Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Loses Ethan Vasko to the Portal: Why it Has Repercussions in 2023 & Beyond

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Ethan Vasko is transferring out of the University of Kansas Jayhawks football program. Why this is a bigger loss than it might seem on the surface for both the 2023 version of KU as well as the future of the quarterback position under Lance Leipold in 2024 and 2025.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we discuss the latest transfer for the KU football team, Ethan Vasco, heading out of the program. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Kirk Johnson, you can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts.

And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be discussing the latest transfer to the KU football room, Ethan Vasco. I know on the surface, it's the third string quarterback, but there is real long repercussions out of this, as well as even some possible short-term repercussions that you might not have thought about that we're

going to get to on today's show. First of this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked on. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked on to get started today. So I think first things first, it's just unfortunate. So far, we have seen now three players transfer out of the program with Demary and Alexander. Makes some sense. You have a bunch of pass rushers possibly in front of you.

Obviously, KU is not in a position that they'd like to be losing their pass rushers. But somebody who I think has a good potential to make an impact somewhere else, seen as a really good kid and makes sense. Kai Kuntz, who is a local in-state product. I don't know if he was on scholarship. I think he might have been a walk-on. He's transferring out. Ethan Vasco now transferring out as well.

KU is trying to get in line with their scholarship numbers they were over scholarship coming into the spring we haven't heard that really recently and before with k-football over the last decade plus uh usually it's they're just trying to catch up on scholarship so it is a good thing overall that they're over scholarship but it means certain players have to leave to open up scholarships just for them to get normal and then if they want to add anybody in the transfer portal this offseason, they need more guys to leave via the portal so that they can have kind of a one out one in to address maybe a few of, right. There's two ways of players transferring seemingly nowadays. There's the, I'm going to transfer because of my side of things. I want more playing time. I want more NIL money. I want whatever it is.

Right. It's, it's my side of things. I'm trying to transfer for a better opportunity. Then there's the team side of things, which is, and we're going to show you the door. Now, technically the scholarships are given on a, it's not a one--year basis it's not like a one-year contract they are given as you know a long-term thing to where if a coach says hey you're not going to get any playing time you should transfer and the kid says screw you i'm going to prove you wrong i'm saying here you know probably doesn't go well for the kid in terms of getting that playing time because there's a reason the coach is telling him that.

But the coach wouldn't really be able to do anything about it. But realistically, coaches can be like, hey, the writing's on the wall. You're not going to get much playing time here. It's in your best interest to go somewhere else and find a better opportunity for yourself. This is not one of those. This was one of those that this is from the Ethan Vasco side of things. And that I'm sure the staff today is pretty unhappy with this decision that ended up happening.

Last year, you almost lost Lawrence Arnold into the portal. They were able to reel him back in. I'm not expecting history to repeat itself here, but I'm sure the staff is going to try to do everything in their power to try to convince him to come back in tow because I know the staff is very high on him. it was you know comments that we saw publicly or not um there were a lot of good things said about ethan vasco and what he could do in the kansas system and that's why it's unfortunate for ku and i think it's unfortunate all around i don't

quite understand this decision and now this is not me coming from a place of oh well this darn transfer portal and can you believe all these kids are trans like i get it i understand why this is happening um i understand why a lot of kids transfer and usually i don't really have a problem with it i don't have a problem with this if he you know wants to go to a different place for whatever reason like you know that's that's his decision right he's he's an adult. I just don't understand it, I guess, from the reasoning of he's going to transfer somewhere else now and realistically not be the starter. Now, if he transfers somewhere and maybe he transfers down a level,

he goes to some lower end school in the MAC or the Sunbelt, maybe he could start right away. But now you're talking about a guy going to a school where he wouldn't have spring ball with them he would just be joining them basically for the fall side of things to try to become their starting quarterback realistically he's not going to be the starter wherever he transfers this next year and that's the thing if he was at Kansas this year he wasn't going to be the starter this year but there's a real chance he could have been the starter next year at Kansas, if not in two years. But I guess that's the risk that he doesn't want to take. It's the idea of what happens if Jalen Daniels does come back next year?

And then now all of a sudden I would have had three years in the program with nothing to show for it. I want to get somewhere that I can, even if I'm the backup this year, I am for sure the starter next season. Maybe that's the conversation, but I think it certainly is unfortunate'm the backup this year, I am for sure the starter next season. Maybe that's the conversation. But I think it certainly is unfortunate from the KU end of things, because I think this is a kid that will have success at his next stop. I think he's a good quarterback. He's got kind of a quick twitch arm. He's got good mobility. You know, he's not maybe a Jalen

Daniels runner, but he's got good mobility in and out of the pocket. He can throw well on the run. We saw a brief bit of that in the spring showcase. And he would fit what the KU offense is or what a lot of offenses in college football are and are going to be. So I do think he'll have a bright career, and that's why it is unfortunate from the KU side of things. You do wish him the best. I just think that there was an opportunity for him. If KU wins eight or nine games this. You know, if Jalen Daniels,

if KU wins eight or nine games this year, that probably means Jalen Daniels had a healthy season where he was really good. And I know Jalen isn't, you know, six foot three, six foot four starting quarterback to where he's being looked at as a first round pick. But when you look at the arm strength and you look at the live wire arm, when you look at the NFL going to a little more of these smaller guys who are mobile and can throw. If Jalen had that type of season, there's no reason to think he couldn't be like a day two or third, fourth round pick in the NFL draft and that he could go early after this season were to finish. If that happens, Jason Bean graduates at the end there. Boom.

Ethan Vasco could be your starting quarterback next season so that's why it is a little bit weird and a bit of a risk from his end to doing things especially for a guy that the KU staff was very high on this is not a situation where he was buried in the depth chart too far or to where you know the staff wasn't complimentary of his game to make him think that he wasn't in a good position to maybe take that starting role if it would have opened up in the future and i i do wonder i had this brought up to me by um somebody about uh you know how much did the jason bean decision factor into this and i think it's a good point like if jason bean doesn't come back does ethan vasco stick around and i i like, if you just look at it for this season, Jason Bean as a backup is greater than Ethan Vasco as a backup. And you're trying to capitalize off a bowl season last year

to get back to a bowl, win a bowl this year, win some more games in the regular season. You take what you can to get better this year. But if that decision ends up leading to Ethan Vasco having really good success somewhere else and leaves you bare for the quarterback of the future, you're going to be looking back on this going, man, that was a little bit unfortunate that happened,

even though I don't know that you could have predicted the future there. But it is a little bit weird because, you know, Bean's going to be gone after this year. So realistically, Vasco would have been a backup, whether it was second or third string either way. Maybe there's a little bit difference in reps. Maybe there's a little bit difference in reps. Maybe there's a little bit difference in terms of, hey, now I'm the guy.

If the guy in front gets injured, which he has, you know, the past couple of years. So I think just all around. I don't love this compared to maybe some other transfers where it's like, yeah, I get that. That makes sense for you. That makes sense for the team. That makes sense. I think this just sucks for everybody for all parties around.

We're going to get on to where this puts KU because there is a little bit of a change this does make for 2023 and then what this means for the quarterback of the future. Who would be the guy in 2024-2025 for KU? First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

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that was a big goal this offseason. You heard Matt Gildersleeve. The term was make him bulletproof moving forward, that he can avoid those injuries and get through a full season. But especially the way that KU plays, and you're going to have hits to the quarterback if you're playing that kind of option style. That with Jalen, you have to have backup options going into the season, and that's why Jason Bean coming back was so important for this team

because they probably don't win that. I mean, you look at the sixth game that Kansas won against Oklahoma State last year. Oklahoma State was on, what, their second, third-string quarterback. KU was on their second-string quarterback. And you saw the difference in having a competent second-string quarterback in Jason Bean versus what Oklahoma State had. That was the difference in KU making it to a bowl game. So it's obviously very important. But Jalen got injured last year, had the shoulder

injury that caused him to miss, what, four or five games. You look back to his freshman season, and that team's offensive line was a real injury risk. So that's why he got injured. And then you look at his second season, where he wasn't the starter till the end of the year. And part of the reason why was because in fall camp, he got injured. And so the staff that had just came over, didn't have spring ball, just saw everything in fall, had to extrapolate everything they saw in fall as to be everything. And because Jalen was injured for a good portion of it, he didn't get to go out on the field. So you have had injuries kind of each of the last three years to Jalen. That's something to be worried about. So now you're in a situation where if Jalen does get injured again, Jason Bean is now your backup.

And, you know, with the way KU plays, we saw last year, Jason Bean got injured in the Texas Tech game and then Ethan Vasco came in for a drive. So it is important to even have a third quarterback in this system that KU was running and everything. And that would have been nice if it was Ethan Vasco. Now you don't have that. Now that is a bit of a doomsday, like worst-case scenario type of thing to happen. But I think it has another impact besides that.

Right now KU has been pretty coy about the total usage of what it's going to be, but they've definitely hinted at and we've definitely seen like bits and pieces, whether it was in the spring showcase or in other areas, of the usage of Jason Bean. He could line up at some running back. He could line up at some receiver. We even heard Taiwo Onotolu, one of the special teams assistants, talking about him getting some reps at kick return.

Well, guess what if now the option behind jason bean to where you know if you line up jason being a receiver and he gets injured and it's like oh it's fine well he's just the backup jalen daniel's still in there but now instead of the backup with jason being being injured being ethan vasco who i i feel like the staff very trusts as far as a redshirt freshman would go. You end up in a situation where, you know, now it's Ben Easter's who, I don't know that there's that level of built-in trust. And I will say Ben Easter's was brought over

by Brent Dierman. He was a Brent Dierman guy in the same way Jalen Daniels was. You know, Brent D dearman he was a brent dearman guy in the same way jaylen daniels was you know brent dearman had a good eye for evaluating quarterbacks but i think that one was a a little bit different for a lot of different reasons for the uh recruiting level but i i think there's a big difference there to having that be your backup in that situation and so to that notion i wonder if this prevents ku from using using Jason Bean in as much of an experimental role as possible. Now, maybe that's not the biggest deal in the world.

Maybe it doesn't matter that much because as fast as he is, maybe he's the fastest guy on the team. You know, just having a real wide receiver, having a real running back in there, you know, that's going to be fine, too. We have seen KU have some depth injury issues at running back so just having being be out there I guess could could help you with that and I don't know how much it changes some of the trick play stuff like if it's going to be a trick play where Jason Bean ends up throwing the ball then is that any different and bringing him in a quarterback no probably not but if he's only coming in when he's throwing the ball as opposed to running it does it get rid of the threat for the defense and they know what to expect every time?

And so from that experimental level of things, because you have less options as your backup quarterbacks that do or wants to do here in 2023, maybe more than you would have thought for the original third string quarterback leaving the program. The bigger deal of this, though, is the long term impact of it. Who's going to be the starting quarterback in 2024, 2025? Let's talk about that next with Lockdown Jayhawks. All right, so you fast forward to 2024. This is the 2023 season. Next year would be the 2024 season.

Jalen Daniels at that point can come back for another season. This is year four for Jalen Daniels. If you remember, he burnt the red shirt in his whatever, year one with Leipold, year two for him. So he didn't have the red shirt but he does have the COVID year from his true freshman season meaning that Jalen could come back for next season and if Jalen comes back for next season all you know problem solved for for 2024 right it's it's Jalen Daniels and there's not really a concern there now you would have to

figure out the backup quarterback situation and I'll be interested to see do they uh i don't know do they go to the transfer portal and find someone who uh maybe has a multi-year quarterback transfer this offseason who can be a guy who he's like hey you're going to be the third string this year but next year we could have both these guys departing um like remember they brought in jason bean via the transfer portal and this will be his third year in the program something like that i don't know maybe or could they bring in a transfer portal quarterback next year could they we'll see they obviously have Isaiah Marshall and that is a very big deal which we'll get to here in a second but if Jalen comes back all these problems are solved because at that point you have Jalen back as a fifth year senior. You would have Isaiah Marshall, your four-star QB

recruit, coming into the program to learn from Jalen and have a year where he can either redshirt or just be the backup and get that learning experience without being thrown into fire too early. Jason Bean would obviously graduate. Then at that point, you'd have a... I think Ben Easter's a redshirt sophomore this year, so he'd be

a redshirt junior at that point. And then if you add anybody, whether it's from the high school level or college level too, to the quarterback room. Quarterback room sounds good, right? Fifth-year senior with a four-star quarterback backup, sign me up, right? But if Jalen goes pro, that's where things get a little bit more difficult because Jalen does have a season. If Jalen Daniels is a Heisman finalist or Kansas

wins nine games he puts up unbelievable numbers he can be a third round pick in the NFL draft you know he leaves he has his degree at that point um then all of a sudden 2024 you're looking at and you're going who's the guy because Jalen would go pro Jason Bean would have graduated and now it's is it Ben Easter's time? Is Isaiah Marshall going to start as a true freshman? Are you going to bring in someone via the transfer portal, like you did with Jason Bean, to at least compete for the competition? Or maybe bring in a grad transfer who's like a one-year guy,

who at that point, if Kansas just did win eight or nine games that allowed Jalen go pro and Andy Kotelicki still the offense coordinator and they're doing all these cool things and KU is getting more notoriety nationally probably would be easier for them to be able to get one of those higher end one-year grad transfer quarterbacks than it would be you know just say five years ago for instance um but there there becomes a lot more questions and to be clear I think Isaiah Marshall is going to be a i think isaiah marshall is going to be a really good quarterback for kansas um by all accounts he seems like somebody who fits into

the system that they get along well with ku but do you really want to want to trust on a true freshman coming in like ideally you would like to let that guy sit for a year not just from the mental side of things getting acclimated to college and college football but from the mental side of things, getting acclimated to college and college football, but from the physical side of things, you know, getting your muscle weight up, getting your body to whatever it needs to be under Matt Gildersleeve for a year, right? They can be so important. And maybe he is that special that he could play as a true freshman. But I think ideally you have that one kind of sit year in between. And so if you had had Ethan Vasco, he would have probably plugged into being the starter in 2024. At the least you would have had a competition between him and Isaiah Marshall should Jalen go pro and if Marshall beat him out that would just make you feel really good about Marshall if Jalen goes pro and it's like well Marshall beat

out Ben Easter's I don't know how much that makes you feel great about where he would be so it leaves you in a different situation now if you if you do have Jalen back then by the time you get to 2025 that would be second year Isaiah Marshall be your starter after Jalen departs that I think you would feel fine with but when you look at the roster for KU this year they have a lot of players returning to their team this year but guess what a lot of those same players can come back for next year too and as much as we look at this year where you made a bowl game now you have most of your roster back you should be able to improve on that even more. To me, 2024 is the year that I'm really circling where I'm going, man, you could have another year of all these guys in the program,

and now you're going to have more recruits that Leipold has brought in and more development in the system. That's the year that I'm really circling in 2024. But if you can't figure out the quarterback position, all those ancillary pieces around you comes a little less of a moot point than it would this season so it's very important and without ethan vasco you don't have an obvious answer for 2024 should jaylen go pro um you also would need another quarterback in tow i definitely feel like they're going to use the transfer portal to bring in somebody uh you you know you have him transfer away you had case and wiseman decommit from the program um so you look up and down the list they they might need that

extra guy uh that kind of comes in there even though i am confident that isaiah marshall at some point in his career could be really good you don't necessarily want to rely on that in a true freshman season for an 18 year old taking over for a veteran team. And I think with Jalen, like how likely is the NFL thing? I have no idea. I have no idea, but I'll say this too. I expect Isaiah Marshall to end up being at Kansas, but I mean, we have seen before it's high school recruiting, crazy things happen. Like what if, what if Isaiah Marshall decommitted, you know what I mean?

And then you'd be stretched out to dry in 2024. And that's the doomsday scenario. Not saying that's going to happen. I'm just saying this leaves some more questions for the future. Nothing Kansas can't overcome. They've got a lot of time to plan ahead for it. Lance Leipold certainly is a really good head coach, and I'm sure

we'll figure it out. This just leaves a little bit more questions, both for this year and for the future from Ethan Vasco transferring out of the program. All right, that's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We were going to have a transfer. I want to start, you know, taking a look at where I would rank some of these different

transfers. So we're going to do that today. But then that news came out. Maybe if there's other breaking news, we'll get to that on tomorrow's episode. Otherwise, we will do a I'm going gonna do a top 10 guard options for ku right now that are available so point guard shooting guard combo guards and then maybe we'll start getting into some individual player deep dives uh we'll also do those top 10 rankings for maybe the wing position forward position like center position down the road here too to give you an

idea of maybe uh some players that can make sense in the transfer portal for ku basketball. But you can find us wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can hit me up at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter, and you can subscribe to us on YouTube. Have a good rest of your day. See you next time with Locked on.