Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS OFFENSE PORTAL NEEDS | What Should the Jayhawks Target to Bolster the Offense in 2026?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's no bowl game for KU football, but it's a very important offseason. And that now starts today. What can KU do on the offensive side of the ball to improve this offense? Get back to bowl eligibility in 2026. 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 the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. And on today's episode of the show, we're going

Starting point is 00:00:40 to be breaking down what KU should be looking to do via the transfer portal and in the off season, where are positions they should add, where should they invest more in financially, where are certain positions that maybe they shouldn't invest as much, or maybe they should be, you know, more looking to the depth approach. And we're going to do that with the offense on today's episode, which is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase. So we're going to start with what starter level players, what bigger investments do they need to make. Then we'll move on to kind of the depth pieces and then we'll finish up with maybe some positions that they don't

Starting point is 00:01:16 need coming into the year. Let's start with those starts. I think the first one that sticks out to me is the running back position because that's a position where when I'm looking at it with the running backs. I like some of these young guys. I really like Corey Amockrey in the class of 2026. Seems like the staff likes Thurman. When you look at Harry Stewart, that was a guy that a lot of people were high on coming out of recruiting class. And we haven't seen a ton of him on the field, but some limited reps this year looked pretty good from what he provided. So there's a chance that one of these young guys is ready to step up. And in fact, I would like to see an opportunity for one of these young guys to step up. But even if that is the case, we've seen

Starting point is 00:01:53 Kansas operate in a 1A and 1B approach. Now, really, Devin Neal's last year that became a Devin Neal is the one, but even in other years, like Devin Neal was the 1A with Daniel Highshaw as the 1B, or you've seen, you know, some situations where Andy Kodlnick used to call it like a pair and a spare, where you would have kind of the two guys and then have the third guy as kind of the backup, like when Dylan McDuffie, he was probably the most, I don't know, productive of the third strengths KU's had. Maybe you view it as, hey, the young guys can provide us the 1B, if they're the 1A, great, but you still got to get a 1B, and then our other good young guy, whichever one we

Starting point is 00:02:32 deem to be that the second best will be our spare, so to speak. I think that would make sense. And then when you look at it, like, if we look at some of these different numbers for the KU offense, like the offensive line graded out well on pro football focus, at least in terms of run blocking specifically, this is a KU offensive line that in terms of some of the numbers that you see in like offensive line run push yards. Those are numbers that KU again graded out relatively okay with. And so when you look at those things, you kind of wonder, okay, KU was a little more inconsistent running the football over the first portion of the season.

Starting point is 00:03:14 And then I think it got better as the year and on. Obviously, they had that great game against Utah. But if they graded out well in both of those things, did they just not have enough explosion at the running back spot? I thought, you know, Hyshaw and Williams were both banged up at the early portions of the season and that obviously hurt you there. But would it be helpful to add like a really explosive running back and invest a lot of money? And like if you're saying, hey, we can invest a lot of money in the receiver position, we can invest a lot of money in, I don't know, the tight end position or, you know, whatever it is. like it just feels like to me that you could like it's going to be really valuable to what you

Starting point is 00:03:54 want to be as an offense investing more in a running back like if it if it costs you the ability to basically grab a I don't know 800 yard receiver from a group of five school you have the choice of an 800 yard receiver or a thousand yard back from a group of five school give me the thousand yard back for this specific team right maybe it'd be different if you were you know throwing the football a little bit more, or if you were more of an air rate team, I think for this specific team, give me the running back in that scenario. And then you have the young guys to kind of supplant them with depth. And, you know, if one of your young guys you surps them, then great. That means that those guys are performing really well. I do think you do need some starting

Starting point is 00:04:33 receivers, though, as much as, you know, I've talked about like, yeah, I want the running back position is going to be even more important here. But the starting receiver position is one where, okay, can pick it, can come back. And I've had some people. reach out about, I did the episode like a week ago about the guys KU needs to get back. And I've had some people say, okay, Cam Pickett should be one of those. From a standpoint of like they don't have a lot of other returners, yes. But like when you look at, when you look at the yards, when you look at the yards per catch, when you look at yards per route run, when you look at pro football focus grade, when you look at, I don't know, quarterback rating when thrown to, more of kind of a, he was a solid average receiver in the big 12 this year. And I do think part of that, like, you know, he was hurt a little bit at the beginning of the season.

Starting point is 00:05:17 He's really good with the ball in his hands yard after catch. I would love to have Cam Pick it back. I think he's a solid receiver. But I don't think you should be the point of that episode was if this guy gets offered, whatever, $100,000 more dollars to go to another school, you have to match it. I view Cam Pickett in the same way. I view Diggy Coyt. Remember in basketball, Diggy Coyt, the word was, okay, K, you wants him back. He wants to come back.

Starting point is 00:05:39 And then it was like, oh, he's getting maybe bigger offers in the transfer portal to go somewhere else. and KU said, okay, we like you, but there's a price to this, and that's how I view it with Camp Pickett. And part of the reason why, too, is just in general, the receiver position this year, in my ideal world, when you look at what Kansas did in that Utah game, and when you look at what Kansas did when I think they were at their best under Andy Kotickie, and when you look at the potential quarterbacks that you have, I mean, David McComb, I think that one's a little more of wildcard, but McComb is still mobile.

Starting point is 00:06:13 is a great runner. Cole Ballard is a gritty, solid runner. I think he's underrated as a runner, right? And I think there's a chance you're going to have good running ability from your quarterback. You need to, I think, run the option a little bit more like we saw in the early days of Jalen Daniels and Jason Bean. And to that notion, if you're going to be running the ball more, it makes more sense to invest that money in the offensive line, in tight ends, in running backs, then it does a receiver. And so if you end up with more average receivers or if you end up with more receivers who are good at blocking but aren't the best at getting open that might be okay for KU because there are limited funds and you do have to make those decisions right now like I saw

Starting point is 00:06:55 Nick Marsh who was a former like KU guy they're going hard after like if you wants to come to KU that's the level of receiver that yes you can break the bank for that guy because that dude is like a game changer but outside of that like if you have to roll into this season with one starter edition. That's the level of like, yeah, you added a Bryson Canty Camp Pickett last year with Pickett and Keaton, Quebec moving into a bigger role. I think that's okay for what KU needs. Still, though, you could use at least one starter from the receiver position. And then that brings us to tight end. If Carson Bruin is going to come back like fully good to go, then maybe the tight end you need isn't as much the starter. Maybe it's more of a 1B situation like the running back.

Starting point is 00:07:34 But again, I think the best version of KU is running multiple tight end sets, especially if you do want to be kind of that that running team to where you want to play brune and another tight end you lose bowden groan you'll lose the sean hannica um late and cure can be back for for an extra year obviously jaden ham has already transferred away you bring in a couple tight end recruits who are going to be true freshman or you're probably going to want a red shirt and you know get some some extra weight and muscle and stuff on them um i think it would make sense to bring in a storter level tight end that you can pair with brun to give you those two really good today and honestly if you are going to steer into this, does it make sense to bring in a starter level tight end and then kind of a depth piece

Starting point is 00:08:14 level tight end that you feel good about playing real snaps as a third tight end and some even three tight end looks? I think that would make sense. Again, like if you gave me the option between getting a starting level tight end and a starting level receiver, I'm investing in the tight end given what I want this offense to be, but we will see. And then you look at the offensive line. I actually feel good about the interior of the offensive line next year. Now, the center position will be a question. Bryce Foster has been really good for Kansas over two years. You bring in Tyler Mercer via the portal last year, who was a starter for North Texas and certainly the blowup for North Texas this year makes me feel even better that Mercer

Starting point is 00:08:48 was a part of that program for a year. Basically, Red Shirts develops for KU, gets to learn from Foster. I think he'll be solid now for KU. I think that's probably valuable to get to play a lot and get to sit back, learn, and then get to go back out there and play. But I really like KU's two guards upcoming this year. The question to me is going to be tackle. And with Calvin in Clements, I thought he played a lot better over the back half of the season, probably after the Texas Tech game. And with Clements, can he continue to develop? And then what are you going to do at the other tackle spot? Like, Enrique Cruz is actually really solid for KU. I think kind of an unheralded addition for KU that they were able to make. Do you feel good about the development of

Starting point is 00:09:26 Lavruzky or Bogian or Antonio Wilson or Jack Tanner or somebody like that? Maybe you'd rather have one of those guys like your swing tackle as the backup, I think it makes sense. And again, going back to like, would you rather out of start? Like, honestly, maybe, maybe adding a starting level right tackle. And I don't even know, do you consider moving Clements to right tackle? And I didn't left tackle. Probably all depends. But I think adding a tackle, a good tackle, a starting level tackle, that might actually be the number one priority because you look at KU's best teams. You look at KU's best offenses under Lance Leipold. What did they have, right? You had Dominic Poonie as an offensive lineman. You had Earl Bostic as an offense alignment. These are

Starting point is 00:10:07 due to we're earning, you know, at least all big 12 honorable mention recognition. At least we're earning training camp or practice squad invites or seasons on the practice squad in the NFL afterwards, right? You think of Bryce Cable do. He gets drafted. You think of Logan Brown, who's an all big 12 player. So I think that's where KU probably needs to invest the money the most on those starting positions. And when you look at the offense specifically, so if I was looking at ranking of importance, I would probably say offensive tackle one running back, maybe one B, and then I'd probably go tight end and then receiver. I guess it would be the way that I'm looking at there, but you do need to at least probably get a starter level player at every

Starting point is 00:10:47 level of those positions. All right. What about depth? What positions do you need to add depth, not just like a starter level player, players that can come in and be, you know, on the two deep or a player who can come in and rotate in. I will get to that next. This is locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Omaha Steaks. The holidays always feel a little easier when you already know the perfect gift. And Omaha Steaks makes it almost too simple. Whether you're treating yourself this season or sending something memorable to family and friends, Omaha Steaks delivers handcrafted perfection right to their door.

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Starting point is 00:12:01 are what positions is KU need to add depth to the offense. I think going back to receiver, that's going to be one, right? You probably need to add a starter. Maybe you add two. Again, I'd rather invest in some of those other positions. But you look at the receiver position. If you do only add one starter, you're definitely going to need some more depth, right? Because you lose, obviously, a lot of seniors from the team.

Starting point is 00:12:25 Emmanuel Henderson obviously comes to mind with being your best receiver. But it's not just Emmanuel Henderson, who you lost. off the roster, Bryson Candy, graduates away. Levi Wentz graduates away. And then that doesn't even account if you lose anybody via the transfer portal or if you lose anybody, you know, as maybe a transfer that you expected to have a big role and they don't end up coming back. And so right now, I think the way you're looking at it, like I said, I'd be comfortable with Keaton, Quebec starting next to Cam Pickett. And then you add a starter to be the third. Outside of that, it's kind of like, okay, who's who's in the competition? Who's in the competition for the two deep?

Starting point is 00:13:02 Maybe you would look at Tate Nagy, a guy who was good enough to play as a true freshman, albeit on put return. So different, you know, different role and kind of asks of what you're looking to do. But does it make sense to have him as kind of the backup slot receiver to camp pick it? They'd probably make a little bit of sense. Jaden Doss, like, we didn't really hear much about him this year after transferring intern Nebraska. What does he bring with another year of development. Can he compete to at least be on the two deep this year? You brought in a bunch of freshman receivers. Tyron Parker, Nate Sims, Corbyn, Glasgow. Well, Sims had a season-ending injury in his high school season. So I'd imagine he'll be an

Starting point is 00:13:40 easy red shirt for this year, his first year football. He kind of works his way back from that. Glasgow wouldn't surprise me if he gets on the field just because of the speed alone. Parker's got a big body in speeds. Maybe he can a little bit here. Jaden Nickens is a former highly recruited player for you. We'll see what happens there because he obviously didn't. end up getting to play the second sport with basketball. So I don't know what will happen there. You got Bryson Hayes, who redshirted, Jackson Cooker redshirted. There's not a lot of obvious answers for who is going to fill out that too deep right now for KU.

Starting point is 00:14:07 So maybe you had one starter receiver, maybe you add one backup receiver, and then you can kind of let the young guys compete it out. From there, I think that would make a lot of sense for KU. But again, I continue to go back to this. And I will say, if KU does not view it this way, because we do know that you go back to the bowl game that Jim Zabrowski called the game. We do know that there were moments this year where KU was throwing the ball more than they were running it. And I know the overall splits on the season say KU was more of a run first team

Starting point is 00:14:35 than a past first team. But that was a little skewed because some of their blowouts early in the season, they wind up just running the ball, you know, the last whatever, 15 plays of the game. Obviously, I'm over-exaggerating, but you get what I mean. And there were like points. I think there was one point this season where Landfifle was like, you know, I told an oppressor, I told Jim's like you can you can keep running the ball you can run the ball back to back plays i forget the exact phrasing that he used and if that is what they end up viewing and saying hey we want to give some good targets and receivers to still be able to throw the ball a lot and give these young quarterbacks good weapons i can i can understand that logic it's not the path i would go but i can

Starting point is 00:15:15 understand it i wouldn't have a problem with it it's just you know different strokes for different folks i guess for lack of a better way of speaking but that that's kind of where i go back to this like Again, if you're viewing the priority, receiver isn't as high on the list, but you still need to get at least, you know, some bodies that can potentially come in and make an impact for you there. And then interior offensive line. I mentioned that I actually like the interior of the offense line for this Kansas team. Again, Tyler Mercer is a player who played a lot as a freshman in North Texas, red shirts

Starting point is 00:15:44 behind Foster. Now he's a redshirt sophomore. I feel good about that on paper, right? I mean, only the staff will know how he was doing in the offseason. You look at the guard position. Amir Herring was basically a top 10 guard in the Big 12 this year, if you're looking at like Pro Football Focus, for instance, and he was just solid for KU on the inside, and he'll just be a redshirt junior next year.

Starting point is 00:16:04 So like, you expect him to grow some more. And he's a former four-star crew who's at Michigan, which just kind of implies that, okay, in theory, it doesn't always work this way. In theory, you have a higher potential, right? So those are good things. And then you look at Devaki Tuico-Lovatu, the former UCLA transfer, who, you know, it kind of came in here in there is a backup guard and the pro football focus grades really liked when he was able to come in now it's a little different when you're the starter than when you're having to come in for 10 15 snaps

Starting point is 00:16:32 in a game and you have to kind of conserve your energy over the course of the game and that can make things a little bit tougher but i think we saw enough there that i feel good about tuicolevatu and harring the question is how do they feel about the backups so to speak right like james living sin's a redshirt senior do you feel good enough with him being in the program so long if he's one of your backup cards, probably, but then again, you know, it's not like we've seen a ton there that we don't know for sure. DeAndre Harper, I don't know if he's going to be a tackle or a guard, but that could be one that's interesting Kenna and Nene, like maybe he's on the inside, maybe Anderson Cop. I don't know if he's profiling him more being like a center or a guard.

Starting point is 00:17:08 There are some young guys there. Again, that's kind of where the staff comes in. But does it make sense just to say, hey, if the right situation comes in, we're going to bring in a guard to compete with Tuico-ilovatu. So we're not just handing him the job. And that way, if he performs like we expect him to, he'll be the starter. And we have another guy in there who can be, you know, our swing guard or be our backup first guard off the bench because KU likes to basically have eight offensive linemen, right? You have your five starters.

Starting point is 00:17:35 You have basically, I don't know, I guess you could view it as like just piece together the other five positions. So that could come from one guy who can play the left side of the line. He can play left tackle and left guard. one guy who can play the right side of line right guard and right tackle one guy who can play center and left tackle right and then you have all your your positions backed up by basically three players or it can be one guy is a swing tackle he can play left tackle or right tackle one guy's a swing guard he can play left guard or right guard one guy's a backup center they want basically eight

Starting point is 00:18:03 offensive linemen and if you can get in that other guard that competes with tuico lovatu and then worst case scenario is a solid swing tackle for you and that's the other thing like kansas consistently plays their backup guard or or basically a sixth or a six right a said they like having eight guys for those spots and they do but consistently the ones that are going to play it's the top six it's not just the top five it's the top six they're going to get in there they're going to rotate in and so i think it would make sense to kind of do that so you get a starting level right tackle you get a competitive level interior lineman i think that would make a lot of sense to add to a kU offense line that you know um i think has some solid players coming

Starting point is 00:18:40 back but also is going to have a lot of young guys that maybe you're going to be asking okay you've been recruiting these offense alignment for a couple years, what are the fruits of your labor? How have you been developing them? Are they ready to go this year? If you bring in some guys like that, then it at least takes the pressure off those guys, especially if they're redshirt freshman, redshirt sophomore, that gives them kind of another year of development unless they're ready, and then they beat out some of those guys. And then, like I said earlier, that is kind of a good situation to have. All right, where are some positions that KU, I don't think, need something.

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Starting point is 00:20:11 Again, download the app. Game time. Make an account. Use code Locked on College for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go game time today. Thanks for joining us on this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. Thank you again for making the Lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. And we'll get to the KU defense, you know, what they need on tomorrow's episodes. That'll be kind of a continuation of this one. But what does the KU offense need as we kind of go through some of these? So what about what they don't need? positions that I don't think they need to spend any money on or, you know, because that is part of this too. It's kind of budget shopping, right? It's not the unlimited budget. And so, although that is

Starting point is 00:20:52 kind of a fun, I don't know, hypothetical or like what if, what if KU just decided the 300, I know it's not working this way. So you don't have to, oh, it's not going to work that. I know it's not going to work that way. But just fun hypothetical. David Booth, $300 million. What could you do with it if you spent it all in a three-year period, you know? Like, you have a hundred million a roster. I guess you, you know, some of that's going to the stadium. So it's, what, like 75 to the Gateway District, 225 over a three-year period. So you have $75 million over a three-year period just to be like, we are going to win the big, you think what Texas tech is crazy. Now we're spending 75 million, you know, and you're just like, we're going to try to win the big 12, at least two of these three

Starting point is 00:21:36 years and we're just going to hope that by doing that it raises interest in football it gets more donor support for football in the future it gets more recruit interest it puts us on the national scene and it just gets the snowball snowball rolling but if you if you go like seven and five the first year after you do that oh my gosh the pressure would be insane on the coaching staff and everything after that anyway that's just a fun dumb hypothetical that won't obviously happen but boy pina it is budget shopping and so i don't think it makes sense to bring in a quarterback right think about the cost of a quarterback. All these positions we've gone through, they're not going to be as expensive as a quarterback, even if you're bringing in just a ho-hum-level veteran, right?

Starting point is 00:22:15 Like, think about it from the NFL perspective. I know it's not like to like necessarily in terms of how much they're getting, but it's probably a good market comparison. Your average level court, like, if, I don't know, Baker Mayfield, he's been good this year. So maybe that's a bad comparison. But like, I don't know, what's it, what's a Jacoby Preset getting? That's actually a go on. I'm going to Google that real quick. Okay, Jacoby Brissette has been like a, I don't know, kind of lifelong backup, I guess you would say, right? Now he's actually starting for the Arizona Cardinals. He signed a two-year, 12.5 million dollar contract, right? And like Drew Tranquil, who has been a two, three-year starting linebacker for the

Starting point is 00:22:54 Kansas Chiefs, been a good player, he's making like $7 million a year. So basically a journeyman backup quarterback. And honestly, that Peret contract was cheaper than I was expecting it to be. It just, it costs a lot of money. And so if not bringing in a quarterback who is probably not going to be that much of a game changer would be more of a veteran anyway is going to allow you to bring in that good receiver, a good running back, or good offense alignment, it just doesn't make sense. And here's the other thing. You have to allow some of your young guys to get an opportunity to play so you can see

Starting point is 00:23:24 if you have something and so that they stick around. And if you trust what you have brought in via the high school kids, via the young kids of been recruiting with Isaiah Marshall, David McComb, Lenn Mason and Cole Ballard, then that should be enough. And there's already going to be enough competition for reps between those guys to begin with that you don't really need to be adding another transfer portal guy to begin with. And again, I'd rather like, okay, would you rather Isaiah Marshall be the starter with, you know,

Starting point is 00:23:53 an extra $500,000 to spend on a good skill player for him to throw to or hand the ball off to or block for him? Or would you rather they not have that player and there's another quarterback in the competition. No, you don't want that. That would not be the best thing in the world. So I don't think it makes sense to add a transfer board a quarterback. Now, maybe if you go through this year, if you go through 2026 and things don't go well at the quarterback position and therefore things don't go well at the quarterback position in 2026 probably means that the season didn't go super well, 2027 would be very much a make or break year for Lance Leipold. And at that point, maybe

Starting point is 00:24:32 you do out of transfer quarterback. But for this year definitely not and i like some of the quarterbacks too so like i'm expecting there to be you know some good flashes there it's probably going to be a little inconsistent at times with young quarterbacks more than we've seen in recent years but um i think there is enough there i would also say you don't really need backup running backs right the idea for me of adding a running back is that starter level really good player right um i'd be willing to invest a lot of your budget into that specifically um but i don't really think you need backups let some of the young guys get their reps let some of the young guys show themselves out and get an opportunity to show what they can do because

Starting point is 00:25:07 I do think you have some talent in that room. And then like I said earlier, I wouldn't spend too much on the receiver room. If you have to go in with Quebec and pick it is your two starters. I think that's fine if you're going to be, you know, and then your third, whoever you add via the portal. I think that's fine. If you're a run first team, it doesn't have the best receivers in the world. Like, I think that's going to be okay for KU. And then the last one I would say here, I don't think they need a starting guard. Like, I'm cool rolling with Herring and Tuiko Lovatu. Again, though, I'd be cool with kind of somebody who theoretically could be a starter brought in as competition for Tuikolovatu, but ideally is more of kind of a swing guard for you, barring them just, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:47 bawling out and winning out on the competition. But I don't think you need to like, you know, invest heavily in that starting level guard. I would feel comfortable to E. Colovatu. Again, rather invest in kind of the right tackle than I would in that other guard spot. That'll move for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. We'll be back at you tomorrow to break down the defensive needs for the Jayhawks right here on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KANSAS OFFENSE PORTAL NEEDS | What Should the Jayhawks Target to Bolster the Offense in 2026?

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