Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Players That Must Step Up During Preseason Camp for 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, KU football players that need to step up most during camp. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can follow me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. Your team every day. And of course, you can check out plenty else going on across the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's episode, we're going to be talking about KU football players that most need to step up during preseason camp, which is coming up here for KU football and just how important that is going to be for KU in trying to reach their goals of winning a Big 12 title this upcoming season. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more.

Starting point is 00:01:06 As playoffs wind down, sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel's hooking up all customers with a booster bonus daily. That's right, there's something for everyone every day all summer long. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. So let's start with the defensive side of the football, then we'll get into offense and special teams in terms of each unit, what players and where players need to step up for KU I think defense has maybe the biggest I don't know question marks holes whatever you want to talk about that could end up being better than you

Starting point is 00:01:35 think you know last season one of the questions coming in was somebody needs to step up and camp at the pass rush position because Lonnie Phelps had graduated and was it going to be Hayden Hatcher was it going to be Austin Booker was it going to be somebody else turns out Austin Booker was one of the best pass rushers in the Big 12 a season ago so not that you expect that to happen again but you know sometimes we do have questions on things and they end up being answered in a resounding way other times we have maybe not questions on other things and they end up being you know bigger issues than we might have thought because of maybe an injury or something else but I think that rush defensive end spot is the easy one to point to

Starting point is 00:02:08 again it's the biggest question uh for KU football on the defensive side of the ball because you go from you know it almost has felt like the last two years like you knew in 2021 you had that good pass rush production from Kyron Johnson but you knew he was going to be graduating he had exhausted eligibility after the year. So then you bring in Lonnie Phelps, who ended up being awesome for you, but you thought that you were going to have him for another year. He ends up going pro early, ends up getting undrafted. Then you bring in Austin Booker, and he is dominant for you,

Starting point is 00:02:41 but you still at the end of the offseason were kind of like, or at the beginning of the offseason were kind of like, okay, but we're still going to have him back in the three year he leaves early. So you've kind of felt like you've been, I don't know, rushed out with this defensive end position and it's put you in kind of a difficult spot this season. And I think the strong side defensive end, I feel very good about where that position is. Jeremy Robinson going into another year,

Starting point is 00:03:00 I think has been a very good player for KU Dylan Woodkey. I think he's nice transfer pickup addition that you have. Even Ron McGee, who took a medical redshirt last year after suffering an unfortunate season-long injury, moving over to kind of strong side defensive end spot. I like what you have at that position. But the rush defensive end spot, I think you have a lot of talent. The question is, is that talent going to be ready?

Starting point is 00:03:20 So Dylan Brooks suffered some sort of an injury during spring ball. I don't think it's been like announced what his situation is. Is he going to miss the entire season? Is he going to miss part of the season? Is he going to be back at some point early in the season? I don't entirely know, but it feels like things are almost being put to a point where it's like, I'm not really expecting him. He's been really good on the college football 2025 game. He's been an awesome player for the defense on that, but you hope he's back and okay. But until then, or if you're without him all season long,

Starting point is 00:03:54 Dean Miller becomes somebody of interest who is a former College of Canyons, shout out Valencia High School. Recruit transfer that you brought in is this wiry, lengthy defensive end that didn't really hit the field his first couple of years, but seems like he has taken some strides this year and partially also because the extra opportunity has shown some stuff but is he going to show enough in fall camp by job who you brought on as a transfer from michigan state former you know top tier recruit in the country didn't get spring football with you so he really has to kind of catch up during fall camp but he has all the talent in the world to do so uh sean warner dac brink, both guys that you brought on from the high school recruiting class who are insanely high-level recruits, especially from what we've seen at Kansas, have all the talent in the world, but are they going to be full-on ready in year one? And so I don't know

Starting point is 00:04:36 what the answer is here, right? Typically, we see the staff lean toward, if it's a coin flip, give it to the veteran guy, give him an opportunity to prove it on the field. You saw that last year with Hayden Hatcher over austin booker and then it just turns out austin booker was just so darn talented it wasn't that hayden hatcher like messed up it was that austin booker was just at another level and he showed that on the field so i wonder if we see that at the beginning of the season if we see dean miller kind of getting that nod and if dean miller can take down that job great right um otherwise, you get rotations in of guys like Byjobe, Deshaun Ward, or Dak Brinkley. And it seems like Brinkley kind of started picking things up in spring ball to where maybe he can be ready for that type of role.

Starting point is 00:05:16 We've made those comparisons before, like Kari Coleman and stuff like that, who was a former KU commit who went into TCU and played right away as a freshman, had an outstanding season as a guy who was, you know, like sub 225 pounds. So there certainly is some precedent there. I think at the end of the day, I guess between Miller, Jobe, Warner, and Brinkley, like if you come out of this mix with one of them is a solid player this year, one of them is an average player this year, one of them is a rotational player this year. Again, in the long term, you have higher expectations for those players because they do have such high ceilings. But for this specific season, I think that would be an okay turnout for KU. Outside of that, on the defensive side of the

Starting point is 00:05:53 ball, I feel good about the rotation of KU defensive tackles. Maybe you could say for stepping up in fall camp, will one of them step up to, instead of just having a rotation of a bunch of solid players, can one of them step up into being like an all big 12 level defensive tackle, right? Could that be a guy like DJ Withers? Could that be a guy like Caleb Taylor? Could that be like a Javier Darrett who transferred over from North Dakota State? I feel good about the rotation of defense tackles, the depth that you have amassed there, but do you have that absolute dude, especially if you don't have that absolute stud, Austin Booker pass rusher, another way to make up for that as well.

Starting point is 00:06:27 You feel good about strong defensive end. What if your defense tackles are good at pass rushing? You have a good secondary. You can blitz a little bit extra. Like there are ways that you can kind of make up for it there. So that kind of becomes the question of, can one of the D tackles step up from being, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:39 a solid player to a really good player for KU this upcoming season. And then the last one that I would put here is Jason Gilliam. You know, I was tempted a little bit to put Tywon Berryhill, who's played a lot of snaps for KU. You look at the PFF grade, it was sub 30 a season ago. He really struggled playing through some injuries. Maybe with a healthier season, I expect better things, but you're looking for him to step up in a real way. I feel good about Cornell Wheeler and J.B. Brown, but I think Jason Gilliam kind of is interesting. Is he going to play as more of a traditional linebacker role? Are you going to play him as a third linebacker in early downs, but not in late downs? Or is he

Starting point is 00:07:14 going to be the full true Craig Young type hawk type of player for KU? If he can step up and kind of take down that role, I think that would certainly help KU out in a real way. Now, I think it would make sense to use Marvin Grant, some in that kind of Hawk Cinco role, because he hits like a linebacker and he gives you the speed of a safety in terms of coverage and everything. So if you're talking about, you know, playing lineups where, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:42 you basically have five DBs and then you bring in one of the Dye brothers to be next to OJ Burrows at the safety and you have Marvin Grant. So it's basically you have three safeties on the field. But maybe in early downs, maybe in rundowns, you do have more of a traditional linebacker playing that third linebacker, that Hawk type of role. And if Jason Gilliam can take that down, maybe it's somebody else. I don't know. Maybe a Logan Brantley can step up young, talented kid, right? But it would be very beneficial for KU if somebody did, because those are big shoes to fill with the talent that you kind of lost from Craig Young. But I think at the end of the day, the biggest one here has to be that defensive end pass rush spot, that wide defensive end spot

Starting point is 00:08:16 for KU. Because if that can step up, you feel good about the secondary. You have all sorts of experience there. You feel good about the depth of the secondary. At least I do. I know some people have questions about the depth of the corners. I feel good about the depth of the secondary. At least I do. I know some people have questions about the depth of the corners. I feel good about it because I'm a real big believer in what you can get from Demarius McGee and Jamil Croft and some of these guys. I feel good about better about the linebackers this year than I have in any year in the Lance Leipold era. I feel good about the D tackle rotation.

Starting point is 00:08:39 I feel good about the strong defensive end spot, right? And this is not me to say that I feel good in the sense of like, this is gonna be a top 10 defense in the country. I feel good from a level of that you can improve from where you were as a defense from last year to this year. The big one then becomes that pass rush spot, which is a big hole to fill because it's not just that you lost,

Starting point is 00:08:57 oh, a solid player who graduated and are just trying to fill it in. It's that you lost one of the most impactful defenders in the entire Big 12 a season ago. So that would be the big one. If one of those rush defensive ends, Miller, Jobe, Warner, Brinkley can step up. Even just one of them would be pretty huge for KU in camp. Let's get to our offensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:09:14 Who needs to step up for KU in camp there on Locked on Jayhawks? Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. I love sports. I love them so much. You never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, we get fewer games. The sports aren't sporting like you want them to. But FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want.

Starting point is 00:09:34 Don't worry. We got what we're done with Thursdays, not having football. You know, we got preseason football and a lot of this other stuff. We still have the Olympics going on. I love getting into the golf tournaments each and every week. So you can get in on those. You can get futures for college football and the NFL. Who's going to win the Heisman? Who's going to make the playoffs? KU going off at

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Starting point is 00:10:05 you want to do. So head over to Fanduel.com and start making the most of your summer. Fanduel, official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. All right, continuing on on Locked On Jayhawks and taking the everydayers tuning into each and every show. Don't forget if you're curious, like what's going on around the Big 12 or one of the other opponents KU's going to be playing. Maybe

Starting point is 00:10:23 you want to check out what Illinois is doing because KU plays them early in the season fortunately we don't have a Lindenwood podcast maybe yet to come I don't know but you can catch up on those across our locked on podcast network all right offensive side of the football who needs to step up in fall camp for KU Cole Ballard or Isaiah Marshall again this is kind of like the rush defensive end spot you don't need all four be the rush defensive end spot. You don't need all four. It'd be great if all four did, but you don't need all four. You maybe need one to really step up and then another one to step up in maybe a slightly lesser role. With the quarterback position, in an ideal world, Jalen Daniels will stay healthy all season long. And maybe the moons can align and that can be the case this year but based on how things have gone the last two seasons you have to be prepared

Starting point is 00:11:09 for that not to be the case who's going to be that backup quarterback I think you would prefer it to be Cole Ballard in a weird way like I don't know in one way you would prefer the guy to step up as the backup quarterback be Isaiah Marshall because that would speak a lot to what your future would be at that position if Isaiah Marshall looks this good as a true freshman what does that mean for year two year three of him right at the same point in time I almost feel like if you're KU you want to preserve that red shirt on Isaiah Marshall and for that to be the case I don't know maybe you just say hey if Jalen gets hurt like if it's a one game thing or two game, we can still start Isaiah Marshall and he can still maybe get under that four-game limit or something.

Starting point is 00:11:50 Or if we get to that four-game limit, then we'll start Cole Ballard or something. There are ways you can work around it, but I don't know. The optics on that wouldn't be great if you were basically, for the seniors, let's say Jalen's out for six weeks and you've started Marshall the first four and he's looked pretty good and you're like, well, listen, we want to preserve his red shirt. Sorry. We're going to go to Cole Ballard the next two. Like if you're a senior,

Starting point is 00:12:08 you're like, no, I want the guy that's going to give me the best chance to win. So if it ends up being Ballard, if Ballard's the one that steps up the most among the backups, then you do get a better chance of preserving that Isaiah Marshall red shirt, which would certainly be beneficial to KU.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Now, who knows if Isaiah Marshall is the stud, he might end up going pro early at some point. I don't know. You never know what's going to happenU. Now, who knows if Isaiah Marshall is the stud, he might end up going pro early at some point. I don't know. You never know what's going to happen down the road, but it's always good to have that extra year in tow and that extra year that you can possibly learn and everything like that. So you almost want Cole Ballard to be the guy that steps up this off season. And then you want Isaiah Marshall to be the guy that steps up next off season, kind of in a weird way about that. But you do need at least one of them to step up for the backup QB role,

Starting point is 00:12:47 even if, ideally, in a perfect world, you don't have to worry about it either way. Trevor Cardell, you need to step up. So Deshaun Hanneke comes in as a transfer from Iowa State. Seemed like he was going to be kind of the go-to guy at the tight end position. One thing that's interesting, Andy Kotelnicki versus Jeff Grimes. You look back to the Baylor tight ends he was bringing in. You look at the BYU tight ends he's bringing in. He likes receiving tight ends.

Starting point is 00:13:08 He likes big, lengthy, tall tight ends, 6'4", 5", 6'6", guys that can run straight line speed. And Hanukkah, good receiving option from Iowa State. There were more questions about his blocking game than receiving game. Not that he was a bad blocker, but that was kind of the question. So Andy Kotelnicki was more of like, give me the blocking tight end and then we'll scheme it up now the beauty of mason fairchild is he was good at both um whichever cardell he is kind of that tall lengthy athletic tight end right and so you would think that plays well for jeff grimes comes interesting what happens with jared casey then again i do view casey more as that kind of like

Starting point is 00:13:43 h back fullback slash tight end so he does a little bit of everything I think there's always a role for that but Cardell now has to step up without Hanukkah he's the go-to option and a position that I felt great about because you had Hanukkah Cardell and Casey that that's a loaded position all of a sudden you lose Hanukkah everybody has to slide up you have questions about who the third tight end is going to be I don't know maybe Leighton Cure takes that over and Leighton Cure ends up being the stud who is playing a lot of snaps for KU. But if Trevor Cardell can step up, that'd be a big thing.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Mason Fairchild provided a lot of production for KU in the passing game. He provided a reliable target on key downs for whichever quarterback was in there between Jalen Daniels or Jason Bean. And he was an adequate enough blocker. He wasn't like a pancake road, road grader, but he was a efficient enough blocker. He wasn't like a pancake road grader, but he was an efficient enough blocker. And I think Jared Casey's probably the best blocker among that group of tight ends when you were talking Fairchild, Cardell, and Casey. But when you're talking about Wiggle,

Starting point is 00:14:37 when you're talking about speed, athleticism, the height and everything, Cardell has some of that that Casey doesn't, even though Casey's got the unbelievable hands and everything. It's an opportunity for Cardell to win that tight end spot. It's an opportunity for him to have a lot of production. It's an opportunity for him to really leave his stamp on the program and they need him to step up because they want to get the tight end involved in the offense in a very real way. I kind of want to put these two together, Logan Brown and Bryce Foster. They're both guys who transferred in from big programs, obviously at different times. Logan Brown comes in from Wisconsin and ends up getting injured early in last season. Bryce Foster joins the program after fall camp and after his track and field

Starting point is 00:15:15 season with Texas A&M. Both guys from big schools, both guys who have produced and have played real snaps at those previous schools. Both guys who were very, very, very highly touted recruits coming out of high school. So you're talking about a couple of guys who have very high ceilings, who have different bodies, I guess you could say, like athletically and what they are coming to Kansas from that offensive line room. I feel so good about Michael Ford, just kind of that steady interior guard. I feel good about Kobe Baines. I think, again, very solid guard. Bryce Cabledew has been a multi-year starter for you at the right tackle position.

Starting point is 00:15:48 I feel good about those. I even feel good about the depth of the offensive line. And I do feel good about Brown and Foster on the offensive line. But where is that level going to be? Are Logan Brown and Bryce Foster going to be solid players? Are they going to hit their potential in the same season where they both look like? Because based on their high school pedigree and their bodies and everything,

Starting point is 00:16:05 they have NFL potential, right? If they ball out, if they have the production on the field this year or in the next two years, because both of them can have a couple more years at Kansas, they could be future NFL players. And if that happens, the ceiling of the offensive line, because I think the KU offensive line is going to be solid, but the ceiling raises if both of those guys step up step up you go from being okay we feel good about being a top half uh line in the off in the big 12 we feel good about

Starting point is 00:16:31 being a top five offensive line in the big 12 wherever that number is to all of a sudden if those guys both step up maybe you're in the conversation for me in the best offensive line in the entire conference and that is the level that they can get you to that you have a lot of other steady eddies so to speak on your offensive line a lot of other solid players but the ceilings of those guys is really there in a whole nother way that if one of them steps up it's huge if two of them steps up it is even bigger for the offensive line so those are the guys in the offense that you're looking to step up i think the most during fall camp whereas you know what you're getting with devon neal you know what you're getting from the receiver room and a lot of these other things.

Starting point is 00:17:07 With Jalen Daniels, the biggest question is just going to be health, you know, from a production level, like he's that dude. So those are kind of the biggest ones that I think my flight building staff need to step up. What about on the special team side of the football? Get to that on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by Ibotta. Sandals, sunscreen, snacks for the kids. What do these have in common? They start with the letter S. No, not just that though. You're

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Starting point is 00:19:56 at factormeals.com slash lockedoncollege50, the number five, the number zero, to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while the subscription is active. Finishing things up here on Locked on Jayhawks, who are players that KU needs to step up during fall camp? Finish up with the special teams. Certainly KU has room to grow from the special teams,

Starting point is 00:20:19 and so this one becomes a little bit different. But you lose Seth Keller from last year's team, who was your starting kicker, faded a bit at the end of the season, but even though it wasn't always pretty, he was still making enough of the kicks. Again, you had some issues with blocked PATs and some misses here and there, but for the most part, you did have an improvement from your kicking game from the season before. Now you start all over because Keller graduated, and there's a kicker competition between Owen Pieper- Gerdes and Charlie Weinrich. And I guess anybody else that you had on the roster, I don't know if there's walk on tryouts.

Starting point is 00:20:52 You never know if kickers like that's one of those positions where if somebody just randomly walked on is like, I'm going to play left tackle. Like, what would the odds of that guy being the starting left tackle like right away? But it's like with kicker, I don't know. What if this guy just never played football and he was just like this stud soccer player in high school but he didn't i don't know he wasn't fast enough or he just didn't want to go play soccer at the collegiate level and he comes to be a student he's like you know what i am gonna walk on and try this kicking thing and he's just like oh he actually is our best kicker like that could actually happen so i don't know maybe that's entirely possible but i think owen peeper girdis would probably

Starting point is 00:21:22 be the favorite for me just a little bit slightly um you need adequate enough field goal kicking and we know that that you know based on the last couple years KU hasn't been one of those teams who's gone for fourth downs a good amount they've been on the lower end of the spectrum in the big 12 which means they're settling for more field goals you need to have that reliable field goal kicker so Owen P or Charlie Weinreich one of those two has to step up let's just go with own p because he's more of the veteran here and then the return spots somebody has to step up because think about this logan or not logan kenny kenny logan is gone from last year's team he operated a lot of kickoff returns for you over the last handful of years that he has been at kansas that opens up a lot of kick return reps

Starting point is 00:22:01 now it wasn't always him returning kicks. Sometimes he needed a break after defense. Sometimes coaches didn't want him to take another hit, and they'd put somebody else in there. There still is a good amount of kick returns that are available, and Kenny Logan was good at it. He was good at returning kicks. Maybe it's just Trevor Wilson, who we've seen a lot in the punt return game. But as we know, and maybe Trevor Wilson just becomes the answer here

Starting point is 00:22:21 of who needs to step up. With Trevor Wilson, we've seen this guy who's really good at the ball in his hands. Unfortunately, there have been too many muffed punts. There have been, I mean, it was what, the fumbled kickoff against Oklahoma. So, you know, maybe that's just him stepping up. Maybe it's somebody else stepping up, right? Is this an opportunity for a guy like Savion Morrison or Harry Stewart or Jameel Croft to return kicks?

Starting point is 00:22:41 Do we see like Luke Grimm returning punts or something like that? Somebody has to step up. It could be one guy, could be two guys, could be three guys who return kicks, who return punts over the course of the season for KU. But they need somebody to step up there because that is another hole that Kenny Logan left besides his experience, his tackling ability and everything like that from the defensive side of the football. So certainly there are areas that KU needs people to step up, but still there are a lot of areas that you feel good about. And even a lot of these areas you do have questions about, there is a real avenue for a lot of these things happening

Starting point is 00:23:09 and happening in a very real well way for KU. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. We'll have plenty more content coming at you this week. So make sure you're tuning into the show. Thank you to every dayers who already are. We're going to get to who's KU's best bet at being a first-round pick

Starting point is 00:23:28 in the 2025 NBA draft, the importance of that to winning a national title, biggest strengths and questions about KU football in 2024. Plenty more coming at you. Make sure you're subscribed to the show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. See you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Players That Must Step Up During Preseason Camp for 2024

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