Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Running Backs Will be a Strength if Healthy + Last Year for Devin Neal at KU?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we preview the running back position for KU. Is this one of the bigger boom or bust potential positions for KU just because of health and injury? We discuss all that on today's edition of the show. 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 hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And you can also find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're talking the running back position for KU, going through the preview of the whole position group. How good could Devin Neal be this season? Are we talking a player who could possibly emerge as an All-American level player? He's preseason all Big 12. And is this one of the more boom or bust positions in terms of what health could provide for it? If the position is healthy, it's going to be a great position for KU. But if there is injury, which they have had to deal with here recently, what could that mean

Starting point is 00:01:20 for this position group? Quick overall thoughts on the running back position here compared to last year. At the very least, you would say it's just as good as it was last year, if not better. You basically, you have another year of Devin Neal. Okay, is he better than last year? Maybe, maybe not, right? Sometimes, we talked about this on the quarterback episode, sometimes guys hit what their ceiling is, what their peak is, and they kind of plateau from there. But another year for a running back to put on more weight and stuff in the system, sure, Devin Neal could be better than he was last year. Savion Morrison, same thing, could be better than he was last year. Daniel Highshot, it could be better than he was last year. Then again, he's coming off injury, so will he be better than last year? And then with Dylan McDuffie, maybe Kai Thomas has more prospect pedigree and just pure athleticism or talent. But in terms of what

Starting point is 00:02:11 you've got production wise from Kai Thomas, Dylan McDuffie will probably be an upgrade when you look at like yards per carry and efficiency and stuff like that. So you also had Johnny Thompson as a freshman. This group is probably the same, if not better, than it was a season ago. And this is one of the bigger strengths that you had a season ago, and I think it's a strength coming into this year. Again, if you look at it, Devin Neal is an all-conference level back. Dylan McDuffie is going to fill in in a lot of different ways. He's going to be a special teams player.

Starting point is 00:02:39 He's going to be a trustworthy player for you as a running back who can spell some other guys. Savion Morrison is your explosive player, former four-star who transferred in from Nebraska last year. Daniel Hyshaw, if he's healthy, if he's right, he is an unbelievable mix of speed, power, and size. And Johnny Thompson has a lot of speed. And then there's Torrey Laughlin, too, who I didn't even mention,

Starting point is 00:03:01 who kind of is your jack of all trades. If he needs to play receiver, needs to play running back, he'll specialize on special teams. He'll grab a carry for you. He'll score a touchdown. He'll catch a pass. Like whatever you need him to do, he'll do. So there's a lot of different types of running backs, right?

Starting point is 00:03:14 You can sort them into different piles. Your power backs of Daniel Hyshawn, maybe McDuffie could fit into a power back type of role. You have your reliable guys like your Dylan McDuffie and Torrey Laughlins. You have your Vision One cut runners with, you know, like Devin Neal. You have your just explosive speed guys with Savion Morrison. You have different types that you can do different things with them, different plays that you can run with them,

Starting point is 00:03:36 and having that different versatility at the position is nice for Andy Kolnicki to have, but it also gives you depth at the running back position. Now, if everyone's healthy, this is one of the better position groups in the league because, you know, Devin Neal is a potential all-conference player. Daniel Hyshaw, when healthy, is a potential all-conference player. Savion Morrison has that big play potential. Dylan McDuffie, for a lot of other teams, he'd be the top two in their depth chart. Like, he might not be that this year. Again, we'll see with Daniel Hyshaw how he is coming back from the injury. Adding Johnny Thompson from the high school level,

Starting point is 00:04:07 Torrey Laughlin being that useful player. This is a very good position group. The big question becomes, what does injury do? How does injury affect this position group? Because you look back to what happened, I guess, even the last two years. You go back to two years ago, Velton Gardner starts as your starting running back, kind of loses the job to Devin Neal, then he transfers away. And Devin Neal looks really good. But then by the end of the season,

Starting point is 00:04:34 he's playing at TCU. He gets injured against the Horned Frogs. He misses the second half of the TCU game, a game you lose by three in Fort Worth. And then you aren't able to play him in the West Virginia game, a game that you lose by six points at home. then you you aren't able to play him in the West Virginia game a game that you lose by you know six points at home then you fast forward into 2022 and I think throughout the year Devin Neal was was dealing with kind of being I don't know banged up at different points and you know playing through some injuries the staff wanted to keep his carries and numbers down to being maybe 10-15 carries a game then you have some injuries there with Highshaw and other guys and you have like the Oklahoma a game. Then you have some injuries there with Hyshaw and other guys,

Starting point is 00:05:06 and you have the Oklahoma State game where he has 30, 35 touches, and everything looks great, looked fresh. I think that was off of a bye week, but then down the stretch the last couple games, he's banged up again, and maybe wasn't able to be fully 100%. Daniel Hyshaw obviously had the dislocated hip injury, which was really unfortunate against Iowa State with how good he was playing to start off the season. He's just an unbelievably talented running

Starting point is 00:05:30 back. So you have all that that you had to deal with in terms of injury. Savion Morrison at different points was kind of banged up. And I think at one point he was sick. I forget if it was him or Kai Thomas who was sick and missed the Kansas State game when you already had these other injuries to other players. To where basically in that Kansas State game when you already had these other injuries to other players to where basically in that Kansas State game, because one of them was injured with Kai Thomas, and I think he dealt with injuries throughout the year, and the other one was sick for that game,

Starting point is 00:05:52 you ended up with Torrey Laughlin having to handle a big load as a running back in that game. Torrey Laughlin's dependable, as I talked about. He's versatile. He does a lot of things for you. He's a great player that winning teams have. He's that ultimate glue guy that winning teams need to fill out a roster and care so much about winning that they're going to do whatever the coaching staff needs them. Every good team needs that, and you have it with Torrey Laughlin. But also, if Torrey Laughlin's having to be your number one running back, that is not

Starting point is 00:06:19 exactly what you're looking for when you have all these other talented guys that are kind of in the room. So injury clearly led to some things last year too. And then you fast forward into spring football this past year and Devin Neal was beat up throughout spring and wasn't able to really get much done over the course of spring ball. There was a point in spring ball where basically most of your running backs were banged up and Dylan McDuffie was taking the reps with the ones and he was getting the majority of those top reps. And I think there was even a point where he kind of got banged up. I mean, there were points in the spring showcase, the spring game, whatever you want to call it, that KU was, you know, putting basically walk on running backs with the first or second team. That's kind of how dire it got. Now with spring ball, it is different

Starting point is 00:07:06 because if you have, let's say a low grade ankle sprain, if it's over the course of the regular season, maybe I picked a bad injury for running backs with, you know, them putting as much on their foot, but you know, let's say over the course of the season, if you have a low grade, like rolled ankle, maybe you'll miss some practice, but you probably are going to figure out a way to try to play in the game. During spring, you have a low grade ankle sprain. It's like, ah, let's not risk it. Like, let's make sure you're healthy. Let's not make anything worse. So it is different. The levels of tolerance that you're going to have and the level of, you know, what you're going to be able to do. So do keep that in mind that, yeah, even though they did get down to the walk on running backs

Starting point is 00:07:44 in spring, a Johnny Thompson wasn't there. B, some of those injuries are maybe small enough that they play through them if it's a regular season game. But still, those do become questions because you don't want that exact scenario to happen. You don't want to get to a point where you're in the regular season and you have a walk-on running back coming into the game with a KU team that does rely on running the football very well. I mean, this is a team that, you know, was around 200 rushing yards per game last year. They're a very balanced offense. You probably are fine if you have to unbalance it because Jalen Daniels is so good throwing the ball and you have all those receivers and everything you trust, but to be at their best offensively, to be their most balanced, you do need those

Starting point is 00:08:21 running backs to be electric, to be healthy, and to have the right guys in those situations. And so that becomes the biggest question about this position to where if the injuries are like they kind of have been recently, then this could be a position that becomes a weakness, right? If you're at a point where you're playing walk-on running backs, no knock to those guys, but it becomes a weakness compared to the rest of the conference, compared to the rest of the Big 12. But if everybody's healthy, this is a strength. This is one of the better units in the entire conference. So there is a big gap there based on the health. And yeah, you could probably say that about a lot of positions. If your guys get beat up, if you end up getting your fourth string player, of course, it's going to be worse than the rest. I just bring it up here because we've kind of seen it happen

Starting point is 00:09:02 and lead to issues like the Kansas State game, like in spring ball, to where it's not just, oh, if you get to your fifth string left tackle, you're in trouble. Of course you are. But we've seen it actually happen with running back, which I think is kind of important to bring up here. All right, let's continue on how good of a season could Devin Neal had? Could he go pro after this year?

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Starting point is 00:10:59 seven or eight games of the season. Some of them you lost, you think, to the Baylor game, although those were from the receiver position. Some of them you lost, you think, to the Baylor game, although those were from the receiver position. Some of them you picked up, like the West Virginia game where you pick up your own fumble inside their five, right? You need to secure the ball better, and you don't want to rely on fumble luck recovering those to get through the season. Now, I have multiple questions here. How good could Devin Neal be?

Starting point is 00:11:22 How good could Daniel Hyshaw be? The rest of the guys, it's like with Savion Morrison, he's probably going to be more of a gadget guy. multiple questions here. How good could Devin Neal be? How good could Daniel Hyshaw be, right? The rest of the guys, it's like with Savion Morrison, he's probably going to be more of a gadget guy. With Dylan McDuff, he's going to fill in where needed. Same with like Torrey Loughlin. We'll see with Johnny Thompson, all that sort of stuff. Devin Neal and Daniel Hyshaw, if healthy, are going to be the two featured backs in this offense. Devin Neal had 180 carries last year. You look at around the big 12, like Deuce Vaughn had close to 300. Bijan Robinson was about 250. If you're one of the best running backs in the league, can you get above 200?

Starting point is 00:11:52 But also I think KU, because of past injuries, wants to limit Devin Neal's carries. You look back to the beginning of the year when it was high Sean Neal as the one-two punch. Both of them were getting around 10, 12 carries per game, which if you're getting 10 carries over the course of the season, that's only 120 per game. Now there are going to be certain games where, or 120 per season, there's going to be certain games where you have the hot hand and KU is going to ride you. And maybe that game, you end up with 18 to 20 carries to bring up the number. But I don't think this is going to be a situation where KU is going to view Devin Neal as a guy who's going to get 250 carries. I think it's right around that number again, anywhere between 180 and 200 carries. Maybe it goes up a little bit. But if he's getting those

Starting point is 00:12:31 200 carries, I mean, this is a guy who could average six, six and a half yards per carry. I think he was at 6.1 last year. I mean, all of a sudden you're looking at, you know, a 1200 yard rushing season from Devin Neal. We know he can be good out of the backfield catching passes too. If you do those types of things and Kansas ends up being one of the top teams in the country, you're going to get a lot of all-conference recognition. To be kind of an all-American level player though, you're looking at having to have probably like minimum 1,400, 1,500 rushing yards. There were like six or seven power five running backs last year that had 1500 rushing yards. And like all those teams did very well.

Starting point is 00:13:06 So that would be a good sign for KU. I just don't know if the amount of carries is going to be there for Devin Neal and what the staff wants to do with him. But in terms of his impact, his yards per carry, he is so good, man. And I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he is because, you know, it's one thing when you're a Barry Sanders type running back where you're making guys miss and it is very obvious to the viewer like think back to Puka Williams it's very obvious to the viewer how talented this guy is because you're juking by someone

Starting point is 00:13:33 you're spinning by someone it's also very obvious for like power running backs you know that are just running someone over or stiff arming someone into the dirt, how good they are. Sometimes I think guys like Devin Neal, who are kind of these one cut vision running backs with good acceleration can be underrated because you'll see them go for a 25 yard carry and it's like they went untouched. And it's like, well, how much did they really do? How much was that?

Starting point is 00:14:00 Just the blocking was great for him. But the one thing that is sometimes forgotten in the running back game is running back vision. You have to see the hole. You have to see that hole. So you go untouched and reading it right. And being able to have that quick one cut, because if you're slow at making that one cut, when the hole does open up even a sliver, you're not going to go through untouched. And then can you get from zero to 40 as quick as possible, right? Devin Neal does those things great. And so there'll be times when it's? Devin Neal does those things great. And so there'll be times when it's like Devin Neal

Starting point is 00:14:27 has a 25, 30 yard run and maybe he only slipped by one tackler or something. Whereas, you know, another running back might have to break three tackles to get there. And it's not because Devin Neal's not as good as that other guy because he broke one or two less tackles. It's because Devin Neal is so good with his vision

Starting point is 00:14:42 and his one cut ability and his quick acceleration that he's able to get there without doing as much of the work. It's like work smarter, not harder, right? So that vision is, I don't know, sometimes it's harder to see on paper, but his vision is excellent, man. His one cut ability is excellent. He is as good as anybody in the country in doing those sorts of things. So how good could he be? I think he can be one of the best running backs in the country, but statistically it might be a little tougher for him to put up those numbers of 14, 15, 1600 yards because KU is going to be balanced because KU is going to give other running backs carries because they want to keep him fresh over the course of the season. And if you're not getting 250 plus carries, which again, that, that seems like it's more than

Starting point is 00:15:25 the staff wants to give him, maybe for good reason to keep him healthy. It's going to be tough to put up those types of numbers, but still all conference level running back with talent that probably plays beyond that is what you're looking at here for Devin Neal. And then with Daniel Hyshaw, man, like sky's the limit for him too. If he can stay healthy over the course of the season, again, the fumbling, like that's got to be a thing for him because he had a couple over the course of the first half of the year.

Starting point is 00:15:47 You see the power. You see the speed in the open field. He just wants to run dudes over. How he comes back, you know, this isn't like an ACL injury, as bad as they are. We've seen enough success stories of guys coming back off ACL injuries and doing well that makes you think that, okay, if this guy underwent an ACL

Starting point is 00:16:05 injury, like he can bounce back from it. But with Daniel Hyshaw, a dislocated hip, I can't really think of other players who there's that track record of, hey, you dislocated your hip. Here's this example of this guy who came back six months later and he was the same, or he was better or whatever, right? So that does become a bit of a question mark there with Hyshaw. But if he can get back to where he was last year, I mean, this is a guy who was in all conference level back too. And again, the statistics might not be there because if you're sharing time with Devin Neal, it's going to be tough to put up 1100 yards. It's going to be tough to do this or that,

Starting point is 00:16:43 but the efficiency numbers, the what you're doing per carry, the impact you're having on the game is going to be near the top of the conference. And I think of Daniel Hyshaw that way too, that you're hoping to get him healthy, not just for this year to pair with Devin Neal, but Devin Neal could go pro after this year. And if Daniel Hyshaw, you have another good season splitting time with him, then all of a sudden Daniel Hyshaw is the starting running back in 2024, and you're feeling great about what he could produce that season.

Starting point is 00:17:11 But part of that would come down to Devin Neal's decision, which I want to talk about next. Could he go pro after the season with Locked on Jayhawks? Finishing things up with Locked on Jayhawks, could Devin Neal go pro after the season? The obvious part of this is what does he do production-wise? How does he perform to determine whether he can go pro or not? If you have 1,200 yards, you're going to have that type of season

Starting point is 00:17:36 where people are going to be looking at you. Now, it's different for running backs because a lot of other positions, you would look at it and you'd be like, oh, this guy's draft stock, he's a projected fifth to sixth round pick. And you'd be like, no, I'm going to come back to school another year. And then maybe I can work myself up to being a second, third, fourth round pick, right? But with running backs, those guys just aren't going as high as often to begin with. And the second part of it is there's the tread on your tire discussion about, you know, you just have less time to play in the NFL. And so sometimes those guys just want to get their NFL career started as early as possible because they're going to have a limited time in the NFL. And you're seeing all the stuff that's happening with NFL running backs and wanting to get paid and not having that opportunity. And maybe that actually makes it more likely to come back because you're like, eh, these guys aren't getting paid. I can get more NIL money or something like that. Right. But that is a real conversation that running backs have to have that other positions maybe don't have to have as often. Like if you're a quarterback, you're like, oh,

Starting point is 00:18:32 if all goes well, I can play until I'm in my mid thirties till I'm 40 years old. Right. With running backs, it's like, ah, I might be, you know, only have till I'm 28 or something like that in the NFL. So it is a different discussion there. And if the production is there, I do think that's a real conversation. That's something Devin Neal was asked about during Big 12 Media Days. I asked him about it during a kind of one-on-one radio interview with him about, you know, have you realized that this could be

Starting point is 00:18:55 like your last year at KU? And so can that stuff in. And, you know, he's given the professional answers about, you know, I'm not really thinking about that till we get there. But it'd be hard not to think that with as productive as he's been, as talented as he is, if he has that great season, that obviously could be a real option for him specifically at that position. So yeah, I absolutely think he could go pro after this season. If he does come back for

Starting point is 00:19:19 another year, that's great. The good news for KU though, the future of this running back position does look very good. Like I said, if Daniel Hyshaw has another good year splitting time with Devin Neal and Devin Neal goes pro after this year, you're going to head into 2024 and be like, oh, well, we got Daniel Hyshaw to start things off. You could have another year of Savion Morrison. You could have another year at that point of Johnny Thompson. I forget if Torrey Laughlin has one more year or not. And then you're bringing in the two high school recruits in class of 2024, the running back position, which you feel great about what those guys could kind of bring to the table. And, you know, obviously running back is a position where it's tough to get on the field as a true freshman, as like an offensive lineman or some of these other positions. Running back is

Starting point is 00:19:58 one of those positions where you do tend to see true freshmen get on the field, maybe a little bit more than other positions. So you feel like you're going to be fine there long term, whether Devin Neal goes pro or not. And I think from a KU perspective, you're probably rooting for him to end up going pro at the end of the year. Not from a standpoint you don't want him around. You'd love to have him around for senior year. But if he goes pro at the end of this year, A, like I said, you feel like you're at least covered there for the position. But more importantly, if he goes pro at the end of the year, that probably means he had a great season. He had,

Starting point is 00:20:28 you know, 1100 yards, 1200 yards. Your team had a good year. And that's a trade-off you're willing to take where you're like, yeah, if we only get one more year of Devin Neal, but we accomplish everything we want to.

Starting point is 00:20:39 And then he goes pro and you wish him the best. And you hope he has a great NFL career kind of works for all parties involved. All right. That's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We will have Nick Schwert on sometime this week. We're going to have more position previews coming up with Locked on Jayhawks. We also will have some talk about KU basketball, their Puerto Rico trip

Starting point is 00:20:56 that we'll get into all that and more with Locked on Jayhawks coming up. You can find our show wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on our YouTube page, like, and subscribe to the show. If you could give us a good review, if your platform allows for it or on YouTube, give us the little thumbs up quick. And it is very helpful on our end of things. You can give me a shout out on Twitter at D Johnson radio. If you have anything that you want to talk about, or, you know, you have any questions about the show or whatnot, but that'll do it for this episode of locked on Jayhawks. See you next time.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Running Backs Will be a Strength if Healthy + Last Year for Devin Neal at KU?

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