Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - How Does Kansas Cover vs Wagner? Keys to the Game, Players to Watch & Who Goes Off for the Jayhawks?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Players to watch, keys to the game. What does Kansas need to do to cover the spread and blow out Wagner like they're supposed to do? 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. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. get it every day or is catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe

Starting point is 00:00:38 to the show. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we further our preview of the Kansas Wagner game. We get to the keys to the game for KU, players to watch for both teams on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. And then we'll finish up with a little fan dual Friday on today's episode, which is brought to you by Game Time. You can get tickets for the KU. Wagner game over on game time and download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase with game time all right so kansas takes on wagner a little friday night football action in the new booth second game there um it'll be interesting to see what the crowd turnout is uh for this game i think it'll be at least close to a sellout but you know we'll have the same

Starting point is 00:01:21 energy will it be a full sellout a little bit tougher when it's a Friday night and an fcs opponent and everything like that um i understand why they're playing it on friday night for, you know, kind of the, I don't know, you get more of a standalone feature. It's not the only game, but you get more of that than buried on a Saturday. Regardless, keys to the game for KU. I don't know how much I need to get into the KU wins if. And I know it comes across as a little disrespectful to Wagner. Again, I've talked about this before.

Starting point is 00:01:47 Like Wagner, you know, a lot of these kids were the best players in their high school area and stuff and they're going to play Division I football. And that's a really cool thing. But when you're comparing it to what Kansas is, There's a reason Kansas is a 46-point favorite coming into this game. So from that perspective, like, KU wins this game if they don't completely mess around, you know, they're not out at the bars tonight, like partying the night before the game. Like, don't mess around in this game, quite essentially.

Starting point is 00:02:17 And essentially, like, what that leads into is you don't have a billion turnovers. You don't have a billion mistakes. Just play your game. It doesn't even have to be one of your A games, right? Play B game, you know, play B minus game. And you win this game going away. That's kind of the thing. You're like, just don't shoot yourself in the foot and you should be fine.

Starting point is 00:02:34 Now, you do shoot yourself in the foot. You have three, four turnovers. You make some special teams, mistakes. You know, your head's not all the way in the game. You let them set the tone early. They get a physical edge early. That's how you let them hang in the game. And we've seen Kansas in previous years before Lance Leipold, I guess,

Starting point is 00:02:51 his first game, too, against South Dakota, where they have struggled with their FCS opponent. So, you know, we're not totally removed from that. But I do feel to a point. point now we're like, okay, they should win this game and they should win it going away. So maybe the better question is KU covers. KU covers the 46.5 points, which again, you can get over at Fandul. They cover if what. I think the big, I guess, if there would be, can they run the ball effectively and the offensive line plays better than they did in week zero? You should have

Starting point is 00:03:19 more of a decisive edge this week than you had in week zero against Fresno State. Obviously something that throws a possible wrench into this equation here is what is the health? of LaShawn Williams coming into this game. It seems like he was doubtful to play coming into the game. You know, what does that mean in terms of with Harry Stewart, Johnny Thompson? Do we get to see more run of those guys, which to a bit, like I hope LaShawn Williams is back because he looked really good in that first game. But maybe it gives Kansas an opportunity to get some of those young running backs a little bit of reps and touches to where, you know, they can figure out because at the end of this year, both High Sean Williams graduate and maybe they go to the portal that a running back. maybe they go with one of those young guys and it'll be kind of a cool insight into what those

Starting point is 00:04:01 two bring to the table for KU, but how do you run the football in this game? I mean, they had over 200 rushing yards in the first game, but it felt like it wasn't, you know, the best running game KU's had necessarily. Can you run the ball effectively? Again, I mentioned that Florida Atlantic last year when they played Wagner had over 300 yards rushing. Can you have a game where you have like 300 plus rushing yards? And a big part of that is just if the offensive line dominates because Kansas isn't going to want to unless they absolutely have to, you know, dig too deep in the playbook. They're going to want to run their bread and butter plays and still be able to execute them. Well, that can't happen unless the offensive line line is consistently winning.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And it's not that KU had a bad offensive line game in the first week or the first game of the season, but it wasn't like a great one either. You know, I think they had more issues in pass protection than they did in run blocking, but, you know, it was just kind of a fine week, you know, it wasn't anything exemplary. Well, if you want to just run over them and run basic plays and be able to dominate and have success that way, you are going to have to road grade them with your offensive line. I think KU also covers if the backups keep the foot on the pedal. Kansas didn't really keep the foot on the pedal against Fresno State. And I mean, yeah, you think of last

Starting point is 00:05:09 year with like the Lindenwood game. KU got up big at halftime after a bit of a slow start in the first quarter. And then it just felt like like you really kind of just sat on it in the second half. Forty-six and a half is a lot to cover the spread, right? I mean, Kansas is going to get up 38 nothing at half time and still not cover the spread because it could end up a I don't know a 49 to seven game that you don't cover the spread because the backups you know weren't able to sustain what the starters were doing so anytime you're talking about covering a spread that big like it is going to be in part to how good the backups are now I will say it feels like the Kansas backups the depth that Kansas has for the backups feels like it's more talented on this unit than any

Starting point is 00:05:49 other team that Lance Leipold has had now it's a lot of young players and inexperienced players but the talent of those players coming up working onto the Too Deep as backups is about as talented as KU's had in a long, long time. Now, what I most want to see, this is a category I'm adding for this specific game. What I most want to see out of this game, I mean, the first one would be, yes, go out and dominate, take care of business, get up to a big lead, allow yourself to rest your starters, to rest your big players, to not have to dig too deep into the playbook, to save what you need to head it into that huge Missouri clash in Columbia the following week.

Starting point is 00:06:25 That is, you know, from a overall perspective, what I most want to see out of this. From kind of an individual player, and this would be, I guess that would be the lead-up to this, like Kansas is going to have to get up big to allow for the KU backups to play and to play big minutes, I want to see the backup quarterback battle. And specifically, what I most want to see is I want to see Isaiah Marshall ball out. And then, you know, I want to see Cole Ballard ball out for that, that matter, too. But it definitely feels like, and I've mentioned this before, Cole Ballard seems to have the edge on Isaiah Marshall in practices because I think

Starting point is 00:07:01 Cole Ballard is the more consistent play. I'm still not convinced that Isaiah Marshall won't be the better in-game player. Some guys are just gamers. And to that notion, maybe it gives Isaiah Marshall the best chance to, you know, usurp him on the depth charter, pass him or whatever, with a really impressive performance. in this game. So I want to see him ball out. And it's not that if Cole Ballard ends up being the best option and Cole Ballard even starts next season, you know, again, I'll tip my cap and I'll be like, great, because I kind of remained to the idea that like, I don't think

Starting point is 00:07:31 that's a bad thing that Cole Ballard beats these guys out. I think Cole Ballard is underrated. But I also feel like at the same point in time, the guy who was a near four-star recruit probably represents a higher ceiling. Like maybe Ballard has a higher floor, but it does feel like the higher ceiling belongs to Isaiah Marshall. And from that perspective, yeah, I would love to see him ball out because if you're asking me of a player who I think has a high ceiling can ball out, like that's obviously a good sign of things to come. I also, like I mentioned, I really want to see those Harry Stewart, Johnny Thompson reps. I want to see how those go out.

Starting point is 00:08:02 I want to see how explosive each guy is. I want to see how each fits into the offense. I think that's going to be really fun to watch. I want to see if the offensive line can dominate. You know, you think about it. And like I said, week one, it was a fine game for the offensive line. You know, they had some negatives. They had some positives.

Starting point is 00:08:16 you would think for a unit that, you know, has a lot of new players. I mean, it's three new starters on the off-eds of line. You're getting these guys playing together. You're meshing them together. You would think there should be a big level of jump from week one to week two, not just because the opponent Kansas is playing, but also from the standpoint of just getting that familiarity more, getting those first game.

Starting point is 00:08:43 A lot of times you see it from a team perspective. A team will look horrible in week one. lose their first game and then they come back in week two and they win and they look like a completely different team a lot of times the biggest improvements and adjustments are from week one to week two of the season not always the case but i especially think of that with the offensive line so i want to see that you know take a jump up in this game for k u uh what else i want to see no coverage busts that that show there's maybe something problematic on tape i think kansas did a pretty good job of that i mean you've got some young dbs in the room obviously you lose kobi

Starting point is 00:09:11 and mellow um they did a good job of you know not allowing oh this guy got wide open on a deep ball and now he's streaking down the field for a 70-yard touchdown. Avoid those to where, you know, you're going into the Missouri game going, oh, crap, like we have this issue that they're going to try to exploit on tape. So, you know, just be solid and clean back there. And then the last one is it's not really something I want to see, but it also is something I want to see is keep it vanilla. You know, from an actual entertainment perspective, from watching the game,

Starting point is 00:09:39 I don't want them to keep it vanilla. That's not as fun. But from a long-term health of the team, a long-term success of the team, a long-term success of the team or what's going to help you the following week and the future weeks after that. Keeping it vanilla and being able to have success keeping it vanilla would be really impressive for KU

Starting point is 00:09:55 because one, it shows that you do have the ability to lean on vanilla play, which can be really helpful to get you out of a bind in certain situations that you have things you can rely on. But also, it would allow you to contain some of that stuff from being on tape for those future important games, including the Missouri game the following week. So it would make it a little more boring to watch,

Starting point is 00:10:18 but I think it would be a good thing for the long term, the long run for KU. All right, let's continue on players to watch for both Kansas and Wagner next. This is Lock on Jayhawks. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by game time. College football's back, and I don't know how you couldn't be more excited.

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Starting point is 00:11:39 That's promo code Locked on College, L-O-C-E-O-L-E-G-E for $20 off. swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download game time today. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere. You get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Don't forget, check out Lockdown College Football for your second listen every day as they'll get you ready for the week one action. I don't know how much they're going to be touching on KU. Wagner, but there's a lot of really, I mean, this is one of the best week ones we've ever had.

Starting point is 00:12:10 So you're not going to want to miss Locked on College football this week as well. But you can check us out. for the KU breakdown, right? Okay, players to watch. Let's start with the KU offensive side of the ball. We're going to go with Bryson Canty, four snaps in the opener, not a ton. He came in as a transfer from Columbia, where he was a first team, all Ivy League performer. Had 43 catches, 760 yards, nine touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:12:32 Really good production. Around 1,700 career yards there over 29 games, 17 scores. So really productive player in his time at Columbia. Transfer's over. He has to come late because he has to finish up his, I mean, he wanted his degree to certainly so from an Ivy League school. So it caused him to join in the summer. He gets around, he's playing, but then he suffers an injury during fall camp.

Starting point is 00:12:54 And he comes back the week of the first game, ends up only limiting him to four snaps. But we'll see if he ends up playing more in this game. And that could come one of two ways. It could come him rotating more with the ones. It could come, you know, if you do blow him out, maybe he's playing a little bit more in this game with the twos. Either way, I want to see what he can do because I think when it's all said and done later in the year, or maybe when he does have time to shake all this off, he could end up being one of your three best receivers on the team.

Starting point is 00:13:17 So I want to see what that looks like in this game. Amir Herring is my other one. So there's still those two spots that are kind of up for grabs with Enrique Cruz and Nolan Gorsica battling at right tackle and a left guard, Amir Herring, and Tobaki, Tuico, Lovatu. Now, based on the snap count, they went to Herring and to Cruz, and based on the fact that they both started, those guys clearly have the edge and those guys, you know, until further

Starting point is 00:13:41 notice are going to be seen as the starters. But I think Herring at least left the door open a little. And again, he played 45 of like the 60 snaps, but just a 58.3 PFF grade that was only ahead of Jack Tanner for the KU offensive linemen who played in the game. And Tanner was only like seven snaps. He had two penalties in the game. I think the initial PFF grade gave him like a 20-something and pass blocking. The final PFF grade after multiple people reviewed, it ended up being in the 50s. But still, he he left, I think, the door open a little bit. Now, I do think this is a very talented guy. He's former like four-star recruit who went to Michigan.

Starting point is 00:14:15 It was his first start. He's still an underclassman, a younger player. I think it's going to get better the longer he goes. So I want to see what he can do in this game, right? Go be a road greater. Go improve from your first performance where we're going, okay, lights going off for him and it's trending in the right direction. A defensive side of the ball for KU,

Starting point is 00:14:30 I want to see what Dean Miller can bring to the table. So Miller missed the first game with an injury. And, you know, it was mentioned earlier this week that Lance Leibald kind of said that he was trending in the right direction to play in the game, essentially, for paraphrasing there. But I do wonder, like, what is the snap count going to be? You know, is this something where you're going to try to not overdo it? Because you're like, you know, why waste too many bullets on an FCS game when we got

Starting point is 00:14:55 Missouri next week? At the same point in time, you want him to shake the rust off. He didn't play in the first game this season. So he's not rusty for the Missouri game coming up. But he had six stacks, nine and a half TFL's last season. He was all big 12 second team. KU got 19 pressures last week, even without him. what does adding him to the fold to do for the pass rush,

Starting point is 00:15:13 especially against a Wagner team that had a really bad pass blocking team a season ago. But what is the snap count limit? What does he add to the defense when he's out there? And can you just go out there and straight dominate right away? The other guy's John John Kamara. So he played 19 snaps in the opener, the young redshirt freshman linebacker. It was his first game after he redshirted in 2024.

Starting point is 00:15:34 He was a three-star prospect as part of that really good class of 2024 that KU brought in, specifically part of the the desert edge group of players that the KU brought over and he was somebody who was just a freak athlete I mean he's just about as unique of a player as you got me six foot four 230 pound linebacker realistically athletic like he just just shoots off the charts in these the athletic test that like KU records like I mean he's athletic enough to play safety linebacker defensive end you could use him all over and so So Kansas doesn't always get guys like that, right? Like from an athletic standpoint.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And so it's special to have a kid like this. He did play those 19 snaps in week one. If he gets even more run, because he's the number two linebacker, but occasionally we'll rotate in with the ones. And then if he's getting even more time with the twos in a game like this, where you are able to blow him out, I want to see how much, you know, what can he provide? And could he be somebody that, you know, is playing like starter level snaps later in the season

Starting point is 00:16:36 if he continues to impress. But he did a little bit of everything. opener. Nine snaps versus the run. Three is a pass rush or seven in coverage. I want to see if they expand upon that and if it's just a good opportunity to get some more reps in a game like this against Wagner because he is this guy who's a freak athletically, but maybe still a little more raw from the football sense. And so all those reps are going to matter even more to developing him. From the Wagner point of view, for their offense, Thoree McDonald, 5 foot 11, 185 pound receiver. He's from Missouri, 26 catches,

Starting point is 00:17:05 309 yards, five touchdowns last season. That was second on the team. Now, they didn't have a ton of passing yards, 2,100 passing yards. So that makes the 309 look a little bit more impressive. But he is the leading returning receiver second on the team last year, their top guy, you know, graduated. He had three catches for 43 yards against FAU last year, so performed pretty well in their FBS game. And did a lot of his work over the short area of the fields, probably a lot of drag, slants, and deep balls as well. Now, he did have three drops. He had five penalties last year.

Starting point is 00:17:36 So kind of keep an eye on that, but he's probably going to be their number one target. coming into the game. And then their offense alignment, Brady Anderson. He got named a captain. He's all conference preseason. He had a 98.2% pass rush win rate last year. That's great. He's large snaps at every position except right guard over the course of his career. He's just kind of a solid player. He's experienced. The anchors things mentally is the center. Now, I will say he did have just a 25 pass block grade against Florida Atlantic a season ago. So we'll see if KU take advantage of that in a similar way. On the defensive side of the ball for Wagner defensive lineman Logan Barnes is a player to watch 6 foot 1, 280 pounds.

Starting point is 00:18:15 He was all conference preseason, also named a team captain, 39 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, four and a half sacks last season, 73 PFF grade that came after he transferred in from Monmouth. So very productive player there. He had 17 pressures, solid 7.5% win rate and an 18% win rate in true pass rush sets. Those are both solid numbers. So he's definitely somebody to keep an eye on. that could give a KU Offensive Line as we talk about, you know, can they have an even better game?

Starting point is 00:18:43 He'll be somebody to really keep an eye on for that O line. Then Jordan Johnson is their linebacker. He transferred in last year from Independence Community College had 51 tackles, 7 TFLs, and 2 sacks. He had a 70 PFF grade, 82 in tackling. It's a really good tackling linebacker, 72 and passers, 78 in coverage. That's really good for linebackers.

Starting point is 00:19:03 Overall, you know, probably one of the better linebackers in his conference. Now, that said, again, we talk about that FAU game, which was the FBS game, and that was his lowest rated pro football focus game by a mile. 29 rated game on PFF. That was just one of his two below a 60 and the only one below a 40. So how well does this game translate against the better competition? We're going to find out in this one, but against the FCS competition, he's been really, really good. Now, as far as player matchups, I'm most keeping an eye on, it's the KU defensive tackles versus Brady Anderson.

Starting point is 00:19:35 he's on the interior of that offensive line. The KU defensive tackles a strength. We saw Keenan Caldwell play so well in that first game. How can they do against Anderson? And then on the other side, Emmanuel Henderson versus name the corner. Wagner has three defensive backs on the Phil Steel all preseason team in the NEC. They did lose their best corner, though.

Starting point is 00:19:54 But beyond just the like, I don't know, the experience and whatever else, do we think that Wagner has anybody on their team nearly as fast as Emmanuel Henderson? I mean, I don't know to be sure, but like if I was guessing, probably say no, right? And then there's also the fact that like Cam Pickett is coming off the injury. Like, is he going to be limited at all? Is he going to play in this game? That could be even more targets for Manuel Henderson. Then if K.U wants to be more vanilla, maybe that's more receiver screens for Henderson.

Starting point is 00:20:21 And when you look at the corner perspective, that top corner that Wagner lost, he had an 82 coverage grade. He was awesome. But there are other ones they return. Riley Dravet, Redshirt Senior, 73 coverage grade. So solid, not quite as good, though. Jaden Brown had a 62 coverage grade. That's not as good. And those are the only two they return, who, from the corner perspective,

Starting point is 00:20:42 who had at least 100 coverage snaps last season. So I'm taking Henderson with his speed, but should be a fun matchup against at least an experienced and interesting DB unit for Wagner against Henderson and the KU receivers. All right, let's finish up with Fandual Friday. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Today's episode of LOJ is brought to you by upside. Are you still paying full price for gas? Stop leaving money behind. Get real cash back every time you fill up with the free upside app. Simply download the free upside app in the app store or Google Play right now and start earning cash at the pump today. Use my limited time promo code football and get an extra 25 cents back per gallon on your first fill up. You could make up to $300 a year from buying the gas you already needed. At first, you know, you think this is too good to be true, but it's totally legit. Real people are getting paid just.

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Starting point is 00:22:12 So we're just going to go with the spread and the total, which is what we got. So the spread is 46 and a half. That is a lot of points. When you look at Wagner being a least decent defensive team, I think the offense is something that can be a little bit better with the, if they use that transfer quarterback that they brought from the community college level who had really good numbers um i don't think i'd be laying the 46 and a half that's just a lot of points but the problem is that kansas if they get to a point where they're dominating this game with their basic plays they could have the third strings in and

Starting point is 00:22:45 they're still going to find a way to move the ball and score points so probably not a spread i would touch if i'm being completely honest with you either way it's also funny the over under is 56 and a half when k u's favored by 46 and a half points that basically means they're saying okay 46 that or i guess what would that'd be like 51 to 5 would be the expected score. I know that score can't obviously have 51 to 6, whatever. Again, that number feels about right because if the KU defense is for real, Wagner's probably scoring single digits at most like 10 points, right? And I mean, we've seen KU sit on the game.

Starting point is 00:23:23 We just saw it against Fresno State. So Kansas could score 38 first half points and you think you're trending for the over and then they end up with 45 for the game. So again, I'm probably not really touching either one. I don't have a great feel on either one of those. But, you know, if you do hit us up in the comment section. Now, again, there are no other, there's no prop bets currently that are up. I'd imagine by the time you listen to this or, I don't know, sometime on Friday, like in the afternoon or something like that,

Starting point is 00:23:49 they will have some of those up. The FCS games are good opportunities to bet on like maybe the backups. on their props if they're available, right? For instance, like, if you can get like Harry Stewart or Johnny Thompson to score touchdown, I don't even know if that'll be up there. Like, that could be a good bet, right? If you could get Isaiah Marshall or Cole Ballard to have a rushing touchdown, if you could get, you know, I don't know, say Keaton, Quebec or one of the backup

Starting point is 00:24:15 receivers, Doug and mealy, somebody to be over on yards or something because it's going to be an opportunity that those guys aren't going to have, they're either going to have good odds for something or they're going to be lower numbers that if you can get them in a game like this. Obviously, you're banking on KU building an early lead and those guys getting playing time. I like the rushing ones better for the backups because, you know, if you get up too big, too early, you're not going to be passing. But if you can get some of those rushing totals for the other guys, so to speak, the non-Daniel Highshaws, the non-Jalen Daniels, that's where I think it's a little bit interesting. But we'll see what those lines are when they come out.

Starting point is 00:24:48 As far as maybe favorite bet or so across the rest of the country with what's going on this weekend. I mean, there's a lot of really good college football games this weekend. Oh, man. I think that I'm kind of interested by South Dakota plus 16 and a half against Iowa State. I think Iowa State wins the game. But go look back in Iowa State is sometimes they struggle with that FCS game. They just don't do it. It's the most vanilla offense ever, especially leading into the Iowa Week.

Starting point is 00:25:17 Plus, they're coming back off of the international trip. So it should be a little bit, I don't know. more banged up or tired, I guess would be the way that you would put it. So I definitely think that would be kind of an interesting one that I'm looking into a little bit here. But yeah, I mean, there's just so many good games this weekend that I think you'd have a lot of fun in a lot of different ways. I also like Utah minus five and a half at UCLA if we're just talking to Big 12 months. All right, that'll do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page.

Starting point is 00:25:46 See you next time with LOJ for KU Wagner recap after the game on Friday night.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - How Does Kansas Cover vs Wagner? Keys to the Game, Players to Watch & Who Goes Off for the Jayhawks?

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