Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Dylan Edwards Led Running Game is ROLLING - Top Takeaways from Kansas Jayhawks Victory Over MTSU

Starting point is 00:00:00 Running game took a huge step forward for KU in their win on Saturday against Middle Tennessee State. That and other top takeaways from the Jayhawks dominating win. 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? And on today's episode, we're going to break down the top takeaways from KU's

Starting point is 00:00:31 dominating Saturday performance against Middle Tennessee State. we will get to our pro football focus stats and grades of note. And they'll finish up with some of the latest news, including a very big weekend for KU baseball, I guess both from an exhibition standpoint and on the recruiting trail. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandual Rewards Club. Every week, check the Fandual app to see what's waiting for you.

Starting point is 00:00:57 So KU dominates Middle Tennessee State, 55-0 over the weekend. And I get it. It's not a great Middle Tennessee State squad. you still feel good about how KU performed because they weren't just good. You were 20 point favorites and you won by 55. They had their lowest yardage total. They had their lotus passing yard, their lowest rushing yard total. They gave up the most yards they've given up.

Starting point is 00:01:16 It was a school record on yards for KU. There's different levels to this. There's levels of you performed well and there's levels of you played an excellent football game. And, you know, if you can continue to play like that, sure, it'll be harder against better opponents starting this week. and, you know, finishing up through the rest of the season with the final eight games against Big 12 opponents, but you'll be able to get some wins, right? And so the biggest takeaway for me from this was that the running game is back. Like, there were other things that KU did really well in this game, but the biggest one that had been kind of, I don't know, holding KU back

Starting point is 00:01:53 to me to this point was the running game. You know, with Isaiah Marshall, the passing inconsistencies that we've seen, I think that's just something that's going to kind of continue through the season. And that was something that I was kind of expecting before the season started. But with the running game, that was something that I expected before the season started to be a big strength of this team. And, you know, to this point in time, it had not been a big strength for KU, right? So, you know, there are some good moments and maybe some good runs here and there throughout the early first three games, but not consistently. and 480 rushing yards against Middle Tennessee State. It felt like you found the identity you wanted to establish running the football.

Starting point is 00:02:39 It felt like you found the nice blend of how you wanted to run the quarterback. It felt like you found something with Dylan Edwards. You found something a little bit later with Jaylon Dupree. And even the other running backs who had to get thrown into the fire by, you know, like Kaijohn Cummings Coleman or Donald Collier who were getting into the game there. they even performed and part of that is on, you know, the offensive line. The other part of that is that, you know, credit to those guys for what they did. But it just feels like KU is trending back toward being a good running team again,

Starting point is 00:03:15 which will be, you know, to its test this week. We saw KU really run over Utah season ago. They're a different team this year, but can they do that again this year? You know what I found very interesting? Jayland Dupree actually had more yards in the game against Middle Tennessee. State than Yassin Willis has this season. Isn't that crazy to look back on and think about? But side note, I don't know that we realize how well Dylan Edwards is playing. I thought that even in some of the early games, or maybe he's not getting a ton of touches or a ton of total yards,

Starting point is 00:03:45 I thought he was playing well. Like, you obviously had the big fumble against Arizona State, and that was certainly not good. But he's had some really nice plays. And I was looking at his profile today among 307 qualified FBS runners this year. He's in. in the 75th percentile or better in EPA per play, yards per carry. He's right there in success rate, 74th percentile there. Second level yards. So basically the yards after you get past that offensive line, right? Stuffed rate.

Starting point is 00:04:19 So he's not getting stuffed at a super high degree. And he's actually in the 93rd percentile for receiving yards among running backs right now. So like Dylan Edwards has been really good for Kansas. He actually has more rushing yards this year. than he had all of Kansas State a season ago. So, like, he's been really good so far for KU this year. I liked what I saw from Cummings Coleman. I like that what I saw from how they used the quarterback in the running game.

Starting point is 00:04:44 It's not going to be 480 every week, but for KU to be a bowl team, I think they need to be a top five team in the Big 12 in rushing. Maybe that's not possible in terms of the first three games, but if we just look at like conference-only numbers, for instance, right? And, you know, that's the important part of this. the success for Kansas is going to be dependent on the running game. I think they have a good enough defense. If the quarterback play is going to be inconsistent,

Starting point is 00:05:10 if the special teams game is going to be give and take, right? You give a kick return touchdown, but you take a punt return touchdown, right? You give a missed field goal, but you make a right, you give a big long kick return to middle Tennessee State. It feels like it's going to be a big give or take. So if you have a good defense,

Starting point is 00:05:29 you have a good running game and then the other things are inconsistent, that should still be good enough to make a bowl game, right? Now, that other part of that equation is the defense. And once again, they continue to pass every test. It's not necessarily a new takeaway for the defense here. It's just a continued passing of the grade. You know, if you in school get an A on one test and then a C on another and then a B and then an A, your max potential is you're an A student, but on average, maybe you're a B student, right?

Starting point is 00:06:04 Maybe that's your overall. The more that you get A is back to back to back, better chance you have of getting an A in the class, the better chance you have of being an A student overall. And that's kind of the case for this defense. They continue to get A's on the test. Maybe they wouldn't get an A for the Missouri game, but you get what I'm saying. They continue to pass every test that you look at here. I get it.

Starting point is 00:06:27 You're playing a lesser opponent who you should dominate. There's another level to which KU did. Again, like Middle Tennessee State hadn't been held below 300 yards in a game this season. And you held them closer to 100 than you did 200. It was just pure domination at the line of scrimmage. The coverage was sticky. The linebackers were running sideline to sideline. Everything came together as a well-oiled machine.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Nobody had more than three tackles for KU, which was partially because you were getting off the field. fast, but also because everything was so spread out. You had really good games from safeties and even in coverage, which hadn't always been the case for KU. Leroy Harris continues to look like an all big 12 first team performer. David Santiago continues to perform. You're getting flash plays from some of the other guys,

Starting point is 00:07:12 whether it's Dak Brinkley or Blake Harold or in other games, Marcus Calvin and Eamon Smalls. You're getting to Breil Kande in this one. And they just continue to pass every test. So I guess these next couple games will be the better tests for everything. But, you know, if you play like you have to this point, I'm not saying KU is going to go out there and beat Utah or Kansas State. I mean, you're going to be favored to lose both games, but you should at least be in at least one of, if not both games, if the defense continues to play like this. And then who knows, right?

Starting point is 00:07:49 Then it's just based on kind of how does the offense play, how does the turn? Turnovers kind of work out, all of those different things. Now, speaking to that point, my other takeaway from this, if KU can snag just one of the next two games, I'd feel a lot better about this team making a bowl game, right? I actually do think there is a chance that KU could lose these next two and still make a bowl game. We see, I mean, we even see teams sometimes they'll start like two and six or three and six, and then they end up making a bowl game. That wouldn't be the desired path.

Starting point is 00:08:22 I think like I said, it gets a lot easier for you win one of these next two. But just for instance, so you're hosting Baylor, Baylor's looked pretty decent overall this season. But you being the home team, like, I don't know, it feels like that's going to be a coin flip game. Playing at TCU, TCU hasn't been very good this year. Now, that is a road game. So that'll be difficult. But again, kind of a coin flip situation. UCF at home, again, that's going to be a coin flip.

Starting point is 00:08:47 I think right now you'd probably be favored. Might be a small number. But still, at Westford. Virginia, like I think West Virginia is much improved and they look pretty good, but also their defense looks very, you know, suspect. And if you can slow down their running game, which KU's defense has been pretty good against the run so far, then you're going to have a chance there. BYU at home are going to be really difficult, but BYU has played some close games, right? And then at Oklahoma State, that's probably at this point, you might chalk that one up as an L that that's going to

Starting point is 00:09:15 be a tough one there. But like, point being, could you, if you just win one of the next two, right, can you win three games between Baylor at home, UCF at home, BYU at home, so even if you just get two of those three, and then you went one on the road between TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma State. That'd be three wins. So that would put you a five. That means to get six, one of Utah, K-State. Can you pull the upset in one of those two games?

Starting point is 00:09:41 Problem is Utah is a really good opponent, and you're playing on the road and you're playing, you know, super late at night to probably their, you know, benefit. And meanwhile, for Kansas State, you just don't beat Kansas State. And Lance Leopold hasn't been a rival yet. So, like, I'm not going to pick either of those things to happen. But I would feel a lot better about making a bowl if they could certainly get it done. All right, let's continue on with our pro football focus grades and stats of note.

Starting point is 00:10:04 This is locked on Jayhawks. I think we've all been in this predicament before. You go to make dinner. You open your refrigerator. You look in there for five to 10 minutes, then close the doors and think, I've got nothing to work with. That is where butcher box comes to the rescue. and I can attest to this firsthand because I have been a proud butcher box customer for years. They deliver in a big, big way.

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Starting point is 00:11:50 see what is waiting for you. And you know, it's waiting for me, 35 to 1 to get the Kansas Jayhawks to win the Natty in basketball after the additions of Trey White and Melvin Council. That's a little interesting to me, right? I think those are maybe overinflated odds for what they should be. Meanwhile, you can also get in on the action for Kansas taking on Utah. Right now, Kansas is opening at 14.5 point underdogs.

Starting point is 00:12:16 The over under is 51.5. Maybe you think the defense can keep them in the game. and the 14 and a half is too much. You can get that and plenty more over at Fandual. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandual. Visit fanduel.com to get started today. Thanks you for joining us here on Lockdown, Jayhawks. Let's get to our pro football focus grades of note from the weekend.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Top five performers for the offense. How about Chase Jenkins, my guy? Obviously, it's limited in terms of, you know, he's playing against backups and it's only a couple throws, but, you know, I'd love to see it. I'd love to see it. I hyped him up in the offseason, and that was cool to see even if it was a small, sample-sized-sized thing.

Starting point is 00:12:57 How about Kaizan Cummings-Colman, second-hized-rated player for KU? Again, limited snaps, but that shows you what kind of athlete he is to be able to make that happen. Brandon Salis comes in at number three. He's the former Missouri transfer on the offensive line, who, again, you're playing, you know, kind of with the backups, with the game out of reach and everything. But good to see him perform well. We heard that the staff really liked their offensive line depth. and I think you saw it a little bit in this game as you were able to continue to rotate bodies in like Salis and perform well and we'll see if that leads to him, you know, getting more snaps down the road.

Starting point is 00:13:31 This was good to see for, I think a lot of reasons. Amir Herring came in at number four on this list. So Herring lost his starting spot to Carter Stro. Now he becomes a rotational guard, but comes in there for at least a little bit to snap when Case and Carpenter got injured for a little there. and Herring played really well. So that is good to see for Kansas. And then Jalen Dupree comes in at number five. You know, I love me some Jalen Dupree as well. So that's cool to see there.

Starting point is 00:14:01 If we did set this to a minimum of you had to play at least 30 snaps, your top three would be Amir Herring, Calvin Clements. So a really good game for Calvin Clements. That's nice to see. And then Isaiah Marshall. How about him coming up there in a number three? Now, bottom five, Keaton, Quebec. Then you have Jenkins up there.

Starting point is 00:14:19 that would not be Chase. That would be Triselle Jenkins on the offensive line who was getting, I believe, his first snaps of the year, Tavaki, Tuico, Lovatu. That's not great to see there. Now, if, you know, if he, it's weird. Like, this is just a guard shuffle at this point, right? Like, if he's going to struggle and Herring's going to do well, is Herring going to move in for him, we'll see what the repercussions of that is.

Starting point is 00:14:40 And then you have Cook, who, again, that's limited snaps at the receiver position. Carson Bruin as a bottom five, I totally disagree with that. I get it. He didn't really do anything in the receiving game. But like the dude was constantly on big plays making a big block. I guess that's the thing is that like with pro football focus, you're not going to get extra. You can't get extra credit, right?

Starting point is 00:15:03 Like you can make a stupendous block and it's just going to go down as good as somebody else's really good block. If that kind of makes sense. You're not going to get extra credit there. So I don't know. I disagree. I think there were a lot of really good blocks made by him. I think on a lot of key plays or big.

Starting point is 00:15:18 plays that were sprung by KU. I thought he made good blocks. So I would disagree with that one. Best pass blocking grade, kind of interesting. Calvin Clements, although a lot of players had good pass blocking grades. Harper, Cop, and Herring were all above 80. Cool to see Anderson Cop there, not just because his dad was in attendance to the game. His dad and Josh Goldberth's dad, so Eric Galbraith was, were like doing the flag before the game, like putting it up. And so Anderson Cop being able to get in there and play that well in front of his, you know, dad, who, I don't know, maybe they make it to all the games, but certainly at the very least, at this one was really cool.

Starting point is 00:15:53 And also, like, he's the center of the future for KU. So, like, that's nice to see there. And, I mean, shoot with Kaysen Carpenter, getting banged up with injury and kind of struggling up and down this year. I don't know, like maybe the future is now with Anderson Cop, right? Now, best run blockers, Selees, good to see there. Jalen Butler was up there. That's good to see.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And then you have Tyron Parker, limited sample size there, but good to see a big, receiver, young receiver, getting in on the blocking, and then a mere herring were all players above 80. But going back to Anderson Cop, that might be the most interesting snap count here, hit 59 snaps. And again, you get played into by Kays and Carpenter getting banged up and hurt. But Kopp played really well. This is a second year freshman, or I guess, I don't know, now in the new five and five, a second year player who looked really good for KU that early on. I'd be interested.

Starting point is 00:16:48 It still feels like we're trying to shuffle through and find the best five together of the KU offense line. Maybe that'll include Anderson Cop. I don't know. Meanwhile, for the defensive side of the football, the top five, Leroy Harris, who continues to just ball out. Dak Brinkley was great in this game. Grady Sefer, that one's like three snaps, but good for him for doing it, former walk-on, I believe. David Santiago and then Taylor Davis, who I thought played really well on first watch. the bottom five you get tray brown most of that was because he was targeted one time and

Starting point is 00:17:22 give up like a 30 something yard pass so when you have a limited sample and you give up one big play that's going to kind of take your grade it seems like he still has a bright future though brandon schmelsley jaden harris who ever since like it felt like there was talk of him pushing taylor davis in the offseason and then he had an injury and now he's just playing very minimal snaps and it's not really making an impact. Jason Strickland and then Christian Pritchett were the other bottom five there. Now you got three Jayhawks who ended up with two pressures and two stops. It was Leroy Harris, Dak Brinkley, and David Santiago. Those three continue to be a wrecking crew for KU at the defensive end spot that they're very fortunate to have all three of those guys. How about the

Starting point is 00:18:04 tackling game for Kansas, which honestly this season, KU's done a really good job tackling. Only five miss tackles in this game that kind of continues a trend for KU where they have done a good job of avoiding mistackles. Meanwhile, in terms of the target numbers, two stood out to me. Julele Hurley was targeted four times. Most of those as the game came on later, but you have zero catches. So, you know, that's obviously very good ratio for him there. This is one we've kind of been tracking, gave up a ton of targets and catches in the Missouri game, then gave up a good amount of targets against Arizona State, but the catches went way down. And that's E.J. Cannon targeted again a ton six times in this game.

Starting point is 00:18:45 And I did only give up 26 catches or 26 yards, excuse me. That would be not good. 26 yards. So a little over four yards per target. That's a good number. Did give up five catches on the six. So it's like you'd like to see the completion percentage go down, but also if they're all really short and you're making the tackle, then I guess it's totally fine.

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Starting point is 00:20:46 It was a busy weekend for KU Baseball, specifically on the recruiting trail, but they also played an exhibition game. And I've been looking around, I haven't been able to find anywhere that has, like, the full box score, like the stats or anything like that. But I know at one point KU was leading like 9-0. I saw this from Jacob Webb, who covers KU baseball for the Daily Kansin. And they were up 9-0 at one point. and apparently Colton Rother had a three-run home run.

Starting point is 00:21:14 Walt Jones, Dylan Schlaugher, had a pair of extra base hits. So a couple guys on your infield. Walt Jones is the guy who has the big shoes to fill of Tyson LeBlong playing at shortstop, but he's one of the best Juko recruits coming in in the country. So good to see there, you know, often running with a good dominant performance. And now this next Saturday is when they'll be doing the field of dreams game against Iowa. So better competition there. you'll learn a little bit more, but honestly, just like a really cool venue and setting for something

Starting point is 00:21:43 like this. But the commitments were, they were just being tossed out like, I don't know, flowers on Valentine's Day for KU baseball because they got some big time ones. Kyler, I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this right, Kyler Kachmarski. I don't know if that's the right way to pronounce the last name. Anyway, Jayhawks Slant tweeted this out. The righty from Indiana has a 94 mile per hour fastball. also throws a curve slider and change up. Originally from Indiana went to southeastern community college,

Starting point is 00:22:12 seven and one with a 3.53 ERA, so you continue to add to your pitching and continue to add some of these good players who can kind of bolster whether it's going to be the rotation or just build out your depth. And then you get a commitment from Dominic Pinozo, who again, I hope I'm pronouncing that one right, but Pinozo is another pitcher.

Starting point is 00:22:35 and he plays for Cancankakee community college man I'm having all sorts of trouble pronouncing things right now anyway um I was going back on his like Twitter account and he had one highlights where he's throwing like fastballs sinkers curveballs sliders um so it seems like he's a multi pitch pitcher that that's going to give you optionality as a potential starter but it seems like he throws in the low to mid 90s as well so you're getting one there and then this last one has just stats that I kept looking at and kept being like,

Starting point is 00:23:09 is this right? Is this like a typo? That would be Jackson Shanual, who is from Hutchinson Community College in the nearby area. And again, these are just absolutely jaw-dropping. The other two pitchers, Shanual is a hitter, big dude, like 6-3, 6-4. And just to be clear, I should probably add this,

Starting point is 00:23:30 all of these three commits, all of these three players are not players that will join for this upcoming season. So the 2027 season, they would be enrolling in the, what would that be the fall of 2027 and then would play their first season in the spring of 2028, just to be clear.

Starting point is 00:23:49 But that honestly makes this even more impressive because Jackson Shanual did this as a freshman at Jukau where he still has another year this year to potentially get even better. He hit 452 with a 555 on base percentage. he had 17 home runs in 60 games. He had, if you just look at extra base hits, he had 41 extra base hits in 60 games played, right? Compared to 35 strikeouts. So you're getting more extra base hits than your strikeouts.

Starting point is 00:24:19 That's pretty. He also had more walks than strikeouts, right? 38 to 35. Hit 79 driven in in 60 games. These are just absolutely bonkers numbers that I really enjoyed looking at. So, yeah, seems like a few. middle of the order bopper for KU baseball. So really cool there with some of those commits.

Starting point is 00:24:39 Meanwhile, for KU volleyball, they swept Utah on Friday. That extended their sweeps of nine straight wins and all of them sweeps. So 27 straight sets one in total for KU. Unfortunately, though, they were swept by BYU the next day. BYU, a good opponent, ranked and everything. So next up, it'll be Sunday, October 11th at UCF. but you know good record and look for another winning streak here for kU volleyball then kU soccer meanwhile most recently lost three to one at baylor next up there at k state on thursday and then

Starting point is 00:25:15 they'll be at colorado next sunday that'll do for this episode of locked on jhawks you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast including on our youtube page where you can like and subscribe to the show see you next time

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Dylan Edwards Led Running Game is ROLLING - Top Takeaways from Kansas Jayhawks Victory Over MTSU

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