Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KU Football Adds Potential #1 WR Henderson, OL Tuikolovatu; Plus, Volleyball HC Ray Bechard Retires

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we catch up on two huge portal additions for KU. Emmanuel Henderson, receiver one for KU football and KU volleyball head coach legend Ray Bouchard retires. 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 happening? Welcome back. Thank you for sticking with us through Christmas break, so to speak. We're back now every day right here with Locked On Jayhawks, and thanks for making it your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Thank you to EveryDare for catching each and every show. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. On today's edition, we're going to be breaking down some of the stuff that we missed last week. Emmanuel Henderson, a receiver transfer from Alabama, joining the program. Tavaki Tuikolovatu.

Starting point is 00:00:57 I probably literally butchered that. Offensive lineman from UCLA transferring into the program as well. And then KU volleyball head coach, legendary head coach, Garrett Ray Bouchard has retired. So we're going to discuss all of those on today's episode of the show. Let's start right here with Emmanuel Henderson. He is the new addition to the receiver room for KU. And, I mean, there is real potential for this guy to be receiver one at KU.

Starting point is 00:01:24 There's real potential for him to be the first thousand yard receiver that KU has had since the Desmond Briscoe, Carrie Meyer days, right? Now there's also a chance that Emmanuel Henderson ends up being, I don't know, your third or fourth receiver and that he doesn't have a ton of production coming into there,

Starting point is 00:01:41 right? Like there's a world of possibilities when you have a guy who's ultra talented, but hasn't produced at the collegiate level yet but he's a six foot one 185 pound receiver from alabama he came into alabama actually at the running back position he was a four-star recruit 97 graded running back who was the number two running back in his class he was the number 59 overall player according to 24 24-7 Sports, who eventually moved to receiver. Now, would it be out of this world if KU brought him in and was like, hey, we're going to actually play you a running back?

Starting point is 00:02:10 Like, we lost Devin Neal. Like, we want you to be this explosive running back. I don't expect that to happen, but, like, who knows? Or is it even to be like a Debo Samuel-type role, where you're playing some running back, you're playing some receiver, or is it just strictly to be the receiver one, possibly? Like, there's a world of possibility here, uh point being but he played sparingly he did play all three seasons that he was in tuscaloosa he got his most playing time this season where he was the

Starting point is 00:02:34 fourth receiver on a team that i mean ryan williams is one of the two best receivers in the country um he has like a 17 year old freshman they have some really good receivers on that team. So being receiver four, you know, isn't necessarily a huge knock against him, but he didn't get a ton of playing time or a ton of, I guess, targets, you would say. Four balls caught for 82 yards. He did have a 34-yarder against Georgia, which I'm sure you've seen the highlight by now, a 28-yarder against Missouri as well. He's going to get a chance to make some more catches against Missouri this year. He's going to be a chance to make some more catches against Missouri this year. He's going to be a senior one season left.

Starting point is 00:03:08 I don't think that's something that you can maneuver around based on the games played, that he will have one season left of play. So he's an 87 graded three-star transfer according to 24-7 sports. He was listed as a 57 on Pro Football Focus. But again, that is such a small sample size that I don't really want to take it into account. One thing that I did find interesting here, if you look at some of the pro football focus snap counts he had 462 career special team snaps in his three years at alabama so this is a guy who can play on special teams for you he can be a gutter he can be a punt returner a kick returner for you like there's a lot of things he can add to the program besides just the receiver position so i think when you're looking at best case scenario versus

Starting point is 00:03:48 worst case scenario i'm going to get into uh some interesting i guess i don't even mean to say player comps i just mean like path comps of i'll get into it right here let's let's just do this because there's two immediate names that popped into my brain when i found out the kids with lanny and emmanuel henderson a former highly recruited player and again it's a little different Because there's two immediate names that popped into my brain. When I found out that Kansas was landing in Emmanuel Henderson, a former highly recruited player. And again, it's a little different because he was a running back coming out and all that stuff. But a former highly recruited player who goes to a big school initially

Starting point is 00:04:14 and then transfers away from the program to get more playing time because he's in a situation where he's behind some other good players at his position. There's obviously plenty more examples than these two but these are the first two that came to mind one is a kansas one and one is a alabama one so you know maybe that makes it in more times the not as fun comparison here for again this isn't necessarily how this player plays or their style of play i just mean from the path the player went on is similar is the one with the kuU tie and that would be Justin McKay

Starting point is 00:04:45 if you remember Justin McKay he was a four-star receiver went to Bishop Measia out of high school was a top like 150 recruit in the country originally went to Oklahoma out of high school and he was behind guys like Kenny Stills and Sterling Shepard and a bunch of other talented receivers that Oklahoma had so he ends up transferring to Kansas the hype was huge along with all the other transfers you brought in with Charlie Weiss and everything. He had a fine KU career. He was actually solid on special teams for you, but he was below 300 career receiving yards. He was far from being a number one receiver for KU, which were probably things you hoped for when you initially brought him in, right? right um the fun one is the guy who went to alabama jameson williams he left ohio state when he was behind like jackson smith and jigba i think they would have had like marvin harrison at that i mean think about the long factory list of ioc receivers they've had like he was kind of their receiver four there right and so he transfers in similar to here he's your receiver four when

Starting point is 00:05:40 you're talking about henderson um and he goes to al Alabama and breaks out. He ends up being a first-round pick and has an unbelievable season for a team that goes to a title. I'm not saying that Kansas is going to do those things, but that's the positive path of what you're kind of looking at here. And so what I think is interesting when you're looking at the possible floor versus ceiling, this is a guy who ran a 4-3-5 uh by one you know noted story when he was back in high school he clearly has yard after catch skills when you go back to him being a

Starting point is 00:06:11 previous running back like he clearly has lots of speed you saw him make the jump ball catch if you've seen that highlight against georgia on a deep ball he's got solid size at six foot one right like he's not like five foot ten you know that's solid size at the very least he has flexibility that you can use him a running back at receiver at kick return at par return the ceiling potential here is that this dude is your receiver one that he's getting involved in a lot of ways that he has you know over a thousand all-purpose yards when you total everything up and that this dude is a game changer and that this dude is you know the most talented receiver you've had in in some time like even as productive as this core of receivers was and the amazing catches that Quentin Skinner would have

Starting point is 00:06:50 and the reliability of Luke Graham and some of the big plays that LJ Arnold had, there's another level of talent that you might be able to tap into with Henderson that potentially, again, this is if he lives up to the potential, if everything clicks, you could be talking about the best receiver Jalen Daniels has thrown to in his time at Kansas. Now, that is a lot of ifs. And the floor outcome here is maybe he is more of a Trevor Wilson. You're using him more on special teams. He's kind of your receiver three, receiver four.

Starting point is 00:07:18 And, you know, you're just finding ways to get him all purpose touches. But he's not as involved in the offense because the experience at receiver just isn't there. And then maybe the medium category here is when you look at this receiver room and, and that's the thing that's different. Like it's not like he's joining a room that already has Luke grim and LJ Arnold and Quinn Skinner.

Starting point is 00:07:36 It's like, okay, who's going to be the top receiver, right? You have Levi Wentz. Who's your transfer in from Albany, Doug Amelia, and who's brought back as a red shirt,

Starting point is 00:07:44 senior King, Quebec as a red shirt, sophomore, you have Kim Pickett, who's your transfer in from Albany, Doug Emelian, who's brought back as a redshirt senior, Keaton Kubeka as a redshirt sophomore. You have Cam Pickett, who you brought in, who's kind of a good yard after cash player from Ball State. And then you have a bunch of like freshmen into the program. I think, you know, maybe the medium outcome is like, I don't know, one of Emelian, Wentz or Pickett or Kubeka ends up being your leading receiver. And maybe he's your second or third receiver. But like looking looking through that list like Emmanuel Henderson is the most talented of that list and so I do like him to break out I do like him to have a big season and for my money if I am projecting like the depth chart right now I am going to project him as receiver number one now obviously he has to earn everything and how he gets acclimated in spring ball and over the summer and in fall that's going

Starting point is 00:08:22 to determine everything nothing is given to you we've seen transfers come in and you have high hopes and end up being a rotational player right and that ends up happening but we've seen other transfers come in and be able to master things right away like bryce foster comes in and he even comes in late he comes in during the summer and he has an unbelievable season for you as an all-big 12 second team season at the center position i think emmanuel season emmanuel henderson excuse me is going to take off with this offense, with the current coordinators they have. I think they're going to get unique with how they're able to use him, whether it's in the screen game, whether it's getting the ball in his hands, yard after catch, whether it's jet sweeps, whether it's as a return man,

Starting point is 00:08:54 whether it's on deep balls. I think him and Jalen Daniels are going to be fast friends with the quarterback receiver. And it makes sense to make this, right? You have some maybe higher floor, lower ceiling receivers that you've brought in or that you maybe have on the roster. Makes sense to make a home run swing here. And I love this addition, Emmanuel Henderson.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Let's talk about KU's addition to the offensive line, though, on the other side. This episode of the show is brought to you by Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. It brings everything together in one place, whether it's subscriptions, your spending habits,

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Starting point is 00:10:18 That is rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Rocketmoney.com slash locked on. I continued on in this episode of Locked on JayocketMoney.com slash LockedOn. LockedOnRocketMoney.com slash LockedOn. I continued on in this episode of LockedOn Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen. Don't forget to check out LockedOn College Football. Gets you ready for all the New Year's Bowl games, College Football Playoff for your second listen every day. Hands as a new offensive lineman from the portal,

Starting point is 00:10:39 that would be Tavaki Tuikolo-Vatu. And again, probably completely butchering that, but it's a fun name, that's for sure. Good luck to Brian Haney and David Lawrence and Brandon McAnderson for getting on that one. But he is a big offensive lineman, 6'6", 295 pounds, originally from Hawaii. He's going to be a redshirt sophomore in 2025.

Starting point is 00:11:00 So three seasons left to play. He's played in 13 career games, but it's been very limited snaps. And some of it's been like just on special teams. That's over two seasons. His first season, he redshirted at UCLA this past year. Again, he played 12 games, but I think it was really only like six games that he played on the offensive line. And it's also very limited snaps. It's 40 total snaps in two seasons, right? So, I mean, it's not many snaps at all.

Starting point is 00:11:27 I could tell you his pro football focus grade, it's 58.5. So, like, you know, that's, I would say 60, 69. Like, you're kind of looking at, okay, you're an average starter. So, that's a little bit below that. But also, once you take into account, okay, but he's a young player, so, like, he's going to get better. You know, that'll work just fine. But, I don't know, kind of throw that out the window it's only 37 snaps and honestly like if you actually do want to view

Starting point is 00:11:49 it at a positive light again take it with a grain of salt because it's such a small sample size um it's really tanked by one game like he had a nine pass blocking grade which is not good but it was his first game of the 2024 season and it came against indiana who was a very good team this year his next five and final five games so it was yeah six games played in the offensive line his next and final five games uh in terms of pass blocking grades on pro football focus 64.5 to 70.9 they were all in that range and again limited snaps 22 snaps but so point being like the grades are actually better than they look but at the same point in time don't take them for better or for worse because it's such a small amount of snap counts but you look at 24-7 they gave him an 86 transfer grade he is listed as a three-star

Starting point is 00:12:35 there i came out of high school as an 88 graded three-star which you know if they would land in him out of high school that would have been one of the highest um players in the class not the highest but one of the highest players in the class, not the highest, but one of the highest players in the class for KU. I'd imagine Kansas going to try to add, I don't know, 10, 20 pounds to him, right? Trying to get him to 305, 310, 315. And then you look at it and could he be guard? Could he be a tackle? I think that'll be kind of interesting.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Certainly, you look at the six foot six frame and that would profile to being a tackle. And I think that's where we're at like with kansas where you can play either guard or tackle too in terms of the positions that are most open to start right now bryce foster is going to be your starting center right uh barring any injuries kobe baines barring any injuries is going to be your starting one of your starting guards calvin clements probably going to be one of your starting tackles when you look into this season right so then you look at it that's two two open spots. That's one open tackle spot, and that's one open guard spot. With Nolan Gorchika, he's kind of played guard and tackle

Starting point is 00:13:33 through his career so far at Kansas. He's cross-trained. He can play multiple, but do they find he's best starting a guard? Do they find he's best starting a tackle, right? And then the same kind of comes here with tavaki tuikolo vatu um he could be in the running to start a tackle he could be in the running to start a guard now it's entirely possible as a young player he's he's uh you know maybe uh on the two deep this year and then maybe he works his way into the starting lineup later in the season or the following year in 2026 but the way i look at it like it's it's probably between gorchika tuico lovato livingston um i guess some of the transfers you brought in with tanner and harper um and then maybe you'd throw like a mere herring in in terms of him being able to play the

Starting point is 00:14:19 guard position maybe tyler mercer who could be your backup center but also could start at guard i look at that group of players there They're probably competing for like two starting spots between that handful of players that you're looking at. So obviously with the offense line, I do have some questions about, you know, just how ready some of these guys are going to be with Tuiko Lovato, like again, 40 snaps between two players with Harper and Tanner you got a lot of playing time as freshmen but in Harper's case it's at the D2 level in Tanner's case it wasn't with great grades at the American level right and so how are these guys going to jump up are they going to be ready to play are they going to be ready to start but certainly I like the fact that Kansas has added

Starting point is 00:14:58 a lot of depth to the offensive line room that room they've given themselves more options and the beauty of all the really offensive line transfers they added right mercer's a sophomore tuiko lovato is a redshirt sophomore harper and tanner are both sophomores and so um even if there are some you know growing pains with some of those players because they're still young this season you do feel like you've set yourself up that they'll continue to improve and continue to get better that this year won't be the final product and so if any of them are good this year, it's even better. It's the cherry on top because you've set yourself up now that you've added more depth for this season.

Starting point is 00:15:30 You've added more chances at one of those players breaking out and having a good this year, this year. But you've also added to your future depth. You've also added to your future offensive line room and made it so that in 2026 and 2027, you feel like you're more covered on that line, especially when you look at it. And in 2025, at the end of the year,

Starting point is 00:15:55 Nolan Gortyka, Kobe Baines, Bryce Foster, all those players are going to be graduating and you're going to need more players to kind of fill their shoes as well. So it certainly helps that you're bringing in players who clearly have some talent, have some playing time, have some experience, or have been at the powerful level in the case here of Tuiko Lovato. And you're really going to have an opportunity to set yourself up and continue building this thing on the offensive line because this has been one of KU's strengths the last couple of years. They've had really good offensive line play, and it feels like you're continuing to bring in talented bodies to continue trying to do just that.

Starting point is 00:16:25 We're going to finish up here. Ray Bouchard, the legendary KU volleyball head coach, their best head coach in volleyball history. He's been in the program, retires. So we're going to discuss that next. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the show. You can check out Lockdown College football, Lockdown College basketball for your next listen. Tomorrow's episode, Lock show. You can check out Lockdown College Football, Lockdown College Basketball for your next listen.

Starting point is 00:16:45 Tomorrow's episode of Lockdown Jayhawks, we're going to be previewing the Kansas-West Virginia game, which is a day game on the 31st. Kind of interesting there, a Tuesday day game. Wednesday, we'll have a recap out, I guess technically Tuesday night into Wednesday for the KU West Virginia game. We're going to get into our KU UCF preview later this week

Starting point is 00:17:02 on Friday as we're finally into Big 12 play, and it's going to be hot and heavy with all these games multiple times throughout the week. So make sure you subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. Ray Bouchard, who has been the head coach of the Kansas volleyball team and, I mean, is just a lifelong Jayhawk. He was in his 27th season this year uh for kansas didn't start his

Starting point is 00:17:26 career kansas he was at the uh junior college level where he was at uh barton county and eventually comes over to ku and builds this program from basically nothing to all of a sudden you've coached you know over 20 all americansAmericans at Kansas. When I was getting to broadcast for the volleyball team, it was some of the most fun broadcast memories and experiences I've ever had and will continue to cherish those. They made a Final Four. They won the program's first ever Big 12 championship in addition to the first program ever Final Four.

Starting point is 00:17:59 They made 12 NCAA tournaments. I mean, to go from a program that was struggling to make tournaments or at the beginning of his career, he's building it up, right? And then he makes some of those early on ones and then starts to really get it rolling in the back half of his tenure. I mean, he was the Big 12 coach of the year five times. They all happened from 2012 on. So, I mean, that's basically what?

Starting point is 00:18:21 Like 12-year span, you're basically winning Big 12 coach of the year every other year. Like I said 12 ncaa tournament appearances uh multiple second weekends that he made it obviously there was the final four there's a couple other sweet 16s in there there's several other of hosting getting a top 16 seeds there's a bunch of ncaa tournament tournament wins um this guy who you know has basically i don't know been your volleyball program and has led to not just that success but without that type of success and ray bouchard is that coach you probably don't have the brand new whorish family athletic center the beautiful volleyball environment that you have that it hasn't just set up Kansas for success and all the players that we've seen that have been all Big 12, all Americans that have been

Starting point is 00:19:10 so fun to watch. It also is going to set up the next coach who they hire. And I have no idea who that's going to be, but I certainly know this. It's a much more attractive job than when he first took over. Not that it wasn't. I mean, when he first took over, you're still talking about a Big 12 job and you're still talking about a big opportunity. And today's day, you still be an opportunity with the Kansas City area, which the Kansas City area is loaded with volleyball talent year in and year out.

Starting point is 00:19:37 So it would still be a big job. It wouldn't be nearly as big of a job if you didn't have Ray Bouchard because you probably wouldn't have as good of a facility. You probably wouldn't have as good of a base, whether it's the roster, whether it's the talent you've been recruiting, whether it's just the starting point that you have with this current roster and current program. And so I don't know if they'll look internally. I don't know if they'll look to maybe a former assistant. I don't know if they'll look to somebody elsewhere. Again,

Starting point is 00:20:00 the point being, that's got to be a very attractive job. If I'm a good volleyball coach in another school that maybe doesn't already have it, you know, like Penn State or like if you're one of these schools that's consistently making final fours, that becomes a little bit more difficult. But if you're a good volleyball coach and you're like, hey, I got a great recruiting pipeline. I've got a great facility system. I've got a great setup because of this guy who laid the foundation of Ray Bouchard.

Starting point is 00:20:28 I think Kansas Volleyball has continued to go on the up and up and ray bouchard laid that foundation and already had it pretty sky high and uh you know absolutely great man very honorable person you know i don't necessarily have like a great maybe individual anecdote or story at least that comes to the top of mind right now but i can say this like, I really respect the fact that on a lot of like the road trips, in fact, it might've been like all the road trips, I don't know, majority of them. He brought, he used to bring his wife, Pam, with him on the road trips. And I thought that was so cool that you had this guy

Starting point is 00:20:56 who was this established head coach. And, you know, you could just easily, like you see coaches very easily, like there's a lot of travel involved in sports and it's very easily to kind of be away from the family. And that's a difficult part of sports. The fact that he made it a priority that, you know, I wife to continue to do this together. And I think that's a really cool thing out of all this. And I'm sure part of this retiring is also a nod to the family, right? It's a nod to his wife. It's a nod to the grandkids that they have the ability to kind of be more present with them and be around them. And I think it's really cool that the family values that he kind of showed in all that just to show

Starting point is 00:21:45 the kind of man that he is beyond being a great volleyball coach. That'll do it for this episode of the show. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasting. And you can also find us at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter at DerekJohnson on BlueSky. We'll be back for KU West Virginia

Starting point is 00:22:02 preview. See you then with Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KU Football Adds Potential #1 WR Henderson, OL Tuikolovatu; Plus, Volleyball HC Ray Bechard Retires

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