Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jalon Daniels Injured + Second Half Expectations for KU Football

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

The latest on the Jalon Daniels injury for the KU quarterback with Nick Schwerdt and what he's hearing. Plus, how can Jason Bean fill in and how the injury affects our expectations in addition to second half thoughts and if Kansas is a Big 12 title contender. Where does the Oklahoma game rank on the most winnable remaining for the Jayhawks?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're joined by Nick Schwert to talk Jalen Daniels and KU football. I'm Derek Johnson. This is Locked on Jayhawks. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're joined by Nick Schwert to discuss the Jalen Daniels injury, Jason Bean, and KU football looking ahead to the back half of the season. Nick Schwert joins us.

You can hear him, producer, with Cody and Gold on 610 in Kansas City, also the Wave in the Wheat podcast. And you kind of had the report on the Jalen Daniels injury. I guess what's kind of the latest that you've kind of seen on that and kind of your thoughts on what this injury is going to be for him? I haven't heard anything since what I heard late on Saturday, or maybe it was early Sunday. I can't even remember at this point.

But AC separation, which in layman's terms, shoulder separation, which can be taken a lot of different ways. I don't know what the level of that separation is, what the severity is. But all in all, for him, it's not the best i think if i were if it were jillian daniels you know there was speculation during the game just like people watching the the replay that it could be a broken collarbone if it were me i'd rather have a broken collarbone broken collarbone while initially it's going to keep you out longer a broken collarbone will heal and then you'll be the same person you were before

whereas separated shoulder is going to follow you around probably for the rest of your career i don't know how long he's going to be out i would imagine he's going to miss at least a couple of weeks again depending on the severity he could be back in a couple of weeks he could be out the rest of the season i know a lot of it's just going to be a pain management thing, like how much can you play through it? Typically, guys will try to play through it, but I don't know how effective he'll be, seeing as how it's in his throwing shoulders. So it's obviously a blow for Kansas, even though Jason Bean was incredible in the second half of that game. Jalen was named the starter for a reason, you know, and I think the coaching staff, even though it sounds like the competition was actually closer than maybe people realize

heading into this season, he, Jalen's ceiling is higher. There's a reason they picked him as the starter. So you're hoping that it's, it's not too serious to the point where he could come back eventually, but knowing how hard the schedule gets immediately i don't care what you think about oklahoma you got back-to-back road games against oklahoma and baylor going into that game or those games less than 100 and missing your most important players obviously a pretty crushing blow so fun fact my right arm hangs lower than my left arm because i had a shoulder separation while playing football as a quarterback in like middle school and it sucks to come back but I don't want to make like any comparisons because Jalen Daniels is better than I will ever dream of athletically we're not at all similar but

I just mean from the standpoint of like yeah that injury sucks and like if you even do like a throwing motion too early you will feel like a numbing pain all the way through to your fingertips. It's a wild sensation. So I guess what do you make then of the initial depth chart for the week coming out? Jalen Daniels was listed as the starting quarterback. Do you just view that as gamesmanship of trying to mess with Oklahoma? So I haven't been paying attention to the depth chart week to week.

Has it remained exactly the same all season long? Like, is this one of those things, like with Andy Reid and the Chiefs, the depth chart never changes. You know why? Because he ain't the one filling it out. Actually, I would take it a step further. I would say single digits percent of coaches in college football are actually sitting down and filling

out the depth chart week to week those are sids who are just probably filling in names from the week before i but anthony do you know like does has that depth chart changed at all this year there have been very slight changes but like of note when daniel highshaw was injured he was no longer on last week's step chart as of last Monday so that should give you maybe some indication I don't know but again it could just be like a gamesmanship Daniel Hyshaw was in the hospital the night of his injury but to your point um Craig Young was listed as an or with Gavin Potter literally every week until Gavin Potter left the program so no it had not been changing much.

Yeah, I mean, like I said, shoulder separation does not mean you're going to automatically miss time. It does not. Like you can absolutely, depending on the severity, can absolutely try to play through that. And I would imagine most guys are going to try to play through it. So maybe it's gamesmanship,

but you know, I reported it earlier a couple of days ago. I didn't ever say that this means he's going to miss X amount of time because I don't know anything about that, Derek, like I'm not a doctor and I know you're not saying I am, but like, I don't know anything about the severity of,

of his shoulder separation. I don't know anything about the severity of of his shoulder separation I don't know what the timetable for return is I simply you know got the information that it was a confirmed shoulder separation and that uh that's the diagnosis so in terms of how quickly he can come back or the severity of it I don't know so maybe maybe he is going to come back I would imagine though if you're the coaching staff you're not letting him come back unless you a think he is good enough to like help you win games you're not throwing a guy out there if you think that it's going to cost you because he's less than 100 and b you got to think long term here you got to think about that not just later on in the season but going into next year as well.

If you think in any way, shape or form, this is going to impact his health long-term. I can't imagine you're going to try and rush him back for one game. Yeah. I still have questions about what Jason Bean can be as a pastor. I pastor, I think consistently we saw a lot last year.

Like there might be a good, like heck the one against Oklahoma. He was great. And there were some other games where it was, I don't know, very inconsistent, and you didn't see many positives in the game from him as a passer. And there were a couple plays in the TCU game where, like, if you could have back the Devin Neal throw in the flats, which should be a pretty easy pass.

Like, he gets the first down there. They don't even have the fourth down. Who knows? Maybe he even scores on that play. The other one play, L.J. Arnold made a great play. He made a one-handed grab, but it ended up being a big gain, even though it was kind of an inaccurate throw. So I do have some questions about him as a passer,

but would you agree with the idea that Jason Bean is going to be better than a 75% Jalen Daniels or a Jalen Daniels that's playing through injury? So I don't know why you just wouldn't start Jason Bean for, I don't know, probably the next couple weeks again, depending on the severity of the injury. Well, that kind of brings the conversation to a different point about Kansas and this offense, which is that all season long, while Jalen Daniels has been stealing headlines, rightfully so, Andy Kotelnicki has run this offense with all of the pre-snap

movement all of the misdirection so many different players being used that I'm not saying that Jalen Daniels is a product of this system but I would say that any quarterback in this system is going to have an easier time running this offense than you would running, I don't know, let me pick a random offensive. David Beatty's offense, right? You still have to make some throws. Jason Bean had to make some throws when he came into that game. We've seen Jalen Daniels make some really impressive throws downfield. There are going to be five or six opportunities throughout a game

where there's going to be a big play available. Quarterback has to make the throw. But this offense should be able to function with another capable quarterback, which Bean showed us he is in the second half of that game versus TCU. Well, we're halfway through the year at this point, and I guess kind of resetting there, do you adjust your expectations, even with Jason Bean and I guess kind of resetting there do you adjust your expectations even with Jason being I guess not really knowing how long being or Daniels would be the quarterback for the second half of the season uh how how much does whatever quarterback it is change your expectations for

what they would be in the second half after what you saw in the first half from the team as a whole. Is this question assuming that Daniels is done for the year? From cringing at the pump to getting an eye-popping check at your favorite restaurant, inflation is hitting us all where it hurts, and it really hurts. That's why I started using Upside, an incredible app for anyone who buys gas, groceries, or dines out, which, that's you, right? With every purchase, I'm earning cash back thanks to Upside. To get started, download the free Upside app, use my promo code LOCKED and get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.

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I kind of want to take it like always. Like, what happens if Bean's the starter for six games? What happens if, you know, it's Bean for just a couple games and then you bring Daniels in? Or what happens if Jalen Daniels is just kind of fine and he just plays right away? Okay, so you're halfway through the season five and one you have six games remaining all of which are conference games I wouldn't set my sights lower than eight and four regardless of who the quarterback is I

wouldn't because I would venture I would ask anybody who is, you know, I heard somebody say, you know, they still need one more win to get a bowl eligibility. Like, are you really alleging that this team is going to lose out the rest of the way? Honestly, at this point, if you've seen half the season for this Kansas football team, and you think there is even a morsel of a chance that that team is going to lose seven straight games to end the season, you haven't been paying attention. And you haven't been paying attention to the rest of the Big 12. They may not be TCU or Oklahoma State or Kansas State,

but I'll bet you they're going to jump up and snap a win against another team that they're underdogs against. And that doesn't even mention what I think they're going to do to a team like Texas tech. I don't even think Baylor's that good for that. Then I, I,

this could still be a three loss for loss team in big 12 play, but I still think this roster top to bottom, this offense, the innovation that they have is as good as anyone in the conference. Mind you, they're still the number one scoring team in the big 12. Derek, there's not another team in the big 12 that has scored as many points as Kansas has. They put up 31 with their backup quarterback.

So I just don't understand. I understand the skepticism and not knowing what Jason Bean's going to look like the rest of the way, but who is the big bad wolf in the big 12 that you're supposed to be scared of at this point? Yeah, I said this on RCST this week that I think that everyone in the Big 12 is right there with each other. I think every single team from Iowa State and West Virginia down, because again, if Iowa State's one of the bottom two teams in the conference, they almost beat Baylor, they almost beat Kansas, they almost beat Kansas State.

I think every single team from the top to the bottom goes into every week going, if we play well, we'll win this week. And they also go, we could lose this week. And so to say that Kansas would finish like 5-7, I do think if they lose to Oklahoma, there will be a little bit of, I don't know, because the last time they started five and oh, they did go five and seven. I do think there will be a little bit of, you know, hesitancy of like, oh, it's happening. Like Oklahoma just got blown out two weeks. Now you have to play Baylor and Oklahoma state. And then if you're sitting there at five and four and you have K state and Texas looks good now,

and you're going to be kind of running circles around in your brain like, uh-oh, what are we getting ourselves into here? But you're right because that would basically mean if you think you're going to be in every game, that would mean you would have to lose, if you include the TCU game and the Oklahoma game, you'd basically, yes, be losing seven straight, not just games, but seven straight coin flip games, which the amount of luck that would have to go against you would be unheard of. And if you go back and you look at not just the first half of this season, but going back to last year as well, one thing that's remained very consistent under Leipold is

this has been a mistake-free. They don't cost themselves with penalties and turnovers. And they made a lot of dumb mistakes down the stretch against TCU that we're not used to seeing them do they were one of the least penalized teams in the country even last year as a two and ten team so part of me says what we saw cost you against TCU over the course of the previous what would that have been 16 games under this coaching staff didn't exist. So why would I expect that to continue to be a theme? I'm not saying that like Kansas should have won that game,

but you don't win games when you turn the ball over at the one yard line and you have a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. So do I expect that to continue to be a trend moving forward? Or did they just do enough things to shoot themselves in the foot, which is why they ended up losing that game by seven points? conflicted mistakes so do I expect that to continue to be a trend moving forward or did they just do enough things to shoot themselves in the foot which is why they ended up losing that game by seven points yeah that's kind of where I'm at and I think by the way TCU might very well be the best team in the big 12 and if you can hang in there with them with your backup quarterback

for a half I think you're going to be just fine so I guess where do we go with uh both ends of the ball I think the defense obviously played really well in the first half against TCU, obviously struggled in the second half, but I think again, like you can see signs of the defense being better after the Iowa State game and moments against TCU like the first half. If you think about it for TCU, it was mainly just one guy, like Quentin Johnson did everything. On one hand, that's becoming a trend for the KU defense, like Xavier Hutchinson, it was one guy. Bryce Ford Wheaton, it was one guy like Quentin Johnson did everything on one hand that's becoming a trend for the KU defense like Xavier Hutchinson it was one guy uh Bryce Ford Wheaton it was one guy for West Virginia and that's kind of been enough um offensively now with Jason being in that system

which you're kind of talking to with you have confidence with Andy Kotelnicki for for the next six games or whatever for Kansas like what do you think the identity what do you think the story's going to be because I think the first six games it has been about the offense do you think the identity, what do you think the story is going to be? Because I think the first six games it has been about the offense. Do you think that'll be the case again or do you think it's going to be more of a balanced thing where maybe the defense does win you a game down the last six years? They're going to have to. There's going to have to be another opportunity or another moment like the Iowa State game where the defense is going to have to step up and get you a win. Now, I don't think they're going to score 14 points in a game again this year. I don't think they'll

score less than 21 points. That's their identity, to answer your question. Their identity is the offense, is always going to be the offense, unless they're going to lose out. That is their bread and butter. That's how they're going to win football games. The defense, like we saw against TCU, they're going to give up points. That's also part of their identity. They're not going to be one of the better defenses in the Big 12. But there will have to be another game or two to where if you're going to win,

the defense is going to have to come up big. And that doesn't necessarily mean holding a team to 11 points or whatever the final score was against Iowa, Iowa State. It may just mean getting a big stop, being a bend but don't break, getting a big play late in the game like you had against West Virginia to sort of seal the game it may be

something like that where yeah this game's going to be played in the 30s and if you can get one big stop one big fourth down stop one big turnover late in the game that's how you end up winning it that's sort of who I think this team is and even though that can be a nerve-wracking way to play college football I would tell you to go back and look at the last decade of the big 12 because uh teams in the big 12 title game where big 12 title contenders are littered with with football teams that scored like 35 points a game but also gave up 24. that's just kind of been the big 12. ku we just haven't been used to seeing it like that but that's who they are this year our. Our partners at Nissan have worked with us to create a new segment across the Locked On College Network titled Thrilling Moments,

where we highlight the most exciting play from the Kansas football game over the weekend or throughout the history of our alma mater. This week's thrilling moment, man, tough to choose. There's really two. The Jason Bean throw down field to Quentin Skinner to somehow get inbounds. I still don't know how he found his way to get inbounds for that touchdown that tied it at 31. Unbelievable throw, unbelievable blocking up front, unbelievable catch and foot awareness. But how about the Jason Bean kind of scrambling around the pocket, working around, runs kind of to the left and then throws back across his body

the other way to the right. Luke Grimm's wide open the back of the end zone at the very back. It's kind of a high throw, but he makes the grab, toe taps his feet inbounds, gets in for the touchdown. That was pretty thrilling. Some exciting touchdowns for KU in the game. Plenty to choose from, even in a loss. This segment has been inspired by the thrilling new designs featured across Nissan's new lineup of vehicles.

Pursue what thrills you in the all-new Frontier, Armada, or Pathfinder today. Available now at NissanUSA.com. So you mentioned you think TCU has a chance to be the best team in the Big 12, and I agree with you. I think they're in that conversation, and we'll see this weekend with Oklahoma State. They're playing them right away. Given that, and that KU played toe-to-toe with them, do you think you would consider KU right now a big 12 title contender or if not what would they have to do over these next I don't know two three four weeks or whatever for you to to change your mind on that so I actually said this last week on my podcast that KU is absolutely good enough to win the Big 12 because the only thing separating them

from K-State or Oklahoma State or TCU was the reputation that preceded themselves. And sort of my reasoning behind it was look at Oklahoma as a perfect example for that. Oklahoma's reputation would tell you that this team's going to win the Big 12, but what happened 10 years ago under Bob Stoops or five years ago under Lincoln Riley has no bearing on what this team is capable of. They're a team searching for an identity. When you look at that reality, that Oklahoma is no longer the big bad wolf that you know is only going to lose one or zero conference games, then it's just a bunch of good teams. It's TCU and Kansas State and Oklahoma State. And Kansas is in that mix with good teams. It's TCU and Kansas State and Oklahoma State, and Kansas is in that mix with

those teams. There is nothing tangible about those teams that tell you they are far and away better than Kansas. We saw it on Saturday. TCU won that game. Didn't look like one team got outclassed. Didn't look like one team didn't belong. It was just that one team made too many mistakes in critical junctures and lost. So that is still the reality for this team the only difference between when i said that a week ago and now is obviously the injury to to jaylen daniels and i don't know how to answer that question because i don't know how much you trust jason bean to to at least give you comparable play, because that seems like so much to ask for how good Jalen has been to think that the backup quarterback,

depending on how long he's asked to play, it'd be so much to ask for him to come up and maintain that level of play. But aside from that, the reality about this play calling this offense, the playmakers, they have the running backs that they have. None of that really changes. So, I mean, if they lose another game, just simply it's a numbers game. I don't care who they lose to, but you lose another game to Oklahoma, all of a sudden your margin for error

is razor thin. I think two losses is going to get you in the Big 12 title game. I do believe that. Like, I don't know if there's one single one-loss team in the Big 12 this year. But two losses, now you've got one in the bucket. Your margin for error has already decreased pretty significantly. Do you think there's any chance a three-loss Big 12 team could get into the title game? Oh, I actually do think it'll happen. I think it's going to be a two-loss versus a three-loss.

Now, the question is, are we saying three conference losses? Because what if Texas could have three losses because of the Alabama game? But I do actually think that the first place team will go like seven and two. And then there will be maybe two or three teams tied at six and three. And it's just going to be whoever has the best tiebreaker. And I still am waiting. I'm waiting for a moment for Kansas to look like us. See,

yeah, there's still just a notch behind the other big 12 teams. Like there, I know there are some people, some people who are trying to use the loss to TCU as validation that yes, they still work to be done. Is there, they cover,

I mean, they, what they pushed the spread was seven. They lost by seven. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, which is why they didn't drop in the coaches poll. They didn't drop in the AP poll. Everybody saw that game and said, okay, wow.

Yeah, they didn't get blown. That was the only fear going into the TCU game was, will this be the game where we sort of see them exposed for not quite being on the same level? I still see it. I still see it. So I'll be really interested to see what happens with Jason Bean if he's asked to go. But if he can hold his own against an Oklahoma team that is real, I mean, dude, that is a bad Oklahoma team.

They're supposed to be a good defense. That is a bad defense. Dylan Gabriel is not Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, or Kyler Murray. This is a different team that's searching for an identity. And if there's one coaching staff that I sort of trust to sort of rally around and say, hey, we're not making excuses. Jalen's gone. This is what we're doing.

ABC, let's go. We're going to go on the road and get a win. It's Lance Leifold and his staff. So, I mean, winning in Oklahoma would be massive. Are you kidding me? I don't care what you think about Oklahoma going down to Norman and getting a win against the team that's desperate right now. That would be so huge, not just for the confidence of this team, but to sort of show you how this big 12 is going to unfold, including where Kansas fits into that picture. Quick follow-up to that is Oklahoma in Norman KU's most winnable game left no I still

think it's uh I still think it's Baylor and Waco okay well that series has not gone well I don't think Baylor's any good I really don't um I think we're sort of used to this idea that Baylor's always going to have a good quarterback they don't have one this year man Baylor is always going to have a good quarterback. They don't have one this year, man. Baylor doesn't have it. I still think I would put Baylor and Texas tech ahead of Oklahoma. And maybe that's me succumbing to like the Oklahoma mystique. Like that was just talking about, even though I just laid out all the reasons why this isn't the same Oklahoma team. But that's a tough environment to go and win, man.

That's a really tough place to go and win. He is Nick Schwer. You can catch him, the producer with Cody Cody and Gold on 610 in Kansas City and subscribe to his podcast, Waving the Wheat. Nick, appreciate the time as always, man. Thanks, brother. Thanks to Nick for coming on the show. Coming up on tomorrow's show, we're going to talk about KU's red zone

success defensively, especially compared to last year and how much they've just kind of turned that around. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along on the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode.

Have a good rest of your day. I'll see some of you on RCST later today. Deuces.