Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Dominant Performances From Jalon Daniels and Lonnie Phelps, Plus More on KU-West Virginia

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

Who's Kansas Football performance was more dominant: Lonnie Phelps or Jalon Daniels. Which would lead to more success if it continually happened for the Jayhawks? Who needs to step up for KU against West Viriginia. Plus, Scott Chasen's worst coaching decisions of the week around college football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's Locked on Jayhawks we're joined by Scott Chasen ahead of the KU West Virginia game I'm Derek Johnson you can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from three to six on KLWN in Lawrence thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're joined by Scott Chasen. We're going to go over some recap and fun questions from week one of the season of KU taking down and dominating Tennessee Tech. We're also going to look ahead a little bit to the West Virginia game,

and we're going to get to a new fun segment with Scott to finish out the show. Today's episode is brought to you by Upside. Download the free Upside app and use promo code LOCKED that's L-O-C-K-E-D to get five dollars or more cash back on your first purchase of ten dollars or more. We got Scott Chasen you can also catch him on Booth Review with Kansas City Sports Network. And Scott, we saw Jalen Daniels pretty dominant in the first game. He did have the one bad interception. Lonnie Phelps pretty dominant as well. And his dad had a big key in him being so dominant in the game.

But which dominant performance between the two of them for the KU quarterbacks? Because I guess if you want to add on Jason being what he did, are you buying more long-term, the KU quarterbacks or Lonnie Phelps? Not necessarily in that regard. I'm not saying Lonnie Phelps having three sacks every game, but which of those strong performances are you buying more as the season goes on? Well, that's a really good question because, look, Jalen Daniels is currently ranked third in the nation in quarterback rating. He's ahead of Bryce Young in that statistic. That's a really good question because look, Jalen Daniels is currently ranked third in the nation in quarterback rating.

He's ahead of Bryce Young in that statistic. That's hilarious. Defensively, Lonnie Phelps was pro football focuses highest graded defensive end from week one. So like they both had massive performances and Jalen Daniels, like I've always been one of these people that like you can't look at numbers with quarterback play because they're so deceiving and so misleading. A guy can throw for 480 yards, but if the offense doesn't produce, if they're not clinical in the final third, if they can't get the crucial third downs, then how good was that performance really? And we we've talked about that. There was like a Carter Stanley game a few years ago, tons of yards and the key offense scores 20 points and they lose. And so it's like, well, what do you do with that performance? I would give Jalen Daniels his first half performance in a plus plus. I mean, he was 14 to 15, two touchdowns, one rushing, um, only in completion,

a fade ball that LJ Arnold had in his hands could have caught, um, the defensive back made a better play. And that's why I don't like the fade just in general, because it opens up the defensive back to making that play. Um, and I felt like Lonnie Phelps was underrated, man, you know, kind of similar to the quarterback thing when he had his sacks and stuff, people said, okay, then he got going. Then he started, you know, game wrecking or whatever. He was doing that the first couple of possessions of the games too. Um, I went back and rewatched the game the night of the game. It was a very late night and I was so blown away by plays. I didn't notice in real time because you never do on the lines. He was a man amongst boys from like play one in that game causing so much disruption that helped out the linebackers and helped out the other D linemen. Very long-winded

answer. I will keep my future one shorter, but all of that is to say I feel more confident in Lonnie Phelps being a week after week consistent producer I think Jalen Daniels will have higher highs but I haven't seen enough yet to be convinced that he won't also have some lower lows and it might vary a little more week to week I think that's right and if you want to say impact like you're going to take the quarterback, although pass rusher is pretty high up there in terms of impact. Okay. What about this?

If I guaranteed you that Lonnie Phelps would get three sacks every single game or that the KU quarterback would complete 84% of his passes every single game, which would you take? I mean, you have to take the quarterback, but that's so upsetting to turn that down. But see, 84%, it doesn't guarantee that it's going to be a lot of yards. It could be 84% on a lot of checkdowns. You don't know. Yeah, but it's 84% with Jalen Daniels, who wants to force the ball downfield. And I think with him specifically, the thing you worry

about is the turnover prone. And that's, you know, you had Nick on, he pointed out, it wasn't just the interception. It was the option play, which by the way, that's another thing I'm really excited just to see this week is where they go with the option because they showed a little triple option. They showed a little option where it was like a receiver running, you know, alongside the quarterback and not just the running back. So I'm really curious to see how creative they get and where they go. But no, I think you would have to say quarterback play just because of who Jalen Daniels is. That being said, like Lonnie Phelps had two different series

where he made at least two tackles in a three and out. And he had one series where he got a sack, a tackle for loss and a tackle. And Tennessee Tech went three and out. And so like when you have sequences like that, it's impossible to overstate how game changing and game wrecking that is. And honestly, that was my favorite. You know, I sat down with him after the game, just talked to him for a little bit. And the thing he told me that that really stuck with me was his goal is just, can I make the offense do something that they don't want to do,

whether it's sending a second guy, whether it's running in the opposite direction. And I, I mean, I, I don't know what you think. I think West Virginia is probably going to start either chipping him, double teaming, or just devoting a little bit extra attention to his side. I'd be pretty surprised if they don't, to be completely honest, but the way the rest of the D line played, I think you do have a little more confidence after Friday's game that they can kind of step up there. Okay. You can't pick someone who had a touch in the game. So not someone who threw a pass, not someone who had a rushing attempt or a catch, not even, I forget what player it was, whether it was Kobe Bryant or who that had the blocked kick return. Jeremy Robinson. It was Jeremy Robinson. He blocked it. He put his hand on the ball. Okay.

Okay. And then it was, it was Kobean who returned it outside of anybody who touched the ball who is your offensive mvp from week one oh that's a bummer i was so hoping you would go with across the field because i wanted to talk about your guy caleb taylor well you can talk about caleb taylor i mean the answer would be lonnie phelps though honestly if we took anybody who didn't touch the ball well i thought you were going to exclude the people we talked about, but like an under the radar. But it's Jared Casey. And, you know, I shared video of two plays on Twitter just of his blocking. And I know pro football focus numbers like it. But, Derek, I've said this for a while now, and it's not because I'm a Mason Fairchild hater.

Jared Casey's Kansas is best tight end. And I was willing to open myself up to the possibility that like maybe Trevor Cardell was, he was on the participation report. He didn't play on offense, at least to my knowledge. I think he played on special teams, but zero snaps on offense. Yeah. I don't, I don't know what's going on there. I don't know if it's injury related. I don't know if it's injury related. I don't know if it's any something behind the scenes.

But Jared Casey, as a run blocker, continues to just understand what he's doing. And Kent brought this up on Booth Review, our show, which is, you know, the one thing you kind of saw with some of that second level stuff is it's very easy to turn that into a passing route, right? Where the tight end is getting to the second level to make a block. But what if he just keeps running down the seam? And that's not something you saw KU really take advantage of and, you know, try to exploit. I'm wondering if they do moving forward.

I thought Jared Casey was great. And he cemented to me why he needs to be one of this team's top two or three tight ends for sure. Yeah, I agree. I think Casey's the top tight end he was really good run blocking I will say Mason Fairchild graded out really well as a run blocker as well actually KU's three highest graded run blockers were all tight ends with Casey, Tavita Noah, and Mason Fairchild which is interesting but I wouldn't be surprised if if Casey ends up being the the number one tight end at some point though it does feel like the the role he's playing

is more of just a like as opposed to just a pure tight end like mason fairchild i think casey's going to be a tight end h back fullback little bit of everything that gets him on the field in different ways so uh switching to the defensive side of the ball do you just want to talk about caleb taylor i really want to talk about caleb taylor also jared paul jared paul was awesome and I know it was mostly against like in the in the part of the game by the way by the way Jarrett Paul his his name should be switched Paul Jarrett makes more sense Paul Jarrett yeah I like Jarrett I think Jarrett's a good name but um I so incredibly impressed with him he was in the right spots he

knows how to tackle I I was I came away really impressed the first time I watched it. Um, I always like having a co-host because Kent can check me, you can check me and tell me what you saw. But, um, Kent came in off his rewatch and was like, Hey, Jared Paul was really good. I w I was really impressed with him, but Caleb Taylor, I mean, this is a guy, and this is the case with a lot of guys, right. That, you know, they were a freshman in that 2020 disaster season for Kansas because Kansas and Les Miles brought in 25 freshmen or whatever that year. And then the next year, the first year of Lance Leipold, they weren't quite ready still. They were still young guys, but like now all of a sudden, Hey, these guys are in year three. And that's kind of when you've been

in a college program, a weight program for a while, you expect them to break out. Caleb Taylor is that guy to me. I thought of all the defensive linemen that are not the big names, right? Like Caleb Samson, I would consider a big name there. I thought he was far and away the most impressive. I thought he flashed a ton and you get why like he can play defensive tackle. I know he was recruited as like an end in a four in a three, four, he can absolutely play on the inside and cause havoc. So I was really impressed with what he did. All right. In just a moment, we're going to get on to some KU West Virginia talk.

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to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. That's $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more using promo code LOCKED. KU takes on West Virginia on Saturday. First Big 12 game of the season, comes on the road in Morgantown. When you look at the KU side of things based on what you saw for West Virginia against Pittsburgh,

based on what we know from West Virginia over the past couple years and last year's team, are there any KU players that you're circling early on as having potential for a big game in this one? Yeah, I think a few actually. I think Jalen Daniels will have a huge game, not just because he's the quarterback, but huge in terms of importance, even more than performance,

because I think he's going to be under pressure. I think he's going to be running around a lot. I think that West Virginia front is very good. So like immediately I'm thinking whatever he does will have a huge impact on this game. I also think across the board, the KU running backs, because I know Pittsburgh struggled to run the ball against them, but I think Kansas has, okay. I don't know Pittsburgh's quality of running back. I know Kansas has good running backs and I know Kansas has creative schemes and I know whether it's the option stuff, the zone read stuff. Like I know Kansas has good running backs and I know Kansas has creative schemes. And I know whether it's the option stuff, the zone read stuff, like I know they're putting new stuff on film because we saw it in game one, even if it was a vanilla version, right. Of that where really only one time they went to the pitch. I think Jason Bean had one where he could have

pitched it to a guy. So we still haven't seen like a ton of what this still looks like. I have confidence in Andy Kotelnicki in Kansas, offensive schematic creativity to do that. And then defensively it's the line, right? And I don't even think it's Lonnie Phelps necessarily like Caleb Samson, Sam Burt, Eddie Wilson, those guys, like I think they need to have a huge game. And, and honestly, I expect those guys to have a big game in addition to your Caleb Taylors or Tommy Dunns or whoever. I think that interior defensive line position is primed for a big game

just because that's really where this game is going to be won. I think it's the point of attack on both offensive defense. I 100% agree with you. Just to give a little bit of a different answer here to add something in there. I think when you look at the defensive side of the ball, Brian Borland talked ahead of the game about, he kind of felt like Pittsburgh, the way they play, like maybe it's more corners out on an island. Maybe it kind of allows some of those big West Virginia receivers to make plays individually. And he kind of said that, yeah, we expect them to make plays like they're good receivers and everything,

but we're going to do a little, a little extra to kind of help those guys on the outside, which implies to me that the safeties are going to play a big role in terms of helping the corners, especially on the outside and some of those deeper routes. So, like, Kenny Logan, that's the guy you're looking at. He didn't have the best game against Tennessee Tech, but it's also like, you know, it's one of those things where if you play well against Tennessee Tech in a 56-10 win, it's great.

There's all these great reactions. Here's Lonnie Phelps. He was so dominant. But if you play poorly, but we know you're a good player, it's like, okay, well, we can shrug that off pretty easily. So this is a big game for him. He also last year, if you remember, in the game against West Virginia, had the big kickoff return against the Mountaineers that helped them almost spring the upset there in that game. So for him, I think it's a very big game. And then, yeah, it's which receiver is going to step up, right?

Can you get another big play from Quentin Skinner? Can Lawrence Arnold, who looked pretty good with Jalen Daniels, what about Luke Grimm? Stuff like that to where, you know, Pittsburgh averaged just under 13 yards a throw against West Virginia. There is some exploiting you can have in that secondary that lost a lot of players from a season ago. To your point on Jalen Daniels, he probably has to have a good game and he could have a good game. Which receivers are going to step up around it? Yeah. Can I give you two hot takes real quick? So the first one is kind of a larger thought about pro football focus, which I like, I use, and I think their numbers give great context. Where pro football focus, it's not a failing because their system is set up this way, but where it kind of lets you

down is like what happened to Kenny Logan last year, right? Like they would look at the number of times where Kenny Logan made a tackle, give him a high tackle grade and say, this guy is playing great safety, But that doesn't necessarily correlate to what you would ask your safety to do or want your safety to do. So I would argue that in a game like this one, we saw where Kenny Logan didn't have to do too much. Like maybe there were a few lapses in coverage. I don't know, but I would argue that was still Kenny Logan and his impact while probably greater on a worse team doesn't necessarily correlate to play versus number. Like I don't think it all equates. And so sometimes that's when I look at a

guy like that and then agreeing with you, I think he could have a huge game. And I think that huge game could be like six tackles in a pass break. And you would say, well, he was in the right positions though. And so he kept container. He kept them And you would say, well, he was in the right positions though. And so he kept container. He kept them organized. I saw one time where he was yelling at everyone on the defense to get organized, like screaming at guys. And I thought that was again, like signs of his growth and development. The second one is, and I want to get your thought on this. Brian Borland, man, that dude, like he is fearless to an extent. I cannot believe. And I say that because he will just stick linebackers out in coverage and like say, yeah, you want to play outside linebacker for me, Gavin Potter, Craig Young, Rich Miller,

whoever you are. Okay. Go cover that slot receiver. Have fun. I have always thought like, you know, the, the three, three, five is a defense that a lot of people have adjusted. It makes sense. You get more versatile bodies on the field, especially against past happy offenses, but it sucks when you have to take some of your good playmakers off the field. If linebacker is a position of strength, I think it's kind of,

can I say bad-ass? Am I allowed to say that on the show? If not edited out, Derek, I trust you that. And he did this last year too, that he the show? If not edited out, Derek, I trust you. Um, that, and he did this last year too, that he just throws his linebackers out there and is like, no, I'm going to leave a linebacker on the field. And like,

if you want to go at him, go at him. Our guy's got to learn how to cover. I think it's cool. And I like that he does it. And I actually think Craig young is, is set up to be like an a in, in terms of filling that role.

Well, speaking of pro football focus, Craig young, do you know what his position was listed at in week one i do not so just they just base it on where you line up and they don't they're just like hey if you're here we're classifying you this just for their own purpose of grading he was listed as a corner which speaks to exactly what you were saying and he graded out really well and i think that's the beauty of craig young that he kind of allows you to thrive in a defense

where you want to keep those guys on the field. So I was really impressed with him as well. KU's 13.5-point underdogs in the game against West Virginia. Are you giving them a good shot to win? Are you giving them a real shot to come away with the upset? And what are your thoughts on the spread? I want your score prediction first because I'm doing a new thing with score

predictions this year but I need someone else to pick the game first so okay so I'm gonna go West Virginia 38 Kansas 20 see I kind of want to pick Kansas to cover but this score prediction is not picking them to cover but I'll go West Virginia 38 24 okay um, I try to pick a number now that I think if Kansas scores this number, I would favor them to win the game because I think spreads get really difficult with Kansas because when Kansas gets blown out, like sometimes it's just like, it doesn't matter if the spread is 15, 20, 30, whatever, like they lose by 40 versus sometimes they're really, really competitive, but maybe never have a shot. Like there are a lot of different ways games can go. So the number I'm on this week, I think, and this is experimenting, I think it's 31. Like if you told me Kansas scored 31 points,

which is right in the middle of where you were 38 and 24, I would feel great about Kansas's chances. I'd give them more than a 50, 50 shot to win the game. I think what you described, though, is more realistic. I think West Virginia, this may be slightly different than a previous score prediction I gave like literally yesterday, but I think they're going to score about like 35 ish points. I think Kansas will be about like 20 ish points. So I think it'll be right on the range of that cover. But if they can keep the game close and just make it to where, hey, one Jalen Daniels play is going to completely flip this thing. I think that's what you asked for. But 31 is the number for me. What would be the number for you? Like if I told you Kansas scored X,

you're giving them more than a 50-50 shot to win. Well, I said on Rock Chalk Sports Talk yesterday, I said that if you can hold West Virginia to under 30 points, you feel good about KU's shot at winning that game. Even though I just picked them to have 24, if you're holding them to under 30, that could mean more offensive possessions. That could mean a turnover went your way. So I guess I would go with like what you said, 31. If you can get 30, 31 points based on the idea that if you can hold them under 30, like I look at it more that way. Can you hold them to a certain number? Then I think, yeah, you're going to be kind of sitting pretty there.

And that's why I like this, because right when you pick 38, 24, that means Kansas is going to have enough enough scoring positions to get to 24. That's probably four, three touchdowns in a field goal. Or if you're Iowa, 10 safeties, a field goal, and a blocked extra point return for a touchdown or something like that. I actually think that'd be 25, but I was close. But yeah, that would only be four scoring possessions. And 31 is only one more on top of that. But every possession you score and how Kansas runs the ball

and takes time off the clock, that's going to take points away from West Virginia. It's going to shorten the game. And you mentioned the turnover thing too. So that's why I've thought about it that way, but I actually like Kansas's chances to make this at least a toss-up game. I don't love their chances to win just because quite frankly, I was really impressed by West Virginia in week one. I thought they played way better than the team that I thought they were. And I kind of think JT Daniels is a little bit better than maybe I was giving him credit for but I think Kansas can at least muddy the waters a little bit I just it may come down to a big player too and we'll have to see if

they uh they can make it okay coming up in just a moment we're going to get on to a new segment we're doing with Scott worst coaching decisions of the week all right we have the first week of college football in the books. I know we had week zero. As you would imagine, plenty of coaching decisions that'll make you scratch your head. So I'm going to have you give me three nominees every week, and then I'm going to pick what I think you're going to pick, and then you let me know what you're going to pick. So who are the nominees for the worst coaching decision of week one?

Derek, I will buy you a house if you can't get the person I'm going with and you give it an earnest try. I will buy you a literal house. So look, the first the first is North Carolina, and it's not necessarily totally a coaching decision, but North Carolina was in a position to recover an onside kick and end the game. They were up by one point. They not only recovered the onside kick, they ran it in for a touchdown to go up seven,

at which point they could have gone for two to end the game, but no, they kicked the extra point. So in this process, they took what was a one point game, a one possession game, did not retain possession to end the game, and then shows on the extra point, two point conversion decision to keep it as a one score game. Now they ultimately ultimately won so let's give them some credit for that um but that was like three different levels of boneheaded decision making can we talk about the announcer can we talk about the announcer who well the announcer was confused as hell yeah they're kicking the field goal and he

goes and you know what that'll just put it away and then he's like actually no they got to make this pat and it'll make it a two score game. Like the whole time he's talking like, and North Carolina is going to move to 2-0 and they'll be taking. And then he like minutes later is like, which I'm assuming the producer went in his ear and was like, hey, you realize it's still a one score game, right? Because he had no idea what was happening.

Yeah. And the worst part, and I'll add this to the coaching decision, Mack Brown after the game immediately blames the kid who returned it for a touchdown. Like there was nothing else that could have been done to keep this a one score game. So that's one. Okay. Number two, and you alerted me to this one, but I saw it all over Twitter, North Carolina state's timeout usage was criminal. Whether it was waiting too long to call timeouts or not taking them immediately to ensure themselves time in case of a missed field goal. The last play before the field bowl, there were like 19 seconds left.

Was it East Carolina? They were playing. They ran a play and now there's like 14, 13, 12, 11. Like they're scrambling to kick a long field goal, like 40 something yards and North Carolina state calls a timeout. And it's just like, yeah, go ahead, slow down. Don't rush this kick. Like we want you to set up the kid missed it. And that made me so sad for him because like, they absolutely deserve to lose that game. And that was like,

they called the timeout with nine seconds left. You can argue, well, if you're going to call it, call it immediately and give yourself the most time possible. I would say, don't call it, make them rush a field goal at the end. Um, but they did call it. And, um, yeah, it's a bummer for that kid that they missed the third decision, Neil Brown. He's on the plus 48 or 47 yard line, six minutes left in the game. It's like fourth and a foot. They're up seven. So think about it like this, because I like to frame fourth down decisions. It's funny. I get, I'm like a numbers guy, but I don't usually go by the numbers. I go by this.

What would, if you were the other team, like, what would you not want the person with the ball to do? And in this case, Neil Brown and West Virginia ends the game. Like the game is over. If they get a first down, by the way, there's a siren going by. I did not break any laws. It's alerting. Cause I think this is going to be the winner.

It's giving me the siren. I think it's going to be Neil Brown. It's West Virginia week against KU. It has to be. So let me reset ball in the 48th, fourth and a foot. They're up by seven. There are six minutes left. If they get a foot, Derek, if they get one foot, the game is over. They get another first down. They can keep a field goal. They can run out the clock. Instead, Neil Brown punts, hits for marches down the field and scores a touchdown then an interception return for a touchdown happens and everyone's stuck kind of blaming bryce ford wheaton and saying well if he didn't drop the ball well x y and z um they needed to get a foot to win a football game and they decided to punt and to me that is you coach like a coward you lose like a coward and that was kind of the prime

example well it doesn't make sense for west virginia to go for it when you don't have a To me, that is you coach like a coward, you lose like a coward. And that was kind of the prime example. Well, it doesn't make sense for West Virginia to go for it when you don't have a 6'2", 240-pound run. Oh, wait, they do. A guy who was playing tight end and converted to running back and had like seven carries for 120 yards. If you took out his longest carry, he still averaged like 15 yards a carry, that guy. Unbelievable. Well, Scott, I appreciate it. That's the winner right that is the winner okay okay well we'll have another

week of this coming up next week you can also hear scott on booth review with kansas city sports network scott appreciate the time man thanks for having me coming up on tomorrow's show we're gonna take the deep dive into west virginia preview the KUS-Virginia game. We'll have our betting segment of the week with BetOnline. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along on the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks.

That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. See some of you on Rock Chalk Sports Talk later today. Adios.