Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Shakes Up QB Room with Chase Jenkins | Can Rice Transfer Impact Jayhawks Quarterback Battle?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Things just got real interesting. Lance Lightbold is bringing on a quarterback from Rice in Chase Jenkins. 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, another edition of Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. And thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. On today's episode of the show, we are breaking down the latest commit for K.

Starting point is 00:00:34 the transfer portal with Chase Jenkins adding a quarterback to the room. We weren't sure what was going to happen there. It certainly makes for an interesting edition for KU. So we're going to break down the news. We're going to break down the scouting report, take a real deep dive into what Jenkins brings to the table, and how it affects the quarterback room and what it looks like now for KU with the quarterback competition that seems to be wide open in 2026. Let's start right here with the news.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Chase Jenkins, a former Rice Owl, is officially a Kansas Jayhawk. committed to KU on Sunday afternoon. He's originally from Katie, Texas, and spent three years at Rice. One is a redshirt moving between the quarterback and receiver positions. So he's going to be a redshirt junior in 2026 with two seasons left of play. And I do view him as somebody who is legitimately going to go into that quarterback competition with Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall and have a chance to win it. Now, this becomes a super interesting addition for KU just in terms of like what it means.

Starting point is 00:01:32 I mean, we're going to get into his game and how he fares and those things in a second here. But for one, is it an indication of KU wanting more competition because they're not 100% sold on what they have? Is it that they just want more depth? Is it that they feel like he could be the starter? Like the answer to that question would be interesting. But beyond that, I think in it lies how KU will want to use the quarterback in 2026. And that's maybe what I find most fascinating about. this edition because Jenkins is a former quarterback turned receiver turned back to quarterback

Starting point is 00:02:08 to run Rice's kind of speed option attack this past year and to bring him on like if you're planning on running a pocket passing offense you're making a different type of quarterback edition than Chase Jenkins so does this kind of tell you because what it tells me is that we should expect KU to be running an offense that there's running a lot of option that is running a lot of quarterback run. And we know Isaiah Marshall is good at that. We know, you know, Cole Ballard is a decent runner as well. And so, you know, it is interesting for the quarterback competition.

Starting point is 00:02:44 I find it extremely interesting in terms of what it means for almost validating some stuff about what we think about what the offensive scheme and the playbook could be with Andy Kodal, Nikki back and for KU football in 2026. Let's get into the scouting report, though, on Chase Jenkins next. This episode of the show is brought to you by Fandual Sportsbook. The college football playoff championship is here on Monday night. Van Duel is given all customers even more ways to get it on the action with every game day during the playoffs. Playoff football.

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Starting point is 00:03:51 Thanks for joining us here on Lockdown Jhawks. Don't for you enjoying the Everydayer Club to get the ad-free version of Lockedon Jayhawks, locked on podcast.com slash everydayer. Okay, so who is Chase Jenkins? He's a 6-foot-191-pound quarterback who was an 83-rated three-star coming out of high school, ends up going to Rice, where he appeared in four games in 2023. He goes 13 of 19 for 100 yards, 14 carries for 82 yards. Then in 2024, he switches to wide receiver, appears in two games, takes a red shirt,

Starting point is 00:04:27 and then they get a new coach, they get a new system in 2025. they start to want to be a speed option, spread option team, fear option, just kind of a mix of some different things. And he winds up going back to quarterback there. He throws for 1,025 yards. He has 500 more on the ground, a little over 500 more. He has 14 total touchdowns compared to two interceptions. He ends up portaling right before the bowl game,

Starting point is 00:04:54 opting out of the bowl game, which did not make the Rice head coach too happy, which are totally understandable there. So that led to a little bit of controversy there, but opted out before the bowl game enters the portal, and now he winds up at Kansas, right? So I want to divvy this up because there's some interesting stats here. There's some good stats.

Starting point is 00:05:12 There's some bad stats. So let's kind of go back and forth on where we're at here. So the good is this. He's fast. He ran an 11.12 in the 100 meter when he was a junior in high school. That's not quite Jason Bean speed. Bean is freak fast. Bean was like almost a full second faster.

Starting point is 00:05:30 But like Harry Stewart, who was a former running back for you, ran a 10-9. So it's a little slower than one of your running backs, right? But he's super agile too. He's very quick and has good kind of stop-start and stutter moves and juke moves and stuff like that. 69.2% completion rate in 2025. That actually ranked 13th in the country. So that would lead to some accuracy. Now, where those throws are coming from makes this a little different of a completion percentage bulk of that in a moment.

Starting point is 00:05:57 Just two interceptions. That's a good number to have. somebody who's not putting the ball in harm's way. He had just a 1.4% turnover-worthy throw rate that tied fourth nationally for quarterbacks with 100-plus dropbacks. One of the best things about him, he's going to take care of the football. And the PFF grade is actually pretty decent here, 67.8, 68.7 and past grade, like both those are fine. His big-time throw rate of 4.5%. That's 9th of 16 American athletic quarterbacks with 100 or more dropbacks.

Starting point is 00:06:27 It's 72nd nationally. So both of those are kind of average, and that can be fine, right? And then he's actually better on play action. Seven and a half yards per attempt on play action, seven touchdowns, no interceptions. That maybe gives me a little bit of hope that maybe there can be even more there, especially with how much KU likes to use play action and some of these different motions and unique ways to attack a defense. As far as the bad, I mentioned the 69.2% completion rate, which ranked 13th in the country.

Starting point is 00:06:55 That's very good. But once you start looking at how that came up, about. It's not a totally true number because if you're just throwing screens all the time, you're going to boost your completion percentage, but it's not like a real throw over the middle in terms of what you're doing with it. If you take out screen passes, it's just a 56% completion rate, which is not very good. So you go from being very good in completion rate to being not very good in completion right now. You look at a lot of option offenses. And for the most part, most of the passes are going to be deep passes. It's like, hey, we're going to hit them with

Starting point is 00:07:28 the option and then when they suck up against the run too much, we're going to hit them with a deep ball. Rice did a combination of that and the screen passes. So, you know, a little tough to tell totally based on the scheme, but that is something to keep note of. Only 6.0 yards per attempt passing, albeit up to 6.9 on non-screens, but either way, those are not very good numbers. Like, it kind of depends where you look because different sites have different qualifications for, are you qualified for this stat or not based on the number of, you know, throw. or dropbacks or games played or whatever it is. But basically no matter where you look,

Starting point is 00:08:03 six yards per attempt is outside the top 100 nationally or by other qualifications outside the top 150 nationally in yards per attempt. That is not a good number. 6.48 air yards per attempt, that is a low number as well. But that goes back to a lot of the screens being throw, right? Like 57 of 172 of his throws were screen passes. So like one out of every three of his throws were screen passes. like Jalen Daniels in air yards per attempt was at 8.3, almost two more yards per attempt.

Starting point is 00:08:31 And that was even with Jaylen, you know, is the season kind of went on losing confidence and throwing short a little bit more. Nine passing touchdowns compared to 13 sacks. I mean, I like to see more passing touchdowns than sacks. That's kind of something in general. And obviously, the offensive line plays into that too. But sacks can be a quarterback stat too. And I found this interesting.

Starting point is 00:08:52 He had a 17.8% pressures turned into sacks. you would think, okay, very mobile guy, fast guy, he's going to be good at avoiding sacks. That wasn't actually the case. 13th of the 16 American athletic quarterbacks with 100 plus dropbacks in pressures turned into sacks. So it actually was on the lower end of things. He did play against a big 12 opponent and it did not go well. He was 10 of 12 against Houston, but he threw for just 50 yards on 12 attempts. That's just four yards per attempt with an interception.

Starting point is 00:09:24 He did have a rushing touchdown with 33 rushing yards. but just a 16.6 total QBR. And overall, speaking of total QBR, it was just a 34. That ranks 121st nationally. That's not great. You might be wondering, what does QBR calculate? It takes into account your stats. It takes into account your opponent.

Starting point is 00:09:44 It takes into account what you're doing. Like, if you have a third and 10 and you make an eight-yard completion, you know, in theory, your stats are going to look okay. You're one-for-one for eight yards. that's not a bad stat line. But the QBR is going to ding you for it because an eight yard pickup on third and 10 doesn't move the chains. It doesn't get done what you're trying to get done.

Starting point is 00:10:07 So that's not great to see there. 0.13 EPA per dropback. That's another kind of advanced metric we're looking at there that wasn't qualified in terms of the amount of plays and stuff there, but it would have ranked 92nd nationally for quarterbacks. The 37% success rate also not qualified, but would have ranked 123rd. So we're going through a lot of stats there that, don't necessarily jump out to you.

Starting point is 00:10:28 Now, again, if we try to add the context here of saying he's going to go into a good offensive scheme with Andy Kolinicki and Matt Lubick and stuff like that. And obviously, you're running in an offense at Rice that, you know, is more of a speed option, and it's not going to be the most diverse passing attack. But the thing that weirds me out is when you look at the passing them, a lot of times, like option teams, like for instance, Navy's quarterback averages 9.9 yards per attempt. because a lot of times the option teams, the quarterbacks aren't completing a high percentage of their passes. It's mostly runs and then deep throws to take advantage of that.

Starting point is 00:11:06 So that's what's weird about this is it's an option game, but it's a low yard per attempt total with high completion percentage. So it's very different, right? Now, one other thing I wanted to make mention of was a comparison to what Jason Bean put up at North Texas before coming over to Kansas, right? I think North Texas at the time was in the conference USA. and obviously this is in the American, which is a little bit tougher of a league, but Jenkins actually a better completion percentage with the 69% compared to being at 55%. But if you do go off the non-screen numbers, then it becomes pretty equal in the completion percentage. Jenkins was at six yards per attempt.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Bean at North Texas was at 7.8. It's better numbers there for Bean. Jenkins with 14 total touchdowns. Bean had 19 in his final year at North Texas, but that was in just eight games, so it becomes even more impressive. And this is a big difference here. Jenkins had a 34 QBR at Rice. Bean had a 64 QBR at North Texas.

Starting point is 00:11:59 Now, one thing I did find kind of similar in watching some of the highlights and stuff on these, I thought he threw a very catchable deep ball that was a high arcing pass that led to, you know, some flags, led to pass interferences, led to his guys being able to make deep ball catches, which is something I thought that Jason Bean always did very well for KU. So where does he sit potentially in the quarterback battle? And what does this mean for the quarterback room? we'll get to that next. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever to just hand

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Starting point is 00:13:22 join the everyday air club here on Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find that link in the show notes or locked on podcast.com slash every day or to get access to our locked on discord as well as get ad free locked on jahawks. All right, this leads to a QB room now that features four scholarship guys. Mikey Polly is a walk-on. We'll see if he's a tight end or quarterback because he kind of did moving around. But beyond that, the four scholarship got this guys, Jalen Mason comes in as a true freshman. And then you got Isaiah Marshall back as a redshirt sophomore. You got Cole Ballard as a redshirt junior. And now you enter on another redshirt junior with Chase Jenkins. I do think it is a real competition between those three guys. I mean, who knows? If Jalen Mason comes in and kills it,

Starting point is 00:14:00 it's just, it's hard for a true freshman, right? But I do think it's open from those three guys. Now, I know I think most KU fans are wanting it to be Isaiah Marshall. And I would just say this, like, like no, no hat in the ring here. If I'm guessing what, this is not what I'm saying, what I would do. This is not what I'm saying what I would do. This is what I'm saying that If I'm trying to predict what I think Lance Leipold is going to do, it would not shock me if Cole Ballard was the guy. Now again, we got spring ball in front of us, a lot can change. That's just my, and it goes back to the idea that I always think about them,

Starting point is 00:14:40 them caring about seniority and the consistency in practice. And I think back to Hayden Hatcher starting over Austin Booker. And I'm watching Austin Booker playing a playoff game for the Chicago Bears. And Hayden Hatcher started over him because he had seniority. and he had been in the program more. And maybe he was a little more consistent in what he needed to do every day in practice. But Austin Booker was the much better player. No disservice to Hayden Hatcher.

Starting point is 00:15:05 Austin Booker is a very good player. So we'll see. We'll see what happens there. That's just me reading the tea leaves on the situation. Maybe I'm overthinking it. But point being, if Jenkins ends up being the starter, I think there's certain things here that I can point to and say, okay, that's good.

Starting point is 00:15:22 That's not so great. But maybe we can look at the context of the situation. you were in and explained it a little bit of way more. And Kansas has done well developing quarterbacks. But that first year of Jason Bean was a little more up and down than what we remember the last couple of years of Jason Bean. So I would feel a little more worried if, like if to me, if Isaiah Marshall is what we all want Isaiah Marshall to be, he should be able to beat Cole Ballard and Chase Jenkins and be

Starting point is 00:15:51 the starting quarterback. And that's kind of how I view this, right? And for a KU team that obviously does want to run the quarterback more this year and might, you know, veer into more option stuff this year, having another quarterback for depth in case of injury that you might need to run the offense 40 times. I mean, Andy Koldenlick was just at Penn State where the quarterback was out for the year. You got to put value on having backup quarterbacks if you're going to run them. And I think this was a smart move for KU to do at the end of the portal season. All right. That'll do it for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:16:21 You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on. our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Check out our Dylan Edwards commitment video, all of other commitment videos, and we'll have another portal episode coming out on Monday right here on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Shakes Up QB Room with Chase Jenkins | Can Rice Transfer Impact Jayhawks Quarterback Battle?

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