Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Transfer Portal Losses + Offers and KU 2024 NFL Draft Primer

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, Football Friday, the latest in the transfer portal for KU and a NFL draft primer for KU football. 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 find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You can find our show with Locked On Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast and on our YouTube page. Like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Thank you to every dayers tuning in to each and every episode and catching all of our action. On today's edition, we're having a football Friday. You might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, it's not Friday. I didn't mean to alarm anyone on their way to work to make them think On today's edition, we're having a football Friday. You might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, it's not Friday. I didn't mean to alarm anyone on their way to work to make them think that all of a sudden it was Friday when it's not. I'm going to be out of town this weekend. I'm going to be out at a wedding, so I will be posting this today, and you're going to have to deal with this being your episode for Thursday and Friday.

Starting point is 00:01:01 Apologies for that, but that's why we're doing football Friday on a Thursday, because these are your episodes for Thursday and Friday. Apologies for that, but that's why we're doing Football Friday on a Thursday because these are episodes for Thursday and Friday. So we're going to be talking the latest portal news for KU football, and we're going to be talking NFL draft primer for the Jayhawks on this episode of the show. First, we are brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed.

Starting point is 00:01:22 That's $150 win or lose. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to get started. So let's start here with aftermath from the spring showcases. We're now into like the summer off season here for KU. Let's get to the latest transfer portal news for the Jayhawks. This is more lost than anything gained for KU at this point in time. The first of which we're going to talk about is Akili Hubbard. He was a backup safety, came in like

Starting point is 00:01:49 two years ago. I think it was in 2022 from the JUCO ranks. And I don't think he ever saw the field. He was maybe going to be like a third string safety or something like that this past season. So not a huge loss there. Kansas actually came in, I think, over-scholarship during spring once you factored in that they were going to be adding a bunch of scholarship players with the freshmen that were going to be coming in come the fall. Davion Westmoreland is transferring away. He was kind of like a backup-backup defensive end. Twelve career games played in two seasons with six tackles.

Starting point is 00:02:20 So, again, not somebody who played a ton, but Kansas is very thin at the defensive end spot. So, like, with Hubbard at the safety spot, it's fine because Kansas is pretty loaded, honestly. Like, I feel very good about KU's safety position. And it's not just the starters. It's kind of the depth they've amassed. Like, the starting lineup feel great with O.J. Burrows, Marvin Grant, Devin Dye, and Jalen Dye both going to be rotating in. Feel good about both those guys.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Taylor Davis heard a lot of good things about him even last year when he was red shirting as a true freshman so like you know if that's one of your top five safeties Mason Ellis was like the fastest guy clocked in miles per hour uh you still have guys like Caleb Purdy Damani Maxson who's going to be a true freshman here like it feel really good about the safety position but with defensive end even though Westmoreland wasn't projected to be like a starter or like a star player or anything KU's just very thin on the defensive line in general, or I guess more so a defensive end, like defensive tackle. They actually have a decent amount of depth, but defensive end, there's not a lot of depth there. And that's not a position you don't really want to have

Starting point is 00:03:16 a lot of depth. And so that's the biggest loss with Westmoreland. I guess the one good news is I think Westmoreland is more of like a strong defensive end, whereas KU is a bit more set in terms of the top two guys there. Like Jeremy Robinson has played a ton of snaps for KU the last couple years, and then Dylan Wootke, who you brought in from Youngstown State, and is a nice little transfer portal addition for you to have. They're both more like strong defensive ends, so I guess it's better to weather the storm there than at the more pass rushing

Starting point is 00:03:45 wide defensive end spot that Kansas has on the other side, which is where like Austin Booker was. So I guess that's the good news there. But overall, Kansas just doesn't have a ton of depth on the defensive line. It's like Robinson, Woodkey, Dean Miller is in there, Dylan Brooks, but he's injured right now. There's a very good chance you're going to see real snaps for the two freshmen, or at real snaps for the two freshmen, or at least one of the two, with Dak Brinkley and Deshaun Warner, which maybe that's not the worst thing in the world, because I can't remember the name of the kid, but it was a guy who, Card Coleman, maybe? I don't know if that's the right name, but he was committed to KU,

Starting point is 00:04:18 ended up decommitting and going to TCU. Maybe he wasn't even committed to KU. I don't know. He was in and on KU if he wasn't committed, and he ended up going to TCU and he ended up being like a stud as a freshman. He eventually transferred and I don't know where he's at now and what he's doing, but he was, he was like a late blooming, like four-star recruit who ended up going to TCU. And I think having like a real impact right away as a freshman, even though, you know, he was a true freshman playing in the big 12 and you worry about the weight. I don't think it's that unthinkable that a guy, especially at the wide defensive end where it's like, yes, you do have to adjust your body weight and stuff. But I think that's maybe a little bit less prevalent at that position than maybe defensive

Starting point is 00:04:52 tackle or linebacker or offensive line. Cause think about it. What was the knock on Austin Booker? It was, he needs to gain more weight, right? Like, so I don't know, like Kyron Johnson was playing linebacker and safety the year before. So I don't think it's that unthinkable though, that Brinkley and or Warner, one of the two, could actually have a real impact in year one, even though it wouldn't be ideal to count on two freshmen. Anyway, that was a lot of time on those two first players. Red Martel is transferring away.

Starting point is 00:05:15 He was an incoming three-star freshman running back. I actually, in watching some of the tape and the highlights, I actually liked what I saw, but it wasn't great competition, who he was going up against in high school, and it would have taken him a while to get on the field. Cause obviously right now you're talking about Devin Neal and Daniel Highshaw. And you have like guys like Savion Morrison who are experienced, Torrey Laughlin, even going to play some running back. And then you've got other good young players, Johnny Thompson, who redshirted last year, Harry Stewart. Sounds like he kind of killed it during spring ball that it was going to be

Starting point is 00:05:43 tough for Red Martel. So unfortunate there that that one didn't work out. Saraz Buncombe, he was a three star receiver who joined in the class of 2023. He's transferring away. Red shirted this past season. He was actually KU's in a class of three receivers with him, Jared Sample, and Keaton Kubeka. It was Saraz Buncombe who was KU's highest-rated receiver recruit, and by kind of a decent margin in terms of the recruiting rating. And Kubeka just kind of hit the ground running and seems to have a promising future with KU. With Bunkum, there weren't a ton of great early reports. Obviously, he's still such a young player,

Starting point is 00:06:17 and you can take big steps over the course of your career at some point in time. But it didn't seem like he was going to be on the field much this season, so that one won't be too big for KU there there and then you lost a couple of walk-ons and on Carter who was a defense tackle originally from Derby so you hate to lose uh I guess you always hate to lose the walk-ons because it's like they're walk-ons like it's not gaining you any extra scholarships that's going to allow you to bring in another kid in the portal like they were just there for depth and and especially when it's a local kid, Billy Conaway,

Starting point is 00:06:47 who's a receiver and then Dylan Hmong, a tight end, but he's doing the, oh gosh, I'm completely blanking now on the name. Oh, this is just killer, killer podcasting right here.

Starting point is 00:06:59 Anyway, the kid who went to Iowa state, it was quarterback for KU Conrad, Holly, Conrad, Holly. There we go. We fought through it. Conrad, Holly, Conrad, Holly. There we go. We fought through it.

Starting point is 00:07:06 Conrad, Holly doing that route where he was a backup quarterback for KU. And I don't even remember if he was a walk-on or he had a scholarship, but he ended up walking onto the Iowa state basketball team. Dylan Mong is a tight end, like six foot seven. He's going to go transfer somewhere to play basketball. So,

Starting point is 00:07:22 you know, good luck to him there. But now Kansas has like a scholarship or two to work with at this point in time to try to bring somebody on. It certainly seems like what they'd be trying to add defensive end is that big position. You're very short there. You need to add some, but it's not just going to help you to bring on like a, I mean, I guess KU is so short on depth that I guess it really wouldn't hurt to even bring in like a second string guy defensive end. But think more than anything they would love to have somebody who can be a starter come in specifically at the pass rushing defensive end spot gonna be hard to find that uh still

Starting point is 00:07:53 wouldn't be surprising if they brought in like a linebacker but that obviously you know defensive end takes precedent over that honestly at this point with the injury to Deshaun Hanukkah you you wonder if they'd bring in another tight end. I trust Trevor Cardell and Jared Casey, but maybe they had a lot of plans to run a lot of two, three tight end sets. And if you don't trust a lot of the other guys, I think Jaden Hamm's going to eventually be a really good player for this team. I think Carson Bruin will be a good player down the road, but maybe they're not ready right away. And maybe Tavita Noah, that one hasn't hit as much as you hoped it would to where you want to bring in that extra guy. So that would make sense. Always bringing in offensive line depth, like it's never going to

Starting point is 00:08:27 hurt there. So maybe even a quarterback, right? If you want a more experienced second string, but that's going to take the right kid to be willing to accept that role. And I think that's shown by the offers that are out there. I've only scoured and found three offers that KU has kind of made public and what they're out there for. Maybe there's some others that have been kind of behind closed doors and everything. All of them have committed elsewhere though already. Kieron Crawford, he was an edge from Arkansas State, Auburn. Jackson Howard, edge from LSU, committed to Minnesota. Anthony Jones, an edge linebacker, he committed to Michigan State. So it's slim pickings in this spring portal for KU, and it makes it a lot tougher to bring on this position too

Starting point is 00:09:06 because a lot of other teams need just exactly what KU needs. So right now nobody's been added. I feel like eventually they'll add someone, but I don't know. You're kind of running out of time, and it's slim pickings. So what do you do if you're KU? Do you just take someone just to take someone? I mean, scholarship's not going to be used. I guess you might as well if the kid only has one year.

Starting point is 00:09:28 But if the kid has multiple years left, you're not just going to take somebody to take somebody because then you're stuck with him, right? Unless you kind of show him the door and whatever. So it becomes kind of an interesting conundrum that Kansas is in right now. But I think that's kind of what they're looking for at this point in time. All right, let's get to our KU football NFL draft primer in just a second on Locked on Jayhawks. Scoreboard's not looking good.

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Starting point is 00:11:48 This is another reason that we're doing Football Friday on a Thursday, I guess, right? Not just that I'm out of town or that I'm stupid and can't figure out what day is each, which I wouldn't blow that past me either. But also because the NFL draft is today, though, I don't know that I'm expecting any KU players to go in the first round. But here's some KU football players that could expect to hear their name called and then others that probably won't hear their name called, but maybe still will have a shot in a camp. Austin Booker, it was a very decisive or not decisive. It was a very polarizing decision when he decided to go to the NFL draft, but now he is the number nine edge on the athletic. He's a projected third round pick there. If you look at the NFL mock

Starting point is 00:12:25 draft database consensus, which like tallies up like all the mock drafts out there, which who knows how many there are thousands, hundreds, I don't know. And basically, you know, averages amount, which is kind of a nice tool. He's number 82 on the NFL mock draft database consensus, which would add up to being, you know, a third round pick. So the beast is an awesome tool in the athletic that Dane Brugler does is great scout for them. And here's part of the summary. I'm not going to read the whole thing. You should subscribe if you want to see the whole thing yourself. But it kind of talks about, you know, some of these different players and summarizes what they want to do. It says, as far as Booker, he instinctively uses his rangy frame

Starting point is 00:13:03 to create various leverage points and surprise blockers with his forceful hands. He's leaning his lower half, but he plays well versus the run to stack, stay balanced through contract and track the football. Overall, Booker is lacking in body mass and overall experience, but he is an ascending player with the ability to maximize his athletic traits and body slash length force with proper biomechanics. With his tools and instincts he projects as a rotational player in year one with the potential to become an impact starter you know we just saw what doris armstrong did getting absolutely paid in the open market this past season after he's had a real nice productive nfl career i think austin booker could be uh next in line for that although it seems like booker is going to be drafted even higher than doris armstrong

Starting point is 00:13:41 and uh good for him because he had an excellent season for ku what about dominic pooney Poonie? He's the number five guard on the athletic. He's projected as somewhere between a second and third round pick. I think a bit of that will be the eye of the beholder. His versatility is going to be a huge plus for him in the NFL, where teams will only activate, you know, six or seven offensive linemen for a game. You have to have guys who can play multiple positions and we know he can do that. He's number 88 on the NFL mock draft database consensus. So I think if you were drafting the KU football players for highest floor, Poonie would be the number one guy there. But Booker is predicted slightly higher there,

Starting point is 00:14:16 I think probably because of ceiling. But here's what the Beast summarizes on him. It says, Poonie runs his feet and steers defenders in the run game with a mauling yet measured mentality to make split-second adjustments on the move. He has some limitations in space as a pass blocker, but he stays stout and mobile to answer different types of rushers.

Starting point is 00:14:34 It says he can play tackle if needed, but projects best as an NFL starting guard or center. So I think Pooney could be one of those guys who's in the NFL for 10, 12 years. You know what I mean? He's just so solid at everything he does. If you're talking best chance to be like maybe an all pro or a pro, like that would be Austin Booker. Like if he lives up to the potential, he could be that type of guy. With Pooney, he probably is just going to be in the NFL a long time and make a lot of money. Kenny Logan,

Starting point is 00:14:57 this one will be close whether it gets drafted or not. He's the number 32 safety on the athletic. He's projected as an undrafted free agent there. Number 284, though, on the NFL mock draft database, which kind of puts you in range of possibly being drafted. But what killed him, he ran only a 4.68 40-yard dash. Basically, it was more of a linebacker. Helps nowadays that a lot of teams do play a lot of two linebacker-based packages with five DBs, so maybe he could be that third safety where he's kind of that safety linebacker base packages with five DBs. So maybe, you know, he could be that third safety in that where he's kind of that safety linebacker hybrid.

Starting point is 00:15:27 I'm not going to count him out because of everything he's meant to KU. Experienced, savvy player just finds a way to help out a team. And I think that's better game speed than that 4.68 would indicate in the 40-yard dash. But it's going to be a bit of an uphill climb for Kenny Logan to make an NFL roster,

Starting point is 00:15:44 but I'm not going to count him out to do so. Jason Bean, he is the QB number 23 on the athletic, projected undrafted free agent number 389 on the NFL mock draft database consensus. I was surprised he only ran a 4.55 in the 40, although if you think about it, he's more of like the distance runner, not maybe distance in terms of like 400, 1600 meters or something, but he has such good acceleration that the closer he gets to running like 100 yards he's going to go faster so you know maybe in the 40

Starting point is 00:16:10 that's going to limit him a little bit more as opposed to if it was like a 60 yard dash or an 80 yard or 100 yard dash but honestly i i could see being i'd imagine he'll get a camp invite maybe you'll see him in some preseason ball i could see being eventually being like a good canadian football league or usfl quarterback i Bean eventually being like a good Canadian football league or USFL quarterback. I know that sounds like a bit of a slight when a guy's trying to make the NFL. I don't mean it to be. I think in a very fun way.

Starting point is 00:16:32 I think very highly of Jason Bean after the season in the end. So for a guy who, I don't know, might have just been done with football after last year, to have even that opportunity I think is really cool. Mason Fairchild, this is one where I was surprised that he isn't popping up as being a guy who could be like a sixth, seventh round pick. He was unranked on the athletic, number 372 on the NFL mock draft database consensus. I'm guessing he gets a shot in camp with the team. It really wouldn't shock me if he makes the team. I think he's just kind of a sound, consistent player, but obviously he'll have an uphill battle too. This is one where actually I I think low key has, has a chance to make a roster, even though he was the third string at KU

Starting point is 00:17:08 Dylan McDuffie number five 64 on the consensus, which by the way, Mike Novitski is five 90. Devin Phillips is unranked on both. And all three are not ranked on the athletic. I think McDuffie has a real shot to make it because think about it. McDuffie was a good special teams player as like a gunner and doing some of the small stuff. He was behind two really good running backs. If he could have gone to a smaller school and put up big production and maybe had a shot at, you know, being a better guy.

Starting point is 00:17:32 And so can he be a reliable, like if a team carries four running backs and he's a reliable fourth string running back who, you know, you can count on, you know what you're getting there because it's a reliable guy, whether he's on a practice squad or called up to the roster and can be a gunner on special teams.

Starting point is 00:17:46 That makes it in the NFL as kind of your fringe roster guys. So that honestly wouldn't surprise me. And then we'll see if Nowitzki or Phillips can as well. Overall, I would say the over-under on day one and day two picks combined for KU would be one and a half with, you know, Poonie and Booker. I would probably say that both do get drafted by day two, but the overall overall picks for KU would probably have to be like two and a half at this point with, you know, not knowing if Kenny Logan or somebody else is going to get drafted. But

Starting point is 00:18:15 either way, it's cool that KU even has a couple of guys where it's like, there's certainties to be drafted and that Kansas is going to be well represented and that you wish these players well and you wish them well moving forward with their NFL career. And certainly with more success coming, you would hope for Kansas and Lance Leipold and everything. There should be more common for KU in the Lance Leipold era, moving forward with players drafted and seeing their names across in the NFL and that reverberating itself to being like, okay,

Starting point is 00:18:40 this is going to help us now in recruiting. Let's continue on what's next for KU in the off season. Now that spring ball is done on this episode of locked on Jayhawks. First, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. It's playoff time in the NBA and NHL. Baseball is in full swing and FanDuel is your best place to bet on every game. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets, guaranteed. That's 150 bucks, win or lose.

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Starting point is 00:19:24 Visit fanduel.com slash locked on and make your first bet an automatic win. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook and official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Network. So we're through the spring showcase. Kansas had to deal with maybe some more injuries than they would have liked, and now it's just the summer offseason. And then next up, you get fall camp. And the real thing for KU.

Starting point is 00:19:49 But this will be time off for players, but it's really not. Because even though it is time off, maybe from coordinated football, they still got to stay in shape and work on their bodies. And some guys trying to add weight. Some guys trying to add muscle, just staying conditioned, doing whatever it is. This is a very important time for Matt Gildersleeve and KU. It's obviously time scouting the portal for KU coaches at this point in time. One thing, going back to the transfer portal and what KU is going to try to add, you might

Starting point is 00:20:17 be wondering, what's kind of the drop dead date for the last when they could bring players in? I do think this is important to note. Two years ago, they brought in Lorenzo McCaskill. I believe going back and looking at past articles, the date of him picking KU, transferring to KU, or announcing he was going to transfer to KU, was June 30th of that year.

Starting point is 00:20:37 So what that means, Kansas still does have a decent amount of time to work with here as far as trying to find another defensive end who can maybe come in and be that transfer who can add some extra depth or starting level talent or something like that. So do keep that in mind, though. Maybe that's not a great example because Lorenzo McCaskill struggled to hit the ground running and ended up being more of a rotational linebacker, not really a starting linebacker for KU. Then again, maybe you would just take that at defensive end with the current state of the position for KU.

Starting point is 00:21:06 More offseason conditioning, players working on bodies, all that stuff to come, and then we'll get to fall camp. So that is what's next for KU in addition to recruiting the transfer portal hard and recruiting high school players hard. KU loves to try to finish up their recruiting classes or get them pretty much very much set by the time the season actually starts so that during the season, they're more so just re-recruiting the players and that, you know, they kind of have a better idea of what's going to happen. They did a great job at doing that last year.

Starting point is 00:21:35 So that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for this week. Barring some breaking news happening, which maybe or maybe not, I have a draft possibly saved in case something happens, but if it doesn't happen, then this will be the last year for me from the week. And you hear from me early next week after I get back in town, this has been locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:21:53 Find us anywhere. You get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. See you then on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Transfer Portal Losses + Offers and KU 2024 NFL Draft Primer

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