansas QB room. So like I said, I think that Jalen Daniels is the best quarterback in the Big 12. I think Jason Bean is the best backup quarterback in the league. Like maybe there's guys with more pro potential, but in

terms of the backup to be thrown into the fire to play right away, to have that production, to keep things running, I think you have to go with him on paper, at least headed into the year. And I think it'll be very interesting to see how both these guys can even improve because as great as this QB position was for KU last year, like why can't they keep improving even more with Jason being the jump that he took from year one in the KU system, 56% completion, like as many touchdowns, interceptions to what he did last year, more touchdowns, less interceptions on like, you know, less throws per game, a lot more yards per attempt, up 8% in the completion rate. Why can't he get a little bit better this year too, right?

Like clearly he showed that he was on an upward trajectory. Did that hit a plateau last year or is there more to be found? I would think there's more to be found. With Jalen Daniels, you know, we saw big improvement from him as a true freshman and part of that was what was around him, the offensive line, when we saw him at the end of his 2021 season. And then we saw even as, as good as he was at the end of 2021 season. If you remember,

you go back to like the West Virginia game that Kansas lost to finish out 2021. And Jalen Daniels threw a couple of interceptions. I think both were in the red zone. And that was a big thing over the off season. He wanted to tighten certain things up, but there were still levels that he could improve. I think it's clear that he did improve from that year to next.

Why can't he keep getting even better? And if you have a guy who was already really good, who was a Heisman candidate before he got injured in the TCU game, and he's going to get even better than that, that's pretty exciting on what both those guys can be. Now you work down the list of the QB room and you get to the third string. And this is where, like, if you're comparing the QB room this year to last year, maybe you could make the argument the last year's was better. Because if you think that,

what if Jalen and Jason being as great as they are, what if they, like what they were last year, because it was so good. What if that's what you can expect this year? And it's going to be hard to grow off that. Like you, you basically hit the plateau, so to speak. We've been talking on, you know, my radio show, Rock Chalk Sports Talk, how sometimes you get in your head that you play those old NCAA football games. And in those games, every year you're playing, you progress a year and you're like dynasty mode. Every single player goes up four or five overall.

But that's not how it works in real life. It's just not. In real life, some guys hit what they are and then they just plateau from there, which can be fine, especially if you're a really good player like Jalen and Jason Bean are. And I'm not saying that's going to happen. I just talked about why they could be better and there could be progression. But in the case that does happen, you feel probably worse about your third string this year than last year, because I think Ethan Vasco was thought of very highly from the staff. Then he was a true freshman so maybe you're gonna have more experienced

guys in there maybe just in terms of if you look at it for if that guy had to come in this year they're gonna be a little bit better situation than you know Vasco who maybe that was more of a long-term guy I don't know I would argue this position is just as good if not better than it was last year but yeah I mean if you do get down to third string, which, you know, I guess on one hand, you could say if you do end up getting down to your third string quarterback, that is a problem that if any school had, you're probably just kind of shrugging your shoulders and going, well, that sucks. Nothing much we can do more than that. So on one hand, it's almost one of those things where it's like, don't worry about it. Because if it does happen, it's one of those like kind of either fluky things or things that you can't really do anything to prevent.

It's like, oh, there's a giant tidal wave coming at me and I'm sitting on the beach and it's a 50 foot tall wave. Like, oh, if only I had. No, it's like there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do. So if you get to your third string quarterback, there's almost nothing you can do in that regard of not panicking and being like, oh, great. Well, now are right. So that's not not great if that happens, but it's something you can't really plan for. I do think if you're looking at that quarterback competition, though, there is a clear competition for that third string between Ben Easter's and Mikey Pauly. So Easter's has been in the program. He was recruited as a Brent Dearman, like Les Miles guy. I believe he'll be a redshirt sophomore this year.

He's someone who is, you know, timing, smart quarterback, that sort of thing. And then you have Mikey Pauly who comes in. I believe he redshirted last year at Nebraska. I don't know if he was a preferred walk-on or what. Obviously, he was a really good baseball player too, so I don't know how the scholarships worked there, if he was on scholarship for football, baseball whatever came to ku football as a preferred walk-on um but i would not let that stop you in thinking that oh well he's a walk-on why

would he be you know behind the scholarship guy ben easters um i wouldn't be surprised if ben easters is ahead of mikey paulie to begin the year for the third string battle because he knows the system more mikey paulie late, and especially at the quarterback position in a complex offense that Andy Kotelnicki runs, it makes sense that he would be in front to start. But maybe by the time we get in the season at some point or by the end of the year or maybe by next year, it wouldn't shock me if Mikey Pauly moves ahead of Ben Easter's

because the talent, the arm strength, the running ability, some of the physical stuff is maybe a little bit higher there on a ceiling that if he can catch up to some of the mental stuff, then maybe he moves in front of him. So that's kind of the interesting battle for the third string, and then whoever loses would be the fourth string, and then behind that it's just kind of a collection of walk-ons. Let's finish up with who is the future, though,

of the KU quarterback position come 2024 and beyond with Locked On Jayhawks. Finishing things up with Locked On Jayhawks for who's the future of the KU quarterback position. Jalen Daniels at the end of this year will have a decision to make, right? This is his fourth year at KU. He's technically a junior because of the COVID year. So he will have the option at the end of this year of coming back for 2024. If he has a good enough season that a lot of us think can happen, maybe he goes to the NFL draft. Now, certainly him being, I forget what he's listed at, six foot, six foot one, maybe that's a bit of a detractor in the NFL. Maybe some of the past injuries, a bit of a detractor that he's not someone that would go in like the first round. But, you know, if he has this great season, he does have the arm strength to do it. He's got an explosive, great personality.

He would kill it in all the workouts. Like, could he end up like, let's say he was a Heisman candidate and he's a third round pick. Like, would that be crazy? No, it wouldn't. That's not where the projections are right now, but no, that wouldn't necessarily be crazy. So he would have a decision to make at the end of the year.

Point being. Now, it's funny because if he does have that decision to make, that's probably a good thing for KU because that probably means he had a great season and that probably means good things for KU as a team. Also, though, if he does come back another year, he'd probably make a lot of NIL money. And if the pros are like, hey, you're too small or you have this injury stuff, we would only draft you in the sixth round. He's like, you know what, I'd rather come back to school for another year, try to do

something really cool, make some NIL money, and then go to the NFL draft. That would be understandable too, right? There's going to be a decision to make either way, though, at the end of the year for Jalen Daniels, and especially because this will be his fourth year. I don't know his track to doing this, but what if he graduates at the end of the year and he's like, well, I have my degree anyway, so I don't have that to stick around for either. Jason Bean will be out of eligibility at the end of this year. So you looked at 2024. If Jalen ends up coming back, then boom, that makes it an easy decision. He's your starter. But if Jalen does end up going pro early, Jason Bean's gone at that point. That battle for the third string over the course of this year, not just

in fall camp, not just for who wins it at the beginning of the year, but who wins it by the end of the year would be so critical between Ben Easter's and Mikey Pauly. Because at that point, if Bean and Daniels are both gone, then whoever wins that competition in theory has the leg up to be the starter the next year, unless a newcomer comes in and takes the job. And that's where Isaiah Marshall comes into this conversation. He's one of your top recruits in class of 2024, heard great things about him, highly ranked quarterback, dual threat prospect from Michigan. It's tough to come in and start and play right away as a true freshman at any position, also quarterback too. But if you bring

him in, maybe he can win out that battle and be the guy. If Pauly ends up winning the job in 2024, if Daniels and Bean are gone, at that point he's a redshirt sophomore, what would that mean for some of these other guys? What would that mean for any incoming players at that position? Because you would still potentially have three more years of Mikey Pauly there. I do think that Isaiah Marshall, to me me would be the favorite in that quarterback battle between Pauly Easter's and Marshall, but it would be something to watch. And then you also get to the point where it's like, well, would they just scour the QB transfer market and bring in,

and they've shown they've done it before. They brought in Jason Bean, remember a couple of years ago from North Texas, but you know, would they bring in like a one-year guy? I think that would make a lot of sense. If Jalen Daniels were to go pro early, they would scour the transfer market and be like, Hey, here's a graduate senior can come in a quarterback. If Isaiah Marshall ends up being as good as advertised right off the bat. And there's not this, you know, transition process of coming in as a true freshman, then great. He can win the job. Otherwise, he can learn from this guy for a year and then be the starter in year two, right? That's how I view the future of the quarterback position.

To me, it's Isaiah Marshall either in 2024 or 2025. And if Jalen does leave after this year, wouldn't be shocked if it is like a grad transfer for next year. But either way, you feel really good about your quarterback position this year. I guess you feel lined up for it in the future too with Marshall. You've also got the latest 2025 commit at the position too to kind of give you some more coverage there at quarterback. That's going to do it though for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks.

We'll have more positional previews coming throughout the week here. We're also going to have an episode talking with Nick Schwert. We'll do some football and basketball crossover questions, and we'll get into some KU basketball conversation with their upcoming trip to Puerto Rico, things to watch out for. We'll have some game recaps and plenty more. You can find the show wherever you get any of your podcasts.

You can find me on Twitter, at DJohnsonRadio, or I guess XNow, whatever you want to call it. You can like and subscribe the show on our YouTube page, and you can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. Have a good rest of your day. See you next time. Locked on Jayhawks.