Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Elmarko Jackson's Surge, Kansas Football Failure, S'Mya Nichols 40 | KU Thanksgiving Week Takeaways

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU football season is over KU basketball looks as lively as it had is in quite some time. We're going to recap a wild week and what it all means from last week headed into December here on Locked on Jayhawks. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thank you for making it the first listen every day. And thank you so much for making locked on the number one sports podcast network. And on today's episode, we're going to be breaking down a little Marco Jackson, KU basketball looking as lively as it has in a couple of years now. KU football looking kind of the opposite. It feels like things are moving in opposite lines, I guess so to speak, on the stocks up, stocks down. We're going to break those down and just, just in general the best and worst things to happen to KU Athletics over this past week leading into December here. And then we'll finish up a little, you know, what are the biggest reasons in my estimation why I think 2022, 23 Kansas goes to back-to-back bowl games and why they just missed the case this last two years. This episode of the show is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with GameTime.

Starting point is 00:01:30 All right here, the best things to happen to Kansas over the past week and what they mean, the biggest takeaways. Let's start with this. Kansas goes three and O last week at the Players Era Festival. They beat Notre Dame, 71 to 61, which on its own, I don't know how great Notre Dame is going to be this year. But picked to be kind of middle of the pack in the ACC, Syracuse, they beat 71 to 60, which, again, I have no idea how good Syracuse is going to be this year. They look really bad against Iowa State. They also were like Kansas without, you know, their best player in Donnie Freeman during the week. They also took Houston to overtime. But the last game turns out to be the biggest.

Starting point is 00:02:04 And even if Kansas would have lost a close game to Tennessee, there still would have been positives to come away from the week for KU, right? At the very least, they won the first two games, which were the type of games where if you lose either of those games, it does start to be a case and a question of, hey, if Darren Peterson has heard again or misses time, are we sure the rest of the rosters an NCAA tournament team? Well, they won both those games.

Starting point is 00:02:27 They won both of them by double figures to make a thing. like, hey, even if Peterson were out, this should at least be an NCAA tournament team, right? I continue to, and honestly, the way it looked against Tennessee, it doesn't guarantee this because, again, last year in the non-con, you beat Duke and stuff. But based on how this roster is constructed, you think that was more of a completed product the last two years in the non-con, this product should get better as the season goes on. I posed this a couple weeks ago, if you're comparing, or I guess in a hypothetical matchup, this Kansas team versus last year's Kansas team in a seven-game series,

Starting point is 00:03:00 who you're taking? I think I'm taking this one. There's just more ways that it can find a way athletically to win and stuff like that. But point being, you were able to prove that by beating Tennessee, I think, where you were able to show that, hey, this isn't just the Darren Peterson show. Like, Peterson should be the team's best player. And Peterson is the difference between being a good team and potentially a great team, potentially an elite team, potentially a final four.

Starting point is 00:03:26 team like there are differences that Peterson brings to the table for this team that they certainly need but they also showed this isn't a bunch of pushovers or slouches around them there are some dogs on this team and right now you're in a situation where you're ranked 20th on Ken Palm and that is like Ken Palm doesn't take into account hey guys are injured or this guy didn't play in this game or did in this other game so theoretically like you're without your best player for a majority of these games what does that mean you are you know when you are healthy and you just kind of look at it and okay if we're going to get that against yukon then maybe that'll be a good barometer but even then it's not really going to be

Starting point is 00:04:06 if you do get peterson back for that game just from a standpoint of he'll be reintegrating into the lineup after they've gotten used to playing without him for a little bit of time so that'll probably more of a question during big 12 play for k u but you know point being they equipped themselves very very well this week and i think answered some questions so our number two you know biggest positive from the last week. It actually involves KU basketball in general. It was O'Marco Jackson going off in the last game. O'Marco came into that game.

Starting point is 00:04:34 Like, six points against North Carolina. But after that point, it was 11 points over the next five games for O'Marco. And then he had 17 points against Tennessee. I played 27 minutes. He was 4-7 from the floor, two of three from three. He had a super aggressive drive that probably should have been an end one. but he was getting to the free throw line a bunch he took seven free throws he had four free throw attempts coming into the game so that just shows the aggressiveness of him driving to the rim here's what

Starting point is 00:05:03 else shows the aggressiveness four rebounds came in with a previous season high of three um he also had block in the game these are the things that you want to see from omarco jackson being an aggressive basketball player and it's not always going to look like 17 points the shot's not always going to fall for omarco right it but can you continue to be aggressive and and here's Here's the thing, like, El Marco defensively has rated out really well the last couple years. Now, I know I was chatting with somebody and they were basically kind of like, hey, it feels like, like, you know, it's once a game at least that El Marco is getting blown by. And then I was also hearing from somebody who was talking to me and was like, I feel like

Starting point is 00:05:47 there's also once a game that El Marco gets beat and then causes a kind of a week and one. and those are true. Those are happening. You'd like to nail those down or have those stop, so to speak, right? But outside of that, like, El Marco is a pretty good defender. It's like there's one lapse, and then outside of that, he's going to play pretty good defense. And I don't know, like I look at last year for in there, I guess two years ago, his last year of play. El Marco actually rated out in the, let's see, 75th percentile in defensive winchairs per 40 minutes.

Starting point is 00:06:22 and his on-off splits on the defensive end two years ago. He was in the 86th percentile for the team's de-rating when he was on the floor defensively. So, like, there's some good numbers that you can kind of point to there. Again, I think there's some things to be worked on, but like, he can be a good defender with his athleticism. And if you pair that with the aggressiveness offensively, it just changes what this Kansas team could be overall.

Starting point is 00:06:49 So that was a huge positive to see that, to know that that. is in there. Our third biggest positive here, Samaya Nichols dropped 40 points in a game against Georgia. She is really, really, really, really good at basketball. Samaya Nichols right now is averaging 20.1 points per game, five assists per game. She's shooting 53 from the floor, 41 from three, and 83 at the foul line. She is point blank, one of the best players in the Big 12, and honestly, one of the best players in the country. And it's nice to know you have one of those players kind of leading you right now. Now, unfortunately, they lost both games.

Starting point is 00:07:25 We'll get into that a little bit more. But having a player like that with Samaya Nichols, once you get Jaliyah Davis healthy again, you form one of the better one, two punches in the country. Number four here, you indicate you football. They established a running identity against Utah, and they made some defensive plays. I think both those are at least nice to see headed into the offseason.

Starting point is 00:07:43 Obviously, disappointing finish, which we'll get to that in the worst things from last week. But if you're looking ahead to next year, I would love to see KU get back to being a run-first team, running a little more option. And I understood why you went to a little more passing this year when you have Jalen in the last year. You have some receivers who are a little better yard after catch. Like some of the decisions made some sense, but there were also moments in games this year where it felt like they could have established the run and stuck to that a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:08:13 And it felt like they did that in the Utah game. Even then it felt like, hey, maybe they should have ran even more because of Jalen's struggles. but it was obviously a very heavy split to running the football in that game. And I think the best avenue next year, we're going to talk all offseason about who's going to be the quarterback. Is it going to be Cole Ballard? Is it going to be David McComb? It's going to be Isaiah Marshall. Is it going to be Jalen Mason? Is it going to be a transfer? We're going to talk all offseason about those things. But you know what is one way to kind of mitigate that is be a better running team, be a better team of the lines of scrimmage, be a better defensive

Starting point is 00:08:44 team and just try to be like a, I don't know, like a win six games by being the, The ball control doesn't make mistakes, but still aggressive in the key moments of game management, situations for KU. I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world. And I wonder if the Utah game was a little bit of peek into the future of what it could be next year, right? If Isaiah Marshall is the quarterback, okay, sure, we don't really get the Isaiah Marshall throwing the football. What if they're a team next year that isn't throwing the football like that much and they are able to run the ball just a ton and kind of establish themselves on the lines of scrimmage? there are teams who have success doing that. And again, if you want to talk about the ceiling of being a 10 or 11-win team,

Starting point is 00:09:23 maybe that's a little bit different. But even then, like, okay, Bear Bachmire, very good freshman quarterback for BYU. I really like watching the play. He's top 12 in the country in total QBR. Did you know Bear Bachmire also has 14 passing touchdowns this year? Now, obviously, he's eating some of those running the ball. He has 11 rushing touchdowns. But, like, point being, BYU is not a team that's just throwing it around the yard.

Starting point is 00:09:45 They're one of the best teams in the country and in the Big 12. And it's, Bear Bock Meyer's 2,500 passing yards. So I almost look at this game and say, hey, can you play better defense next year? When I look at the potential returners on next year's roster, I say, okay, maybe there's an avenue to doing that. And then can you just be like a run first football team that kind of establishes an identity that way? I like what we saw there. And then our fifth and final biggest positive from the week was KU Volleyball, who they won at Iowa State, who, you know, came in as a top 25 RPI team. And I would just assume that locked them in as a top four seed to host in the NCAA tournament because they ended up with a four seed.

Starting point is 00:10:22 They seed the top eight in all four regions and the top four get to host their little pod as long as they put a bit in for hosting. Kansas is the four seed. High point is the team they'll play in the first round. If they win that, they play the winner of the five seed Miami, who's the team who, or no, I'm sorry, it was Florida last year or they play Tulsa in the second round potentially. I've kind of felt like this team has a lot of talent. They suffered some losses throughout the year, but this could be a time that maybe they go on a run, and then their one seat potentially would be the Nebraska Cornhuskers awaiting them

Starting point is 00:10:52 if they can get that far. But it's a good opportunity for Kansas to host some of these games. And I think really cool in year one of the Matt Ulmer era, that they're already getting to do that in a year where, yeah, they had a lot of more of these losses. And in five-set losses, they're a young team. They've got a new coach, and they still were able to get to this plateau with,

Starting point is 00:11:11 this huge, you know, baseline and level of play that Ray Bouchard established. They're carrying that over into the beginning of the Matt Ulmer era. All right. What were the biggest negatives? What were the biggest worst things that happened, I guess, for KU over the last week? We get to that next. This episode of Lockdown Jayhawks is brought to you by game time. You can actually get tickets to the upcoming KUCon game,

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Starting point is 00:12:33 Again, download the app, make an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go, game time today. Thanks to join us on the show and making locked on the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for every day. Here's catching each and every episode of the show. Five biggest negatives from last weekend. Let's start with number one. KU football missing a bowl game for the second consecutive year.

Starting point is 00:13:00 This is a team. I mean, you've lost over 30 seniors in back-to-back years. They could have really used those extra bowl practices. And heck, the quarterback battle could have really used those extra bowl practices. and now you don't get those. That is detrimental to do for back-to-back seasons. It's also one of those things where it's like, it's one of those tough things to understand because like if you do view it from a

Starting point is 00:13:23 standpoint of, okay, five years for the Lance Leipold era, they've won five or more games in four of the five years, which they hadn't even won four games in a season since Manjino until Lypold arrived. So like from that perspective, it's like, this is great. You've made two bowl games. You're winning at least four more games every year. But also, it's different now.

Starting point is 00:13:40 It's different now that it was in the 2010s with the way that you can, you know, turn things around very quickly with the right roster additions and right player moves, essentially free agency in college football now. It also with the investment, the KU has gotten into the football program, both into the stadium and into, I guess, I don't know, RevShare and NIL. It is just different now than it was then. And so the expectations are raised. And I think the, you know, maybe it is a little unfortunate for LIPOL, like if they go five and seven, in year two and instead they go six and six this year or you know last year instead if you flipped one of those seasons are the expect or I don't know you put the nine and four season like last year or something and you put the six and six season the year before and you put I don't know like if you

Starting point is 00:14:25 move things around a little bit are the expectations or does it feel as bad but you kind of raise the expectations and now you're going to have all Lance Leipold guys on the roster right there There was so many successes, success stories on the KU roster from Les Miles, guys. There's just a lot of, I think, built up anxiety about what's happening with the KU football program. And now it's kind of a big question, what are they going to do this offseason? A lot of holes to fill. Where do you go for?

Starting point is 00:14:53 And that's the challenge, too. Like if this is a make or break year for Lance Leipold, which if I'm being completely honest, I don't know that I think a lot of fans probably feel that 2026 is a maker break year. year, I don't know that it's felt like the same way inside KU. It might be more of a two-year thing. But point being, if you were Lance Leipold and you are feeling any sort of pressure there, do you focus more on getting one-year guys that can help you right away? And does that hurt you in the long term as a program? Then again, does it matter with the transfer portal? Should you always be looking toward that? I don't know. I think those are kind of fascinating questions of what

Starting point is 00:15:32 you want to do. Number two here for the biggest negatives from last week. I, I legit feel bad for guys like, I don't know, Daniel Hyshaw, and there's so many other players. I'm not going to just individually name everyone, but like he's the one that first kind of came to mind. Him and some other seniors who, one, kept battling all throughout it. Like I thought there was a level of kind of giving up a little bit in the Iowa State game. I don't think you saw that in the Utah game. And again, like I said earlier, it wasn't every player. It's just that like if one or two players aren't given their all, that can be the difference in a game.

Starting point is 00:16:06 and a play and a drive. But Daniel Hyshaw never felt that. And at the end of the day, like this senior class is still a very big part of KU, the guys who have been here all these years, right? A very big part of KU making it back to a bowl game a couple years ago, winning nine games a couple of years ago, right? Even from a standpoint of even though it is disappointing and you're allowed to feel that way over these last two years,

Starting point is 00:16:28 let's not forget, like, objectively at least winning five games and beating some ranked teams along the way is certainly better than it was. was 10 years ago. And some of those fun games, some of those phone memories, some of those fun moments, I am thankful and did feel bad the way that they kind of went out here over these last, whatever, four games this year, or I guess four or the last five games for KU in that regard. Number three here for the biggest negatives. And I think going to have some interesting financial decisions for KU here because, and I don't know that they're great financial decisions have one the coordinator buyouts right like potentially if you want to buy out dk macdonald um

Starting point is 00:17:11 that's like a million dollars basically i i don't know what the going rate is now it's different with right this next off season is going to be rev share and a little more controlled nil whereas in pre you like whereas this past off season it was like rev share and uncontrolled nil and then the previous off seasons it was like just uncontrolled nil so i don't know like are the numbers down a little bit now are they up because things just continued rise like bidding wars inflation you know whatever else but i i would based on where i think about the numbers that i was hearing two years ago for instance with like kU football a couple years ago off the top of my head i would think a million dollars could get you two starters maybe three just kind of depends the position the where they're

Starting point is 00:17:59 coming from like i don't know maybe it can even get you four again it depends where they're coming from it depends the other schools that are suiting for them, all those sorts of things. But theoretically, if you said you could have two good starters, players that if they had a good year, they could be potential all conference honorable mention or second team or first team or whatever, if they had the right year, but they're at least like on that precipice of player that if they don't, they'll be close. If they do have the right year in the right situations, then they'll get there. If you could get two of those, would that be more impactful or less impactful than if

Starting point is 00:18:30 you were to say, hey, we're going to have those players with D.K. McDonald or we're going to have a new defensive coordinator, but not the same talent. And I don't know. I think that's a very difficult question that they have to kind of answer inside the office. But yeah, just in general, like coordinator buyouts, I mean, players, who do you retain? Who do you let go? Obviously, part of it is a money game, right? It's no longer, we really like this player. It's we really like this player at this cost. And I think that becomes interesting, too. Where do you find the line for some of these guys? is there going to be a direct reflection of the last two years on donor money? Like, it could go one of two ways.

Starting point is 00:19:06 It could go the way of, you know, I've heard this talked about before, not for the KU football situation. I've heard this talked about for another big 12 school. I'll just leave it at that, like a year ago. And it doesn't matter what sport it is. But like point being that the donors wanted to donate even more money for that season to basically give the coach. the leeway to prove that they are not the guy, essentially, right? To be like, hey, we gave you all this money. And if it works, great.

Starting point is 00:19:37 Now I'm going to get credit for it as the donor because I gave all this money. But if we gave you all this money and it doesn't work, now you have no more excuses. You're gone at the end of the year. I don't know. That's happened before. I'm not saying it's going to happen at KU, but it is entirely possible. The flip side is frustration, donor fatigue. You're spending all this money on all the sports, the donations, the,

Starting point is 00:19:56 the stadium, are you going to continue to give here to KU football and allow them to be competitive once again in the portal? There was a stat that came out. I forget the exact number. I'll have to dig it back up, but it was, it posted like the five schools or something that had the most career starts added via the transfer portal. So like players who were experienced via the portal. And like it was like the top five.

Starting point is 00:20:21 And like, I think it was like four or the five or something were like elite college football teams this year. So I just found that kind of interesting. Okay, number four here for the biggest negatives from last week. I think Cole Rosario's struggles moving over to basketball. He lost his starting job. And like, I think it would have been one thing. It's like, oh, Darren Peterson came back. So we decided, you know, we really like Tiller as one of our starters. We're going to put Peterson back in for Rosario. But he lost the fifth starter spot without Peterson coming back to Jamari McDowell, who I liked the kind of role playing that McDowell was playing. But it was three tough games for Rosario last week, four points per game, two of eight from three, zero rebound. This is

Starting point is 00:20:59 the big one here. Zero rebounds, one stock, two turnover, six fouls. So zero rebounds and six fouls. The big thing about Cole Rosario, it's the shooting, obviously, but it's also the hustle plays. The shooting is what raises his potential. The hustle plays, the rebounding is what is going to keep him on the floor and keep Bill Self happy. Those weren't happening last week. And that's the one where it's like, that's going to get you down. So can you improve that? And then maybe the three-point shooting will come. But, yeah, the three-point shooting's been, it's been a little ugly.

Starting point is 00:21:31 I do kind of like the idea of bringing him off the bench for now. Maybe the game's just going a little too fast for him. He reclassed up, this was kind of a whirlwind to get him to KU. If it allows him to settle in, coming in off the bench, has some hot games off the bench. Maybe he comes back to the starting lineup in January. Maybe he just finds a perfect niche off the bench. I do think he's going to continue to have a big role in this team. I think for KU to reach its ceiling needs Kul Rosari.

Starting point is 00:21:52 to play well. But yeah, that was one of the biggest negatives from last week. And the last one would be KU. Wins basketball. Samaya Nichols gives you 40 and you still lose. You lost in a game to Georgia where Samaya Nichols had 40 points. The rest of the team had 22 points. So you lose by six. And then you lose the Dayton 59 to 58. This team is really missing Jaliyah Davis right now who I think what we're learning right now is this is not a deep team for KU Women's basketball right now. And so every missed, it's almost like KU a couple years ago in KU men's basketball, right? You think of Kevin McCuller getting injured, and that team struggled to find depth. That team struggled to find the other players. And so now when Kevin McCuller's out,

Starting point is 00:22:34 it's stressing that depth even more. That's kind of like what it is with Talia Davis. But yeah, Georgia is 34th on Torvick. So not the worst loss in the world, but Dayton is 167th right now on Bart Torvick. So six and two on the year, still have that good Minnesota win for KUX. Women's Basketball. I think they're going to have to, if they get Julia Davis back, it's a situation where I think this should be an NCAA tournament team. If not, I don't know that that's as much the case. She's that good and that talented, which is unfortunate because you don't want to waste the year of Samaya Nichols, but we've still seen some good positives this year. It's just that last week was a reminder

Starting point is 00:23:10 that, okay, this is not the perfect situation just yet. All right. Let's finish up here. What is the biggest difference between KU football last two years versus the previous two years when they were making bowl games. Thanks for joining us on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by Omaha Steaks. Holidays always feel a little easier when you already know the perfect gift. And Omaha Steaks makes it too simple.

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Starting point is 00:24:32 Now, obviously one of the big things that you could point to, I think would be Andy Kodlnicki leaving, right? And I don't think it's like, it's not even just Kodolnicki leaving. It's that you went from Kodolniki to Grimes. And I do think there was an upgraded OC this year. I know people were, let me dispel this real quick. Okay, I did see this floating around a little bit on social media, comparing the 2024 offense to the 2025 offense with Jeff Grimes versus

Starting point is 00:24:57 Zabrowski and Lubick, I guess, and how the 24 offense was averaging, like I think it was like slightly more points per game and maybe slightly more yards per game and stuff like that to be like, wow, the offense is actually about the same, if not worse this year than last year. Are we sure it was Jeff Grimes? Okay, one, go look at what Jeff Grimes just did at Wisconsin. Two, can we use our brain, at least a little bit of, little bit. Can we not just be like, okay, like, imagine this. Imagine when Patrick Mahomes

Starting point is 00:25:22 retires. Do you think that the head coat? Imagine if Andy Reid retires right when Patrick Mahomes retires and the new head coach comes in. And it could be an offensive genius. They're probably going to average less points per game without Patrick Mahomes. So don't you think you should use your brain to say, hey, I know they averaged a little less points per game. I'm not saying this was success offensively, to be clear. They have their shortcomings. They struggled at the end of the season this year they struggled in fourth quarters they struggled to close out games there were there it wasn't perfect right it wasn't the offense from two years ago from three years ago whatever but let's not blame it all on the coordinator just because they averaged a few less points per game this year than they

Starting point is 00:26:02 did last year because here's the difference hey this year's team didn't have devon neal you're all time leader in rushing yards this year's team didn't have two tackles who were all big 12 on the outside I might have mattered. Think of the Texas Tech game, right? This year's team also didn't have as many experienced receivers on the outside. And yes, they had more yard after catch explosiveness, but they didn't have nearly as much maybe route running and contested catch making as they did in previous year. So like, let's not act like, oh, the biggest, you know, oh, it was the office.

Starting point is 00:26:39 No, okay, those are completely, it's apples to oranges. The player personnel that Jeff Grimes got to call off. offenses for or call plays for versus the one that the Jim Zabrowski and Matt Luick did is apples and oranges. It's stupid. So we don't need to do that. Anyway, back to the point here. Yes, you could probably put a little on, you know, Andy Cotolinkie. I do think there's a big part on, and I remember saying this when it happened, like, because that same offseason, you lose Codolniky, you lose Scott Fuchs, the offensive line coach. And I remember saying that offseason, I thought Fuchs was the biggest departure for KU that offseason, even over Cotelink. And I think highly,

Starting point is 00:27:14 Cody. I like his offenses and stuff, but I think that highly of Scott Fuchs, great offensive line coach. And that one, I think really hurt KU. I don't think Daryl, Paul says, done a bad job. I also think it's really hard to tell, like, what exactly our assistant coach is doing because sometimes we view like, oh, you know, you have a really good receiver. So that must mean the receiver coach is really good. Well, is it the receiver coach is really good or is it they just have like one good player, you know? And so it's kind of hard. Or in the flip side, it's like, well, is the position coach bad or do they just not have the right recruits in there? And you could blame, okay, well, who's recruiting the players?

Starting point is 00:27:47 But that's a cycle that could go on and on forever. I do think that is hurt K.U. Beyond that, here's the other one here. I think it comes down to this. We look to the lines of scrimmage, right? You look to the quarterback play. Yes, I think you could make the argument, Jason Bean ended up being the better quarterback than Jalen Daniels.

Starting point is 00:28:03 But I don't think it's like night and day. I don't think it's like, oh, Jason Bean was, I don't know, pick an NFL was Peyton Manning and Curtis Painter was jailing it. Like, it's not that big of a difference. I think the biggest difference is this. To me, it's the lines of scrimmage. Think about it. The 2022 team and the 2023 team started the defensive line, had a dude at pass rusher.

Starting point is 00:28:30 Lonnie Phelps was a dude, you know, should have come back for another year. And maybe who knows, in the Revshaer era, maybe they're able to get them more money. Who knows? Lonnie Phelps was a dude. And what do you have in 2023? Austin Booker, fourth round draft pick, dude. You look to the offensive side of the ball. Dude's on the offensive line, right?

Starting point is 00:28:51 Earl Bostic in 2022. He was a dude for KU. Gigantic body ended up, I don't know, is he still hanging in the NFL? He at least had a cup of coffee with like what, the Cowboys and some practice squads and stuff. And then you look to the, I guess, 2023 offensive line. Like you have, what, a senior year, Mike Novitsky, you have at that point, like younger players, like, oh gosh, what's the kid? I'm blanking on the kid's name right now. But anyway, the guard who transferred from Kansas to Texas A&M and is a starter and is having like an unbelievable year.

Starting point is 00:29:25 Armage Reed Adams, there we go. Armage Reed Adams to Texas A&M, like you had to him, he's a dude. You had tackled, you had Dominic Poonie on the offensive line. He was a day one starter in the NFL. And now you go to this year's roster and, you know, Bryce Foster. he'll probably be an NFL player. So there's a dude in the middle. But and while Kobe Baines and Amir Herring have been good players, it's a little harder.

Starting point is 00:29:48 I guess it's what I'm saying is the edge of the lines of scrimmage, right? Like the importance of having really good tackle play, which, okay, you had Bryce Cable, or you had Burrell Bostic, you had Dominic Poonie in some of these recent years. And in the case of Cable do, drafted into the NFL in the case of, you know, again, like drafted into the NFL for a lot of these guys. The best Kansas teams under Leipold have had a drafted player at defensive end and a drafted player at offensive tackle. And so we can talk about this or that and the game management and how it needs to get

Starting point is 00:30:20 better. And some of those things are true. Absolutely. And the defense needs to get better. And they need a bit better at tackling and they need better closing out games. And yes, those things are all true. But I think sometimes we over, I don't know, we undersimplify things. And maybe the simple answer is just you need to get a dude.

Starting point is 00:30:38 at both those spots. So as I look to the off season ahead, I look to this. Are you better off spending a big dollar to get a potential all-conference defensive end and a potential all-conference offensive tackle and saying we're going to spend a little bit less on this position, this position, this position, and get dudes at those spots. I don't think it's the worst idea in the world. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:31:11 See you next time for another edition of LOJ. We'll be previewing KU and Yukon.

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