Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Dominick Puni Opting Out of Kansas Jayhawks Bowl Game + KU's 2023 PFF Grades Compared to Big 12

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

Kansas Jayhawks football starting All-Big 12 left tackle Dominick Puni might be opting out of the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl which could put true freshman local recruit Calvin Clements in the drivers seat at LT for the game. Plus, examining Pro Football Focus grades for KU compared to the rest of the Big 12 position-by-position, what it means for 2024 and how it gives context to this team for Lance Leipold.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 MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedon and use code lockedon for a first deposit match up to $100! Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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 going to briefly get into Dominic Poonie. Sounds like he's going to be opting out of the bowl game and getting into where KU ranks in their pro football focus grades at the end of the year position. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well. Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk.

Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere that you get your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking some of the latest news for KU football before their bowl game with Dominic Poonie. And then we're going to get to our position-by-position breakdown of KU's pro football focus rates compared to the Big 12 to maybe give you inventory on where things stood at the end of the year.

It's one thing to see it with the eye test, another to see it with stats, another to see it with another site like this to maybe give you a general idea of where things were in some positions that are maybe harder to track without the stats and what that all means for 2024. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. Visit Fan fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. We're going to start with the news about Dominic Poonie. So Bryson Stricker tweeted out that Poonie is going to be opting out of the bowl game and that Calvin Clements is going to be starting.

I had heard some similar stuff from behind closed doors, so this just kind of backs up some stuff that I was hearing as well. And so I think it makes a lot of sense. It obviously sucks for KU in the game because Dominic Poonie is your best offensive lineman. He was an All-Big 12 offensive lineman last year. He played guard for you and he was All-big 12 honorable mention. I thought he should have been on one of the first two teams, and he was severely underrated. This year he got properly rated.

First team all-big 12, moves to left tackle, has an unbelievable season. You know, the question was, we knew he was a really good guard. Could he be a really good tackle? He got even better moving to left tackle. And obviously that sucks that KU's not going to have him. Having one of your best players for a game like this is pretty imperative. But good for him. What a career, man.

Coming over from D2, from Central Missouri, making the jump up to Power 5, immediately becoming a star. When he transferred in, it was kind of an under-the-radar transfer. Obviously, you know, the D2, everything that came with that. And I remember at the time thinking like okay like uh the the team two years ago the 2022 team um it it didn't have like a ton of depth it had a good starting base coming into the season you knew that the starters were going to be good players and you had a couple guys like you added kobe baines late and stuff but like this year's

team you got spencer lavelle you got logan brown till he got injured you have calvin clements you um have you know one of the guards between baines reed adams and ford coming off the bed there is a lot of depth on this year's offensive line last year you still had the starters that were you know to that top notch of what they've been this year but you didn't have as much depth and so that was kind of my thought like like, okay, this will be great. Like, Cooney will come in, he'll provide you some depth. Turns out he was your best offensive lineman. And now, I mean, there's some talk that he could even be like a day two pick

in the NFL draft. I think at the very least, he feels like somebody who I feel very confident will get drafted in general. And what a come up for a guy like that. He'll be able to go somewhere. And who knows if he plays tackle at the NFL level. That'll kind of depend on the measurements and where everything is, but you've seen that now he can come into a team,

and even if it's him playing guard and then being a swing tackle as a backup, in the NFL where you have limited rosters, having guys who can play all over the offensive line is so pivotal, and Dominic Poonie is awesome. So what this means for the bowl game, Calvin Clements will be the starter. And I think that actually, like, becomes very interesting here. Obviously, you'd like to have good players for the bowl. But part of the bowl game is that, you know, at the end of the day,

this is kind of an exhibition game. And these bowl games are battered less and less with players opting out and some of this stuff. And I wish they didn't. But, you know, I understand it. And I'm not going to, like – I understand. You're going off to the NFL. Like, don't get get hurt there have been so many players that have dealt with that um it is a cool opportunity to get some of the young players in in a game that is is more of the exhibition right and who knows if Calvin Clements is seen as the starting left tackle for

2024 because Logan Brown like I said was injured maybe if Logan Brown never got injured in the midseason, maybe something clicks over the course of the year, and he would be seen as the starting left tackle for 2024. So it's entirely possible, and we'll see how much this game goes into determining that. But what if Calvin Clements goes out there, who is a true freshman and a giant-bodied dude?

What if he goes out there and has a really good performance? Then all of a sudden you're gonna feel like and by the way this does not burn calvin clements redshirt um then you're gonna feel like next year you have a redshirt freshman uh left tackle who is good and you at least have multiple years left to play and use the local kids you feel good good about the uh we don't have to worry about like you know some sec school coming in to like poach him away right um that could be a big deal. And even if he does have some ups and downs and struggles, this is a great learning experience

as a true freshman getting to start in a bowl game. So I'm actually really excited for getting to watch Calvin Clements and the progression that this can help him with into the offseason. Now let's get into our pro football focus stuff. We're going to start with the offense, then get to the defensive side of the ball and what this all means for 2024. Starting with the offense, here's your ratings on pro football focus. Jason Bean is sixth. If eligible, Jalen Daniels would have been fourth. To be honest, I don't really think pro football focus does a great job

in evaluating quarterbacks for what it's worth. So I trust more numbers like total QBR and some of these other things. I trust it more though, with grains of salt on the line play on the defense. And it helps to give you more context to those. I think we have so many metrics in so many ways of evaluating quarterbacks that the PFF one, like, I don't know. The whole idea of the PFF1 is to know that, oh,

they're throwing to the right people and stuff like that. But it's like, how do you know? How do you know what the play is? So for what it's worth, the QBs ahead of Jalen Daniels would have been Dylan Gabriel, who is now going to Oregon, Garrett Green, who has another year at West Virginia, and John Rhys Plumlee, who graduates. So, you know, theoretically, things are opening up even more there.

The running back position, Devin Neal ranked 7th, Daniel Hyshaw 11th. I also, this is another position, I don't know that pro football focus, I care that much about the running back evaluation because if you'll notice, like I remember a couple of years ago, David Montgomery for Iowa State, like broke the PFF record for most broken tackles or something in a career or in a season or something like that. They value broken tackles so much more than evaded tackles. And I understand why, because from the eye test, it's like, oh, look, you know, both players could gain 10 yards. Somebody could just make a good cut and read the block properly

that they didn't have to get hit. Somebody could have read the block wrong, or maybe they're not fast enough to get past the block, and they have to break a tackle, and they do. The eye test says, oh, this guy broke a tackle, that guy didn't. But there is value in the running back vision. There is value in having enough speed to hit the hole, knowing when to hit the hole, hitting it right and all those things.

And those are things that I think Devin Neal excels at where it doesn't always come out. And also, I don't know that they're giving bonus points, which is something that I think both Neal and Hyshaw do well. They always fall forward as running backs that's not always the case for a lot of guys so I again this is one with seventh and eleventh I'm not really putting much stock into uh receiver position for pro football focus big 12 grades for KU Lawrence Arnold comes in at fifth Luke Grimm at 10th Quentin Skinner at 11th and I think what's

interesting there is that kind of backs up the idea that KU has three really good receivers, maybe not the superstar. Though, I think Lawrence Arnold was outside the top 10, like the halfway point through the season when we did this, and he finished fifth. So maybe that's basically saying over the back half of the season, Lawrence Arnold is emerging into being a superstar wide receiver. But I think what's interesting here is the depth and the prowess KU has at these three starting receiver positions. The only other team with two receivers in the top 10 are Oklahoma and Iowa State. Kansas has two with Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm. KU, in fact, they have three in the top 11. Kansas is the only team on the Pro Football Focus Big 12 grades with three receivers ranked in the top 25

by qualified players so that shows you that yeah they are a really deep team they have a lot of great options that can go to on the outside a tight end uh mason fairchild ranked fifth jared casey ranked 14th there were 29 eligible by snaps but for what it's worth um you know casey got dinged a little in in the receiving grade, which I don't totally know why. But he was number one among the qualified tight ends, was Jared Casey, in pass blocking. He was also number five among qualified tight ends in run blocking, which I think that does kind of back up what we know he is,

is the utility player who can do a little bit of everything. From the group, Ben Sinnott's gone. Benjamin Bramer's only a freshman at Iowa State. From the group, Ben Sinnott's gone. Benjamin Bramer's only a freshman at Iowa State. JT Sanders, I'd assume, is gone. I don't know if he graduates, but at the very least, probably the draft. And then Mason Tharp can have another year at Texas Tech. So some good tight end competition for what KU has, but you expect that to continue coming in next year. Offensive tackle, Dominic Pooney ranked second, circling back to that. So you're going to be without the second best offensive tackle by PFF grade in the Big 12 Bryce Cabledew ranked 15th

of 33 offensive tackles so if you're saying your your first best is top five and your second best is you know 15th if you view it as every team there's 14 teams in the Big 12 um ideally in a perfect world you know everybody's top tackle would be 1-14. Everybody's second tackle would be 15-28. That would theoretically mean that you have the best second tackle in the Big 12. But now there's going to be questions, can Cable do jump up to where Poonie was last year? Offensive guard Michael Ford ranked third. I think that was super underrated this year. I think last year, Poonie was KU's most underrated, maybe player, certainly offensive lineman.

I think that was Michael Ford this year. Most underrated player KU had was Michael Ford. Third on a PFF ranking for guards. I think he's going to slide over to center next year. Kobe Baines at 17th, Armage Reed Adams at 18th. That's a really good group. Three guards in the top half of the 35 qualified. So I really like that overall.

And then center, Mike Nowitzki only ranked 11th among qualified Big 12 centers. Three guards in the top half of the 35 qualified. So I really like that overall. And then center, Mike Nowitzki only ranked 11th among qualified Big 12 centers. I think this had to do with injuries, and that reflected more on what ended up being, I think, by some of the grades, a down year for Mike Nowitzki. But I think it was just injury-related. He was playing through a lot of stuff. I bet that Mike Nowitzki has one of his best games of the year in the bowl game because they had all the time off in between. Let's get to our defensive pro football focus grades,

what it means, and what it means for 2024 here with Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of LOJ is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. When you're hiring for small businesses, you want to have as many top-tier candidates as possible to interview. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs is the tools to help you find the right candidates, right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn knows that small businesses are wearing so many hats and might not

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Let's get to the defensive pro football focus grades, and we'll get to what it means for 2024. Don't forget, you can check out stuff with Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcasts. We did signing day stuff. Deshaun Warner, the highest graded recruit KU's ever gotten. Best class KU's had since 2010. And we also will get to a KU Yale preview.

Defensive side of the ball, let's start with the defensive tackle, interior defensive line. So a lot of the numbers were pretty friendly on the offensive side of the ball. Defensive tackle, Tommy Dunn only comes in at 32nd among 48 qualified, and he was your top key tackle this year by PFF grade. Devin Phillips came in number two at 34th. Gage Keys came in number three at 40th, and DJ Withers came in at 48th. And Dunn and Phillips do represent a slight upgrade from what you had last

year there. So this position, I i think was better and also i will say like based on how ku plays i don't think this unit gets as many stats and things but um they still do make a impact so i do think some of the grades are undersold a bit on this position and underrated to not quite as good as they are um because of how ku schemes this position but even if you do factor that in and be like well they're just asking them to take on blocks and do this and that um even if you bump everyone up like five spots say for instance on account for that and give them a little bit of a curve right then you'd still be coming up with what 27th, 29th, 35th, 43rd among 48, right? So it still has been a position that needs to get better. And as far as like the Gage Keys decision, he's obviously transferring to Auburn.

You know, on one hand, you just have to replace the 40th best defensive tackle in the Big 12. That sounds very doable. On the other hand, this was already kind of a weaker position for you compared to your other positions, especially versus the conference. And on top of that, you have one more to replace. And on top of that, does Gage Keyes leaving and getting a big bag from Auburn, does it make any other defensive lineman being like, wait, I'm better than him. I should be getting X amount of dollars, right?

So I do think that Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers' ceilings give you hope. Just redshirt sophomores playing their first hardcore football this year of D1 level after being more slightly rotational guys in their early years. But the way KU's defense takes another step forward next year is kind of the spine of the defense, the middle of the defense. I feel good about the safety, but the linebackers have to take another step up. Defensive tackles have to take another step up, whether that's internal growth, whether that's bringing players in,

whether it's a combination of both. That has to happen for KU next season, and I think that's reflective in some of the PFF grades. Defensive end, Austin Booker, number one in the Big 12 in PFF grades for defensive end. So Booker had an unbelievable season, and that was reflected there. Hayden Hatcher came in at 19th, which is a really good season for, you know, a guy who made a bunch of steps up this year and becomes a rotational defensive end who starts a couple games.

Jeremy Robinson ranked 28th. His grade got lowered a bit against the run. But there were 49 qualified. So if you're saying you have three of the top 28 in the Big 12, a lot of other teams don't have that. And when you're looking at next year, if Austin Booker does go, if he goes pro or transfers to another school, this position becomes a real question mark, I think,

because then it's like, okay, Hatcher graduates, Jeremy Robinson's back, and then you're looking at, okay, you got a Dylan Woodkey. What does all this mean? If he does come back, it becomes a strength in the Big 12. The biggest decision is Austin Booker, in my opinion, of this offseason relies with him because if Devin Neal comes back, it's a huge get for KU. But if he doesn't, they still have Daniel Hyshaw, right? If Kobe Bryant comes back, it's a huge boon for KU. But if he doesn't come back, they still have Melo Dots

and a lot of these other talented corners. If Austin Booker goes pro, yes, KU's done a good job. They've shown. They've gone from Kyron Johnson to Lonnie Phelps to Austin Booker. So maybe they can find that next guy. But with Hayden Hatcher gone and Patrick Joyner gone, you have Woodke and maybe Robinson takes another step up if he comes back. This, to me, Austin Booker is the biggest decision KU has in the offseason.

And we'll see where it goes. Linebacker position. J.B. Brown, eighth in the Big 12. So that certainly backs up what I saw, that he was KU's most explosive and athletic linebacker. Rich Miller came in 25th. There were 41 qualified here, so kind of in the middle of the pack. And then Tywon Berryhill ranked last.

He was 41st of the 41 linebackers qualified in the Big 12. So, again, this is a position that I think needs to get better, but I think it has the base to do so. If J.B. Brown, you're starting with him eighth in his first year of Big 12. So, again, this is a position that I think needs to get better, but I think it has the base to do so. If J.B. Brown, you're starting with him eighth in his first year of Big 12, maybe he can be top five next year with another year of seasoning. You know, maybe Logan Brantley starts playing more. Maybe you bring in a transfer addition here. Maybe Tywon Berryhill can improve his game.

I think he was playing through some injuries too. For what it's worth, Craig Young I didn't mention here. He's listed as a safety. If he was a linebacker, he'd be rated the 16th best linebacker, so behind Brown ahead of Miller on just KU alone. But yeah, so overall excited what Brown can do with another offseason. But it's clear this and D-tackle are KU's biggest areas that they have room to improve and I think can. Corner, Melo Dotson was second Kobe Bryant was fifth as of

like a week or two ago they were one and two and then like no games happened and they fell to two and five so I don't know what PFF did messing with some of the ratings over the last week or two maybe they changed some of the formula or something nonetheless as far as the other top five in the Big 12 with Mello 2 and Kobe is at texas they're going to the sec miles purchases at iowa state he has one more year if he wants it and then josh newton i i think is uh off to the nfl after this for for tcu so you might have if kobe comes back you know you might bring back the only top five corners if purchase were to go road two for iowa state maybe maybe not uh the other one here is Kalen Girvin.

He was 22nd, which that's big shoes to fill if you think about it for the third corner. If you're saying your third corner is still a top half corner in the Big 12, whereas other schools are like, man, we just hope we have one top half corner in the Big 12, that's big shoes to fill for whoever does have to fill it for KU, whether it's Demarius McGee, whether it's B.J. Dilworth or Jameel Croft or Jacoby Davis or one of the three freshmen they have coming in, right? That's big have to fill it for KU, whether it's Demarius McGee, whether it's a BJ Dilworth or a Jamil Croft or a Jacoby Davis, or one of the three freshmen they have coming in, right? That's big shoes to fill of what Kalen Girvin provided you as a third corner, but I think they do have talent to do it.

The safety position, Marvin Grant is seventh. So he had a great year. Kenny Logan, 10th. Craig Young, 28th. Odie Burrows, 31st. Now, I will say that rating probably looks worse than it is. He had kind of a bad start. He finished really strong.

It's a 50 safeties because you have the strong safeties, free safeties, players who are like Craig Young, get classified as safeties. So I think this shows that the safety unit was a pretty big strength for KU. You had a lot of guys who could do it. And I'm really excited to see what another year can do for Marvin Grant. He was more of just a box safety in 2022. Then he went in the offseason. They said he took it very seriously, started looking at a lot more tape,

just took it to the next level. And he had an excellent year, and I think that was reflective. Honestly, he was probably the most underrated player. I talked about that with Michael Ford. Marvin Grant was probably the most underrated player on the KU defense this year. He ended up being your highest graded safety on PFF that maybe he can be a top five safety in the Big 12, maybe even higher than that

next season. Maybe he's an all Big 12 type of candidate at the safety position. You bring Burroughs back too. I'm really excited what Grant can do in another year. What does this all mean for 2024? Let's get to that coming up in a moment here with Locked on Jayhawks. We are brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Kansas in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against UMV. They're minus 12.5 right now on FanDuel, so you think you're going to win more by that. The over-under is 64.5. They're expecting a lot of points. That should make it fun. You can get in on that, too. And once we get closer to the game, I'd imagine there'll be some player props up. So visit fanduel.com

and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. What does all this mean with the PFF numbers for KU in 2024? I think offensively, Kansas should really be able to roll in the Big 12, but they do have that glaring hole to fill at left tackle that they'll have to figure out. That's part of

the beauty, though, of Dominic Booney opting out for the bowl game is that maybe you get that answer with Calvin Clements, right? Instead of going into next offseason with a complete unknown, thinking that, yeah, this guy's got good potential, but will he be ready as a redshirt freshman? Maybe we're going to know right away in about a week's time. So that's pretty exciting. But overall, the offense, you know, you look pretty locked and loaded. Even some of your departures, you have key players. And obviously the big question will be, can you keep Jalen Daniels healthy?

That's been the question the past couple years. And, you know, if not, do you go with Cole Ballard? Do you go with Isaiah Marshall? All those sorts of things. But the infrastructure is there. There are a lot of good players all the way through for that KU offense. And certainly if you do have to go with a young quarterback, having those stud receivers that we talked about helps.

On the defensive side of the ball, it's kind of shaky right now in terms of knowing what it's going to look like next year, just because I think there are more decisions to be had and more portal decisions and NFL decisions that you can kind of convince yourself that this defense could be the same. It could be way better. Or if some decisions go against you,

it could be worse, right? If, if Austin Booker is no longer on KU next season, it certainly becomes hard to be better than last year. But then again, we were saying that a season ago when you lost Lonnie Phelps and they ended up taking a step forward. So you just have to find your way around the margins in other areas. I think as you look at it, though, like the safety position, like could be just as good as last year with Marvin Grant leading the way. And, you know, you add Devin Dye to the portal cornerback. If Kobe Bryant's back, it could be just as good, if not better than it was a season ago. Linebacker and defensive tackle need to get better,

especially if you lose Austin Booker. But if you do bring all these guys back, I think there's no reason KU couldn't be a top five defense in the Big 12 next year. That's a lot of decisions that have to happen, but I think they all are doable at the very least. So pretty exciting stuff. And if KU can have a top five defense next year,

based on some of these decisions, right, you need Booker back, you need Kobe back, and you pair it with a healthy Jalen Daniels in the offense, sky is the limit for KU in 2024, especially with Texas and OU leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, even with Arizona and Utah who should come in ready to roll right away. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back tomorrow for a KU Yale preview for KU Hoops. This has been L.O.J.