Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Keys to Victory for Kansas Jayhawks Football in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs UNLV + Portal Update

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be having an early preview, a week out from the guaranteed rate bowl with Kansas and UNLV news leading into the bowl, keys to the win for KU, and a little bit of an update in the transfer portal with what's going on 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 hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Starting point is 00:00:40 on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On, Jayhawks, your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere that you get your podcasts. 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 are a week out from the guaranteed rate bowl. So we're going to be talking a little what's the latest news around the KU and UNLV football programs. We get to our three Kansas keys to victory and the latest transfer portal off season news for KU football. So let's start right there with some of the news around the guaranteed rate

Starting point is 00:01:13 bowl. Certainly the transfer portal becomes newsworthy for both teams, you know, heading into the bowl game, who are you going to lose? Who are you going to retain headed in? And for Kansas, obviously, you know, losing Gage Keys,

Starting point is 00:01:30 that's a rotational defensive lineman that you won't have for this game. So maybe, you know, more comes on some of the other guys. The good news is that, you know, you had some injuries to the defensive tackle position over the back half of the season. Because this is a bowl game and because you've had some time off in between the game you get everybody healthy that it's okay if you maybe lose a body there so the Tanaka Scott one like again you should have other receivers to be able to fill that and everything but as far as the UNLV side there was some weird stuff at the beginning of when the transfer portal opened up their quarterback Jaden Maiva who was the Mountain West conference freshman of the year, good player for them. He, it was, it was reported that he was in the

Starting point is 00:02:10 transfer portal. Turns out that he was never actually in the portal. There was another player named Jaden Maiva for another team that was in the portal, just same name. And somebody thought it was the UNLV quarterback and took the report too early. So he was never actually in the portal, just same name. And somebody thought it was the UNLV quarterback and took the report too early. So he was never actually in the portal, but I know there was a brief moment where it was like, oh, UNLV is not going to have their quarterback. Turns out that's not really the case. UNLV did lose, you know, while KU lost kind of a rotational de-tackle and I guess one of the backup receivers, UNLV didn't lose a ton either. They lost their fourth running back, who has over 200 rushing yards. They lost a couple other backups. The big one that they did lose was

Starting point is 00:02:50 they lost one of their safeties, who transferred to Baylor. So that is one notable loss for them, and they already have struggled at times in the back end. So that's certainly something to kind of keep an eye on in this game. I think one big news story coming into this is what's going to be of the KU quarterback position in this game. I think one big news story coming into this is what's going to be of the KU quarterback position in this game. I don't mean that from a standpoint of who's going to start. Jason Bean is going to start this game for KU. There's no doubts in my mind that that would be the case, barring some sort of, I guess, sickness or injury or something. The question to me becomes, do we see Jalen Daniels at all? I'm not saying Jalen starts the game.

Starting point is 00:03:25 Jason Bean will start the game. But let's say Kansas gets up 21 points. Let's say you're up 35 to 14 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Do you say, you know, maybe let's take a look at what J.D. can do and give him a couple series here to finish out the game? Because I think it's right that you give Jason Bean the start and a lot of playing time. It'll be his last start.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Who knows if he's going to – I think he's played well enough that he can get a shot with maybe in a camp or something, or can maybe get a crack in like the CFL or the USFL or one of the FLs at this point. I think he's played well enough to at least get himself a tryout, a shot, a spot in camp, whatever it is. So maybe he's played well enough to at least get himself a tryout, a shot, a spot in camp, whatever it is. So maybe there's more football, but who knows if he wants to pursue that or not. I think you owe it to him to give him that opportunity. What I'm saying though is I think

Starting point is 00:04:14 there is something to the notion of, and I don't know the situation there with Daniels. Could you get him in for a series or two in the game? This game does not count. It wouldn't matter to preserving his red shirt. Either way, he can red shirt if he plays in this game or not. And if you get up big enough, don't you think it'd be good for the fan base? Don't you think it'd be good headed into next year for people to be like, okay, we see he's there. You know, this happens in the MLB.

Starting point is 00:04:38 There are pitchers who are like out all season. Like maybe they suffered Tommy John or a UCL injury or something and had to get Tommy John at the end of the previous season. And so they're out all of that next year, except for maybe they can come back for the final like week of the season. And they'll just make like one start the last week of the season and they'll pitch three innings. And it's like, well, what was the purpose of that?

Starting point is 00:05:02 And it's just proof to show that like, okay, I made it back. And it makes it feel like even if you just saw them briefly at the end of one season, it makes you feel like, okay, now you're starting the next season from a point where you know they were able to get back. As opposed to if you miss an entire year, then you are getting to the next point of the next season where you're like, okay, we're still kind of waiting there, right? So I think it would behoove you a little bit. I think it would build up hype for next season. If you were able to get Jalen Daniels in there for a drive or two at the end,

Starting point is 00:05:30 score permitting, we'll see if it happens. I'm not expecting that to happen, but I think it'd be a cool thing they did if it were possible. The other big storyline here for Kansas, obviously with the offense coordinator spot, Jeff Grimes in, Jim Zabrowski, co-offensive coordinator, Andy Kornick out. And with Grimes, he's more in the feeler-out process right now. He's not going to be the one calling plays. He's just going to be kind of around. I don't even know if he'll be one of the staff that's like, you know, is he just going to be like in an analyst role for the purposes of this bowl game specifically.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Zabrowski's going to be the one calling plays specifically for the bowl game. So it's an opportunity for Zabrowski to show his mettle a little bit and possibly, I don't know, firm himself up for being a future offensive coordinator candidate at Kansas or another school, right? So he's going to call plays. What is that going to look like? How different is it going to be than an Andy Kotelnicki offense? How is that going to affect the offense for KU?

Starting point is 00:06:27 The other big news I think coming into this game is which young players are going to get some playing time. Obviously, this game doesn't count to redshirting. So if you spent all season long making sure that a player played in four games no more so that they could redshirt, you don't have to worry about that in this game. The governor is off. And obviously this time of year, these extra practices are so pivotal, important for the young players and giving them those extra reps to allow them to maybe progress their game, maybe stake their claim. For a perfect example of this, we saw what DJ Withers and Tommy Dunn last year heard a lot of good things about them in the bowl practices.

Starting point is 00:07:06 Well, they weren't really getting a ton of playing time last year for KU, but all of a sudden now they're both two of your top four defensive tackles on this year's team, right? So it's not just that for the young guys in some of the rotations, but who's going to get on the field in this game, right? Does KU experiment with throwing out a Keaton Kubeka? Does KU experiment for, you know, a handful of plays or something like that?

Starting point is 00:07:32 Does KU experiment throwing out Johnny Thompson and giving him two, three carries in the game, right? Does KU, and again, some of this is time and score as well, because if it's a close game, you're just going to do everything in your part to send those seniors off well and win the game. But if things are going well, and KU is obviously a double-digit favorite, do you get some of those

Starting point is 00:07:49 freshmen in there? Do you get some of those redshirt freshmen in there? Do you get a Logan Brantley in there? Do you get some of these players in there to get real snaps in a game that doesn't count against their eligibility to where I think that would become a cool kind of piece out of all this. And then the last one headed into the bowl game here, National Signing Day is coming up on Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:08:07 We're going to have a National Signing Day episode coming out for you Wednesday. We're also going to have an episode specifically on Deshaun Warner, who has just soared up the recruiting rankings. So stick around for that if you're an everydayer here with Locked on Jayhawks. But KU's expecting a good day. They're expecting for everybody to sign their name on the dotted line. You know, sometimes you get to this point and it's like, okay, this guy's committed, but he still is going to make a decision between these couple other schools. Or these other schools

Starting point is 00:08:33 kept recruiting him and they're trying to flip him. Or maybe this guy's not going to sign in the early signing period. He's going to wait until the next signing period. And that's always worrisome because it's like, okay, how committed is he? It sounds like KU is going to be okay here, and this is an excellent freshman recruiting class, so that'll just kind of build hype and excitement for KU headed into the bowl game. All right, we're going to continue on with our three Kansas keys to victory and then the latest transfer portal news for KU football. First, this episode of the show is brought to you by eBay Motors.

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Starting point is 00:10:01 We'll get to our UNLV specific preview show coming up next week to get you ready for things. So make sure you're subscribed to Locked on Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcasts and on our YouTube page. Number one here is dealing with a multiple defense. We saw KU play a ton of multiple defenses this year. There were different types of multiple defenses. You have a Cincinnati team who's more of a stout at the point of attack multiple defense.

Starting point is 00:10:22 You have multiple defenses where you're going to have more speed, a third safety in there. So it just kind of differs depending on what type of mold they're in. There's 3-2-6. There's 3-3-5. There's 3-4 where you're shifting between a 3-4 and a 4-4. There's so many different types of multiple defenses. The ones that gave KU, I think, the most trouble

Starting point is 00:10:41 were the ones with the three safeties. And I think that's kind of the case for what UNLV does a good amount of time. KU had some ups and downs. Even then, though, when I say, like, KU had some struggles against more than multiple defenses, they still were, like, not bad offensive games. The first one that stood out, Nevada, played that way. They had three safeties on the field.

Starting point is 00:10:59 That was a closer game than you expected to. Still, Kansas put up, what, 31 points in that game, and it was a lower possession game. You were very efficient in scoring the 31 points. There weren't a lot of drives. KU just got stopped. Especially second half, you were scoring every possession. The Oklahoma State game, that was a game you still

Starting point is 00:11:16 put up 32 points and dominated in the first half offensively. You just had a couple turnovers in the second half, but still, you couldn't really run the ball well against them. Iowa State game, still, you put up 28 points and it hits some big plays when you need to, but Iowa State's also just got a really good

Starting point is 00:11:32 defense overall. It's not just scheme relied, it's just they're really good at it, so I guess, I don't know. And then K State, you did see KU have some good success there until the last, what, four drives of the game, something like that. So I think you saw KU have decent success against all those teams, but inconsistently.

Starting point is 00:11:49 And against a couple of those, like Oklahoma State, even the Nevada game, the Nevada game you were under four yards per carry. Oklahoma State, Iowa State, I think you were under 100 rushing yards total. You did struggle to run the ball a bit against some of those teams, which is kind of counterintuitive. You would think against a team who has smaller bodies on the field, you should be able to do it. What makes it difficult is if they're multiple,

Starting point is 00:12:12 you don't know where they're coming from. Sometimes it can be difficult. Okay. Who we, who we block. Sometimes it can be difficult for a lineman to speed out to a safety or linebacker and get there in time to block them because they don't have the speed advantage.

Starting point is 00:12:24 So that's kind of what UNLV is coming into this game. So can they deal with that? I guess K-State was the most recent example of a team who played this way, and KU did well there outside of those last, like I said, three or four drives. But you also have longer to prepare for this type of defense now, right? I mean, the entire last couple weeks and headed into now, you get extra time to prepare for something you've already seen a couple times and know how you kind of do about it.

Starting point is 00:12:48 But does that mean KU is maybe more involved than the past game in this one where UNLV has struggled defensively because you have struggled running the football a little bit against some of these defenses? KU is 20th in EPA per pass. They are 88th in EPA per pass defensively. So I think you're going to have an advantage there. Number two is getting after Jaden Maiva with a contained rush. He can scramble.

Starting point is 00:13:11 He's not the best scrambling quarterback KU's faced. Like, he doesn't do it a ton. He doesn't have any, like, games where he has, like, 100 rushing yards. But he consistently has 25, 30, 35, 40 rushing yards. And if you can get him under pressure, he's really struggled. He's just a freshman. A lot of times that's the case. UNLV has just a 97 – or I'm sorry, this is a good number.

Starting point is 00:13:33 UNLV has a 97.2 passer rating when clean, so when he's not under pressure, which compares nicely. Like KU, when they're kept clean, is a 104.7. So both teams throw the ball really well and they're kept clean. It makes sense. When they're under pressure, the numbers differ pretty violently. KU under pressure has a 101.2 passer rating, which that's just kind of bonkers to begin with,

Starting point is 00:13:59 which shows how good KU quarterbacks have been kind of scrambling and throwing on the run and everything. But UNLV, when they are under pressure, their passer rating dips all the way to a 55. They've really struggled if you can get pressure on the quarterback. Can you pressure the quarterback? But can you do it in a way that you're not allowing him to scramble in addition to that, right? And so UNLV hasn't given up like a ton of sacks. KU's been one of the better stack teams in the Big 12.

Starting point is 00:14:25 If Austin Booker wants to go pro after this game, this is kind of a great opportunity to show it. On a bowl stage, you come up with two, three sacks in a game like this, and boom, maybe you're off to the NFL. So can you have a good pass rush, but can it be a contained pass rush that you're not allowing him to scramble and get some easy first downs that way? Third big key to victory here for KU. This one is a little more blunt. Don't play stupid. Don't play stupid. Okay. Don't have a

Starting point is 00:14:51 bunch of turnovers. Don't have a bunch of penalties. You know, maybe after a long way, it would be really easy after a couple of weeks off here to, you know, not be in rhythm, right? To be a little rusty, to open up the game. I guess that one wouldn't really be plain stupid, but it would be easy to have some bad turnovers. It would be easy to have some bad penalties. I don't know if this goes into that category, but they are a really good special teams team.

Starting point is 00:15:17 And we've seen KU over the back half of the season struggle on special teams. Maybe these couple of weeks off help you refine that a little bit, but don't do anything stupid on special teams, right? Where they can take advantage there and that's how they kind of make it a game a little bit. So don't do anything stupid. You are a double digit point favorite in this game. If you play your game, you're going to be fine. How they win the game is they make some plays that, you know, you just kind of clap to. You just tip your cap to. And you make some plays where you're, you know, face palming because they were dumb plays.

Starting point is 00:15:52 So if you play a clean game, if you don't play stupid, I think Kansas is going to be just fine with this. So that's kind of our third key. We'll get more in-depth with the matchup coming up next week on that episode of Locked on Jayhawks. All right, latest transfer portal news. There's some good ones coming out, some good offers for KU. Let's get to that coming up in just a moment here with Locked on Jayhawks. All right, latest transfer portal news. There's some good ones coming out, some good offers for KU. Let's get to that coming up in just a moment here with Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:16:13 Finishing things up, the latest transfer portal news for KU football. Obviously signing days tomorrow, so we're going to have episodes of that here with Locked on Jayhawks. KU's been picking up a bunch of preferred walk-ons over the past couple days too, so that's been nice to see. So as far as the transfer portal, Dylan Woodkey, I don't know if that's the proper way to pronounce it, but he visited and got an official offer from KU.

Starting point is 00:16:36 Woodkey is a 6'4", 265-pound defensive end from Youngstown State. He will be a sixth-year senior next season, so one year left to play. And last year at Youngstown State, which is a FCS school, he had eight tackles for loss, four sacks. The year prior to that, he had 12 tackles for loss and five sacks. And for his career, he has 25.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks. He finished with a 76.8 grade on pro football focus, which included a 78 grade as a run defender. So that was actually where he was

Starting point is 00:17:10 his best 73 grade as a tackler and 71 pass rush. So still solid pass rush, 23 pressures. He really played his best ball at the end of the year too. So you feel like he's trending in the right direction. He had 10 pressures over the last four weeks. When you compare that, he had 13 pressures over his first, whatever, eight, nine weeks, including four pressures in a game against South Dakota State, who is the number one team in FCS. And it sounds like his decision is coming soon. It could be any time.

Starting point is 00:17:40 I don't know. Maybe it's going to happen while I'm doing this podcast. but it sounds like KU is in a good spot there that it's kind of a coin flip between KU and maybe another school with like Boise State or something like that. But we've talked a lot. Like last week, we had a transfer portal segment and or show. You can find that with Locked on

Starting point is 00:17:58 Jayhawks. We talked a lot about a lot of the defensive ends they were looking at were more pass rush specialists or better at pass rush, I guess would be the way to put it, than defending the run. This is kind of the opposite. He's done a solid job in pass rush, but he's done an even better job defending the run. So I think maybe you bring in him, maybe you bring in somebody who's a pass rush guy and you kind of mix that together and kind of a perfect combo if you can find it, if you can land him. Isaiah Alston got an offer. He is a 6'4", 1955 pound receiver from Army who played four years but he

Starting point is 00:18:27 could have redshirted year one though that's not the process they do at the service academies like they don't redshirt guys so he only played four games that year um didn't redshirt this year he only played four games though and then like left the team with, I believe the intention red shirt and transfer. So I don't know. I think he can play two more years. I don't know how he got out of army after two years, usually with the service academies after you, after your second year, like you're committed there and you still can get out, but then you have to like pay for all the schooling that you went to.

Starting point is 00:19:01 And that's expensive. So I don't know if this situation where, you know, by him getting out, he's going to have to pay for his schooling. And now he's in the transfer portal being like, I need an NIL bag to help me pay for my schooling, because that would be a lot of NIL money that I don't think KU is as interested. Like KU wants to give their NIL money to the current guys they have. And if you transfer into the program, you can be a part of that and get NIL money for being on the team, but they're not just giving you NIL money just because you want to transfer to the program. It is at least my interpretation of things because you do have kind of limited funding there. But he was on a nine and

Starting point is 00:19:35 four army team in 2021, which was his best season. That was actually an army team that beat Missouri in a bowl game. He had 22 catches for 449 yards that year, three touchdowns. That's excellent for a receiver at Army. They're running triple option. They don't throw the ball very much. For instance, that 2021 season, Army threw for just 1,233 yards, which means he accounted for 36% of their receiving yards. If you did that on a team who had 2,500 passing yards,

Starting point is 00:20:01 to add a comparison, KU has like 2,600 this year. So if you did it on a team, 36%, 2,500, yards. To add a comparison, KU has like 2,600 this year. So if you did it on team 36%, 2,500, that puts you on pace for 900 receiving yards, which would be KU's leading receiver. He had over 250 receiving yards each of the next two seasons too. So he's someone who, you know, the stats don't jump off the page because he was a triple option team. 6'4 receiver, I think he was at modern day,

Starting point is 00:20:21 which is like the school that that Carson Palmer and Matt Barkley and all the USC quarterbacks go to. It's one of the best schools in California. I think that would be a really good get for KU if they were able to land him. Grady Kelly gets an offer, 6'2", 285-pound defensive tackle from Colorado State, redshirted in 21. College Football News, freshman All-American in 2022. He had 35 tackles, 6.5 TFLs one and a half sacks in 2023. He's going to

Starting point is 00:20:47 be a redshirt junior, so plus of getting him is you get two years out of him. And I guess it would continue the KU Colorado State pipeline since KU has become a pipeline for Auburn on the defensive line. But he finished with a 75.6 PFF grade, which included a 75.8 grade and run defense 81.9 as a tackler and almost 67 as a pass rusher so good uh run stopping defensive tackle similar to how devin phillips was he did have 17 pressures he had a 79 overall grade against washington state so that's a notable game that sticks out 65 against colorado 70 against air force 69 against nevada 75 or 75 against nevada 69 was Nevada, 75 against Nevada, 69 was against Wyoming in some of the notable games.

Starting point is 00:21:28 So he'd be a nice pickup. It sounds like a lot of schools are after him. And then the last one that has given an offer, at least at the time of recording here, that we haven't talked about, there were other offers. We talked about that last week on Locked on Jayhawks. So find that anywhere you get your podcast. Anton Jukaj, I don't know if that's the proper way to pronounce it,

Starting point is 00:21:46 he's a 6'3", 273-pound defensive lineman from Albany, and he set the school record for sacks last year, 21.5 TFLs, 15 sacks. He had five forced fumbles. I was blown away when I looked at the pro football focus grade. 90.9, unbelievable. 86.3 in run defense, 90.3 in pass rush. The one bugaboo he had only a 58.4 as a tackler. So that needs to pick up.

Starting point is 00:22:12 But 58 pressures last year was unbelievable. He only has one year left to play, so this would be a one-year pickup. We talked about this last week, though. You have guys like Deshaun Warner and others coming in as freshmen. You don't want to block them too far down the road. So if you bring in one-year guys in the defensive end spot, that's totally fine. So this would be a monumental get. But I imagine his list of schools that are going to be after him is going to be a long, long list for Anton Junkos.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Now, there are a couple guys making decisions that KU has already offered that we talked about last week, but wanted to update there. Devin Dye visited on Sunday, it sounds like. So that decision could be coming soon. And Terry O'Thompson originally had posted a tweet or something about him being down at KU in Houston. He has since deleted that. There's some talk and rumors about is it grade stuff?

Starting point is 00:22:56 Will he have enough that transfers over to KU? Will he be eligible to get into KU as a transfer? I don't know if that's what it is or if it's something else, another school coming in, whatever it is, but I feel like that one's fading off a bit, even though he would be a very talented get if KU could land him. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:23:15 Find us on our YouTube page, like and subscribe to things. We'll have a National Signing Day episode tomorrow. We'll get a little deeper into Deshaun Warner, who is sort of recruiting in rankings, would be the highest graded recruit the KU has ever had in the 24-7 sports recruiting era. We will also later this week get to your KU-Yale preview for that game coming up on Friday on the basketball court.

Starting point is 00:23:36 This has been Locked on Jayhawks. Later.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Keys to Victory for Kansas Jayhawks Football in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs UNLV + Portal Update

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