Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football STRENGTHENS O-Line with Experienced Syracuse OT Transfer Enrique Cruz Jr.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Kansas football has a new offensive lineman Enrique Cruz Jr. A transfer from Syracuse. We'll look to keep Jalen Daniels upright this season. 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. Thank you every day is catching each and every episode of the show we

Starting point is 00:00:32 are free and available anywhere you get your podcast including on our YouTube page and on this bonus episode of Locked On Jayhawks KU football's new offensive tackle Enrique Cruz Jr a transfer from Syracuse former four star recruit and has a lot of playing experience with Syracuse. KU was looking to add and bolster its offensive line and this certainly makes the competition even thicker for who's going to be those starters surrounding the big three for the KU offensive line and protecting Jalen Anels as KU looks to have a big bounce back season this year on the gridiron. We're going to get to information on Cruz, we're

Starting point is 00:01:06 going to get into his scouting report. And we're also going to get where this puts Kansas overall with the offensive line room and where this puts them now moving forward in the transfer portal. Let's start with just some information on Cruz. So he's a six foot six 319 pound offensive tackle, big dude comes in plug and play ready to play in terms of his body, because he's played at the division one and power four level for a bit. Now, there'll

Starting point is 00:01:32 be a redshirt senior this upcoming season originally from Chicago, Illinois, where he went to Willowbrook High School. So he'll fit in with the many Chicagoans who are at the University of Kansas there, but he came out of high school as a four star recruit recruit in which he was the 220th player ranked nationally on 24 seven sports. He was given a 91 grade as a four star number 23 offensive tackle in the class number four player in the state of Illinois.

Starting point is 00:01:58 Then he goes to Syracuse and ends up being somebody who is scouted important high school coming out was was the expectation to be somebody who's a fourth to seventh round pick. So like, you know, very real potential and what he could become goes to Syracuse in 2021 in which he redshirted his first year plays as a redshirt freshman a little bit with five starts in 2022. Richard sophomore year in 2023 starts every game at left tackle for Syracuse.

Starting point is 00:02:28 And then as a redshirt junior this past year in 2024, he only appeared in three games. And so I don't know how this works because theoretically that 2021 season, even though he did redshirt, couldn't hypothetically he go back and say, okay, that was just the COVID year in this past season in which I played only three games.

Starting point is 00:02:46 I can take the red shirt that year. I don't know if that's something you can do retroactively, to which case Kansas would have him for two more years possibly. I don't know if that's how it works, but I'm just gonna assume he is a red shirt senior with one year left to play, but maybe you could finagle it in some way

Starting point is 00:03:00 to make it a two-year thing if possible. I don't entirely know. But Kansas needed another offensive lineman. Lance Light light pulled wanted to bring in another offensive lineman, they needed some more competition. You feel good about Kobe Baines starting at one of the guard spots, Bryce Foster, etc. They feel good about Calvin Clements starting at one of the tackle spots, but who's going to be the other tackle? Who's going to be the other guard? And certainly the competition is thick and heavy from guys, you know, like Nolan Gorrchika and Tavaki Tuiko Lovato, but James Livingston, I don't know who else, Amir Herring, but like,

Starting point is 00:03:31 you know, some of those guys were banged up and injured during spring ball, it makes more sense to bring in even more competition there and more players that could possibly impact it. We know Kansas likes to have like really a top six or seven that they feel comfortable with, ideally even eight, where you have your your five you feel comfortable with your sixth guys kind of rotating in and then your seventh and eighth guys are, you know, subs that can maybe one can play both guards and one

Starting point is 00:03:55 can play both tackle spots, maybe one can play left guard, left tackle, one can play right guard, right tackle, they like to have that ability. And so this moves you closer to feeling comfortable where you are, and obviously an experienced player where you should be able to come in and body wise be ready to to kind of go right off the bat. Alright, so what is the scouting report for Cruz that he's bringing to the table? What is the overall offensive line room look like?

Starting point is 00:04:17 Where does he probably fit in? Is he going to start all those questions coming up in just a moment on Lockdown Jayhawks? This bonus episode on Lockdown Jayhawks is brought to you by Supply House. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. Supply House. Whether you're in plumbing, HVAC or electrical work, Supply House is the reliable way to order products online. Their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Plus, with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands, you'll find exactly what you need delivered fast from coast to coast.

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Starting point is 00:05:36 I don't know if he's like a guardian or a relative or what with Enrique Cruz, but he posted a picture of him with Brad Garlinghouse. If you don't know who he is, he's like a big time KU donor. He's like, I think his net worth is like $10 billion. He has done very well for himself as a professional went to KU. I think he would like Harvard after very smart guy, obviously. And I'm sure he's he's as big as you know, like you hear about David Booth all the time. He's got his names on buildings and Horish and stuff like that. Garlinghouse is a gigantic KU donor as well that really helps KU you know, get something what anyway, he posted a picture with him and he said, it was nice to meet you.

Starting point is 00:06:14 Hopefully you can make it out to a game this year. So you can watch Enrique Cruz play. And I can't help but think seeing that like, did Brad Garlinghouse close the deal here with with NIL money to get it over the I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? I just find that kind of interesting in today's day and age. And obviously, the big time donors and supporters are important as ever for for KU and all their sports and buildings and yada yada yada. Okay, so scouting board on a Rene Enrique

Starting point is 00:06:39 Cruz, I mentioned that very experienced player. He'll be a redshirt senior this year. He's seen a lot of playing time for Syracuse. You go back to 2021 redshirts 2022. He plays a decent amount of games. He overall has 339 snaps for Syracuse that year and he has a 62.4 pff grade, which you know, pretty good, especially considering a redshirt freshman, right? He had a 71.5 in pass block and a 59.3 in run blocking. So a better pass blocker than he was a run blocker in that first year. Then in year two, I guess, year three for Syracuse, but the second year of play.

Starting point is 00:07:15 So as a redshirt sophomore in 2023, he logs 804 snaps, starts every game at left tackle. And the PFF grade goes down a little bit. 52.1. He had a 49 in run block. So you know, didn't have the best run block grades that year, but a 64.6 in pass blocks are still, you know, solid and pass block. He did have six penalties that year, maybe a little bit more than you would like to see that season. But he's playing a lot of snaps as a redshirt freshman left tackle, obviously a difficult position, you know, to kind of come in on and a lot of snaps, the redshirt freshman, left tackle, obviously a difficult position, you know, to kind of come in on

Starting point is 00:07:46 and a lot of times you're on an island. Then this past season, he only plays in three games, 33 snaps, 62.4 PFF grade, 71 pass block, 57 run block. So what does this all tell you about all this? I mean, you're getting the guy that has nearly 1200 snaps at the collegiate level, so he gives you experience right away. I think you kind of assume,

Starting point is 00:08:04 based on everything he's done, you're getting a good pass blocker here. I think you kind of assume based on everything he's done, you're getting a good pass blocker here. And then you look at the running game and the running grades aren't that great. He's never had a run block rate of 60 or above. But this is where I think it's interesting. This is something I brought up on a previous episode. When you look at how KU runs their offense, specifically running the football, rarely does well, I shouldn't say rarely, like they do it, but like KU, they don't have, you know, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State's offensive line that is a bunch of six, five,

Starting point is 00:08:32 330 pound dudes who can move and just, if you just want to run, you know, a half back gut play up the middle, they're just going to push guys back four yards every play. When you're at the University of Kansas and a lot of other schools who are not, you know, reeling in a bunch of five star and four star talent every year, you have to find ways to run the football

Starting point is 00:08:50 with being creative. You have to find ways. And that's why like you go back to the wide zone play that we hear so many times about KU football. What is the big thing with the wide zone play? It's getting to the outside and it's getting offensive linemen who can move, who can get to the exterior.

Starting point is 00:09:04 And then you try to get them advantageous positions when they're on the run blocking guys. And so you see certain linemen for Kay, like Bryce Cable do, isn't the biggest strongest dude in the world, but he had an unbelievable season for Kansas in both run and pass blocking. He was a good pass blocker and the combination of his skill set into what Kansas asked him to do worked well. And so I think, so you look at this past season, first of all, you might be wondering, why did he only play three games after starting in a bunch? Well, he got a new head coach in there.

Starting point is 00:09:31 They got a new head coach who came over and they did a lot of good things. They won nine or 10 games this year, like Kyle McCord was leading him at quarterback, but he was bringing in a lot of transfers from like big schools, like George Ohio. I mean, Kyle McCord is a transfer from Ohio State, right? And they became more of a passing offense.

Starting point is 00:09:46 And so more of a spread offense, like just a different type of offense. And so I think this will be a better fit for Kansas that I think, you know, some of his maybe deficiencies in the running game, I think will be covered a little bit that the Kansas will be able to use him in a real way. And then if he just continues to be a good pass blocker, boom, there you go.

Starting point is 00:10:03 Now the question for me is, is he gonna be a left tackle? Is he gonna be a right tackle? Let's get to that in a second. This is Lockdown Jayhawks. Thanks for joining us on this bonus episode of the show. Don't forget to check out the rest of our episodes here with Lockdown Jayhawks and our podcast and on our YouTube page, you can find Lockdown College Football as well. So the KU offensive line room, I mentioned earlier, Foster starting at center, Baines at one of the guard spots, Calvin Clements locked on college football as well. So the KU offensive line room I mentioned earlier Foster

Starting point is 00:10:25 starting at center Baines at one of the guard spots, Calvin Clements at one of the tackles. I think the idea has been for Clements to be your starting left tackle. In fact, when we've seen him play like that has been his role for KU. What if Cruz though does come in and he feels better about playing left tackle where he you know, played all those games in 2023. And you have to move Clements to right tackle. I don't know, I guess that's possible. But in my know, I guess that's possible,

Starting point is 00:10:45 but in my eyes, I'm seeing Cruz as making the move to right tackle. But again, that'll kind of depend on how things go. And so I almost view it as like a, maybe it's a three-man competition between Cruz Gorrchica and Tui Ko Lovatu for one of the guard spots and one of the tackle spots. And maybe it's Cruz versus those two for one of the tackle spots. And then it's Gorrchika versus, I guess, if you want to throw a mere herring or something in there too, for one of the guard spots. And I think that kind of makes sense. But it just gives you more depth. It gives you more competition. It gives you another body that you can go to, whether it is a starter or whether it just deepens the bench a little bit, because a lot of the KU bench at the offensive line before this move is a lot of young players who

Starting point is 00:11:31 are unproven, right? Like, I mean, Jack Tanner played a lot as a freshman at Tulsa, but PFF grades weren't great, you probably want to develop him for a year or two, David Abadji, and Graydon Grimes, like Carter Lewerski, Ken A and Nene, Anderson Kopp, all freshmen or redshirt freshmen, even the transfers you brought in, like Deandre Harper and Tyler Mercer,

Starting point is 00:11:51 are both young sophomores. So when you look at this for Kansas, it's as much of a move about strengthening the depth as it is about possibly getting another starter. Now, if you were asking me to predict what the starting lineup would be today, I think I would go Clements at left tackle, I'd go Cruiser right tackle, Foster at center,

Starting point is 00:12:11 and then I'd probably go with Baines at center. And then it is tough. Like, I guess I would lean Gorchicka for the seniority right here, but I think Tui Ko Lovatu is gonna have a higher ceiling than Gorchicka. I just know he was banged up a little bit during spring ball. So like, I guess if you're asking me to predict what happens, if he gets healthy during fall ball, he wins the job. But because right now you don't know that

Starting point is 00:12:33 for sure. And the known commodity maybe would be Gorchika. And we've also seen them do that in the past, whether it's at other positions, right? Like we've seen them go with the guy with seniority the first game of the season at other positions like defensive end or, you know, some of these other spots to kind of like, OK, if it's even, give it to the guy who's older and let the young guy have to usurp him. Right. And I think that's a cool way that, you know, the staff kind of does things. So anyway, good addition for KU trying to keep Jalen Daniels upright, trying to

Starting point is 00:13:06 get the running game going, all that and more. And obviously, offensive line, there's not a lot of great ones on the portal market. And a lot of times if they are, they're going to a very big school. So you have to find guys that yeah, they might have some flaws like Cruz hasn't had the best run blocking grades in the past, but that you can work with to work with their strengths and try to come up their deficiencies a little more. And I think KU will be able to do that, especially with, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:28 how good they've been developing offensive linemen during the Lance Leipold era. That's all for this episode of Lockdown J-Hawks. You can find our show anywhere you get podcasts, including on our YouTube page. See you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football STRENGTHENS O-Line with Experienced Syracuse OT Transfer Enrique Cruz Jr.

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