Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Locked On Jayhawks - 10.30.19

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

Christian Braun talks his game; Les Miles and Carter Stanley talk Robinson, KU WRs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everyone? Welcome into Locked On Jayhawks. I am Sean Kellerman. Happy to bring you this Wednesday edition. I'm a Learfield IMG College broadcaster and a University of Kansas insider. This is Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, giving you insight, numbers, and a chance to hear from all the voices within Kansas athletics. And we're going to get a chance to hear from two of the most important guys of Kansas athletics right now. KU football coach Les Miles and reigning Big 12 Player of the Week Carter Stanley, KU's quarterback,

who just came off another very, very good performance and led his team to victory on Saturday against Texas Tech. We'll look back at that game against Texas Tech and hear what those guys thought about it. And then, of course, we will look forward to this Saturday, K-State KU in Lawrence at 2.30 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Kind of crazy to think there's only two games left at home for this KU team and certainly hoping that there's a lot of crimson and blue in the stands on Saturday and not a lot of purple. Hopefully we get a pro percentage on that front. K-State fans are going to be riding high after their win over Oklahoma on Saturday.

But we'll get into KU football in segments two and three. I want to start off talking a little hoops and specifically, I guess, even to broaden it more, the NCAA, the news of the day. The NCAA today took a step allowing college athletes to cash in on their fame. This has been something that's been in the news for years. In fact, if you think about the NCAA college football video games that are so popular, the last edition you can find of those is NCAA football 2014. so it's gotten to a point where the NCAA decided that image and likeness was not allowed so much so that it was basically banning video games from having these teams and these guys on these teams being promoted so today that's all

changing the NCAA voted to permit college athletes to, quote, benefit from the use of their name, image, and likeness. So that's a big step. This, of course, comes about a month after California passed a law which would make it illegal for NCAA schools to prohibit college athletes from making money on endorsements, autograph signings, and social media advertising, among other activities. That law in California will go into effect in 2023. So the NCAA right now, this is going to be a long thing. I mean,

it's not going to be something that we're going to have by next year. But this that they ruled today is trying to figure out how to allow these athletes to profit, which is surprising in itself, again, because it's been so against that in the past. But they've been trying to figure out how these athletes are going to profit while still maintaining rules regarding amateurism. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but basically, board chair Michael Drake saying that the NCAA must embrace change and modernize, quote, to provide the best possible experience for college athletes.

So it looks like the NCAA is trying to have their cake and eat it too in terms of getting up to date with modern athletics and the fact that these guys, specifically basketball players at a program like Kansas, football players at Alabama, Michigan, and so on, those guys are obviously guys who could profit off their image and likeness in any number of ways. And this is the first step in that. So we'll not know for sure how long this is going to take. NCAA President Mark Emmert saying, quote, we're going to continue to communicate with

legislators at the state and federal level, end quote, trying to avoid going to court, absolutely. But, you know, Mark Emmert may be bending a little bit on this issue, clearly. They're trying to avoid any direct conflict with state legislatures. But this is obviously a step in the direction of these college athletes getting more than just their scholarships and getting paid. And if you think about how profitable, like let's take Kansas for example, how profitable Kansas is from selling merchandise and tickets and everything to see these guys.

And these guys, yes, are getting scholarships. And I know some people are very passionate about this issue. But these guys aren't getting paid a dime otherwise. It sounds like now is the beginning of that changing. So that's the big news coming out today about the NCAA board approving athletes getting compensated in some sort of way for their image and likeness. Again, we don't know for sure what this will entail. We don't know if this means that those NCAA video games will be back or not,

but it certainly could sometime in the near future. So we will see. Switching over now to Kansas side, we of course know that Devon Dotson did not play in the first exhibition game. Kansas coach Self told the Lawrence Journal-World on Tuesday that Dotson was back practicing and good to go. So he'll be in uniform and playing against Pitt State on Thursday if all goes as planned. Isaiah Moss on the other side is not going to play. He is still sidelined and doesn't sound like he's going to be able to get on there. So that's unfortunate. It's been a tweaked hamstring for Moss for most of the past couple months, actually. So we don't, I'm not very personally, I'm not very confident that it's going

to be anytime soon for Isaiah Moss. I mean, hamstrings are injuries that can certainly linger and it sounds like this one has been doing that and then some. And that's frustrating because this guy is a senior, and he comes to this program specifically because he can shoot the rock from deep, something that was a big weakness for Kansas last year and something that they'll need this year, especially to be able to keep the defense honest regarding KU's interior presence. But that's not the case so far.

Hopefully Moss is back. I don't want to give any sort of timetable because I have no clue, but hopefully Moss is back sometime in the next month at worst so that Kansas can get back at full strength. But the most important player on this Kansas team, without question, in my opinion, is Devon Dotson, and he will be back to close out the exhibition season tomorrow against Pitt State. All right, one of the guys who really impressed me, I want to get a few more clips from him,

because he impressed me at late night in the fog in that 12-minute scrimmage, and then he also impressed me in the first game against Fort Hayes State, and that's Christian Brown. Christian Brown, a freshman that came in, you know, he was a four-star recruit, but even Bill Self admitted, maybe this guy's even better than we thought he would be at this point. Brown did a little bit of everything. He had eight points, three assists, and no turnovers. And Christian Brown, after the game, says he models his game off a current Jayhawk who he watched not too long ago.

I grew up a really big KU fan, so like all last year when I was committed, I watched a lot of Marcus Garrett. Like I said, just try to take things away from his game that I can apply. And that's something that even Marcus Garrett said after the game when asked who Christian reminds him of, he said, myself. So that wouldn't be a bad thing to have another Marcus Garrett in your program. He's a guy who Coach Self loves, his toughness, his ability to do a little bit of everything, and certainly be a defensive stopper and creator out there on the court.

And how about Game 1? The similarities were there. Both guys hit some threes, both guys stole some extra possessions, and both of them a perfect assist-to-turnover ratio, with Marcus dishing out five assists with no turnovers, and Brown, no turnovers as well, had three assists. So Christian Brown and Marcus Garrett, who ran the show in the absence of Devon Dotson, two guys who certainly we're happy to have in our program. And CB was actually asked after the game about the differences between high school and college. Of course, he played a very competitive high school ball in Kansas, but it's a little bit

different. Now, he's only played one game, and it was against a MIAA school, but going up against the fellow Jayhawks in practice has got to be a little bit different for CB. The biggest differences for me are just the speed and strength of all the guys. I go against all these guys in practice, so they prepare me for the games, but the speed and strength is so much different from playing Kansas high school basketball to playing at the college level. I've just experienced a little part of it but definitely the speed and strength.

We'll look forward to seeing CB tomorrow in the exhibition finale against Pitt State and hopefully a lot of him the rest of this year as well. All right a lot to get to in terms of Kansas football still riding high off that victory on homecoming on Saturday and we look forward maybe to a game that we haven't looked forward to very often, but that's the case this weekend as KU battles K-State in the Sunflower Showdown. We'll hear from Carter Stanley and Les Miles as the show rolls on. Locked on Jayhawks, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, let's move on to KU football now. We're obviously excited about Saturday's matchup against K-State

and still thrilled about what took place last Saturday as KU defeated Texas Tech on homecoming 37-34. Jayhawks came back from down 17-0 in that game and really an awfully, awfully impressive comeback and awfully impressive performance, particularly by the offense and some individuals, Carter Stanley and Stephon Robinson. But another great win this season for Kansas, and I understand what the record is three and five one and four in big 12 play but miles to go as they say this team has had a lot of battles in the past decade and you gotta you gotta look at the positives and this team has tangible improvement they picked up a tangible improvement type win over Texas Tech a team they'd only beaten once, and that was way back in 2001.

So the record is not where we want it to be quite yet, but this team has four games remaining, and you never know come season's end if this team continues to perform like they have been offensively, what could happen in any of these games. You're done with Texas and Oklahoma. You have remaining games, of course, with K-State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, and Baylor. And there are a couple of those losses previously that sting. Most notably, Coastal Carolina. Kansas can only manage seven points in that game. That one is really going to sting.

And then West Virginia, a team that will be near the bottom of the Big 12 come season's end as well. They won in Lawrence 29-24, another game where Kansas was right there and could not quite pull off the victory. And then, of course, we know about the Texas game. Texas official, or Big 12 officials rather, admitting that Texas should have had four fewer seconds on that final drive than they did. And remember, with eight seconds to go in that game, Tom Herman opted to run a play, which was very risky because they had no timeouts left. They got an out route. They gained about six to eight yards and set up a much shorter field goal attempt from Cameron Dicker. You never know,

you move that thing back and that could have been a miss and a KU win. But alas, that is what happened. Texas got a break and they ended up outscoring the Jayhawks by two. So that's three losses by a combined just 12 points for the Jayhawks. But they were able to finally get on the winning track on Saturday on homecoming. And another positive for Kansas football that happened on Saturday was safety Darryl Stuckey, one of the great men of KU football, getting enshrined in the Ring of Honor at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. And Les Miles had his press conference on Monday, and he opened talking about the former KU safety.

First of all, I'd like to commend Darryl Stuckey as a player and as a person and a great example for our team as he was added to the ring of honor, I don't think there can be a better example of good student, good person, good player, good family. And so we'd like to congratulate him again. So what a great career that he had at Kansas. And Daryl Stuckey, who was a Pro Bowl safety for the Chargers in the National Football League, becomes the fifth member of that 2008 Orange Bowl team to be inducted into that ring of honor, joining the likes of Aqib Tlaib, Chris Harris Jr., Anthony Collins, and of course, Todd Riesing. And it makes you wonder, are the receivers next?

Because we had a couple of pretty good receiving performances against Texas Tech, and it makes you wonder if Kerry Meyer and Desmond Briscoe are going to be able to see their names up there as well. And, God, you've got to love the story of Kerry Meyer. I think it's so cool every time I think about it. He came in as a quarterback and transitioned to wide receiver, and what a player he became. He had that iconic catch against Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in the snow. He was also featured as a wide receiver on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

So he ended up having a phenomenal career for the University of Kansas, and I think both those guys will have their time called, and they'll be able to join their former teammates up there as well but Daryl Stuckey congratulations to him as he was a great man continues to be a great man for this KU football program he was even seen consoling Bryce Tornadin following Tornadin's ejection for the targeting call in the first quarter of that game against Texas Tech on Saturday. So he's kind of what Wayne Simeon is to KU basketball. It's kind of what Daryl Stuckey is to this KU football program. So as Coach said, there's no better man to be able to get up there and join some of the KU all-time greats.

Les Miles was asked after talking about Stuck if it's important to him to highlight some of the past guys who have had success at Kansas, particularly because this program has not had a lot of success in the past decade. I think sharing the history of Kansas, certainly the very positive history of Kansas, is something that we should do. And I think when you have examples of guys who have walked in their path, have success academically, in business, in their personal life, you should point it out because that path is something that can be taken again and again and again right from here. And speaking of guys in the past who have had success at the University of Kansas, how about Mark Mangino? Mangino tweeting at Carter Stanley after the game on Saturday saying,

Son, I like your toughness and competitive spirit. Best wishes from the most successful coach in KU football history. And Carter Stanley responded, Thank you, coach. And Stanley has just been phenomenal under new offensive coordinator Brent Dierman these past couple games. I know I've mentioned a lot that quote that I love that he said, how he played for Coach Miles and Coach Dierman for 100 years. Well, man, we wish we had Carter for more as well

because he's really hitting his stride. In fact, he's back on the Manning Award Stars of the Week. You can vote for him now through Thursday to be selected as quarterback of the week. Carter Stanley, 26 of 37, 415 yards, three touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown for Stanley. And one thing that this team showed after an emotional loss was the ability to come back from that and make that emotion of a tough, sad, unfortunate loss, turn that into a good thing. Les Miles talked about that at his press conference and hit on KU's resolve. It shows you that they can handle significant emotional games. I mean, the Texas game certainly was that.

And they took that in 48 hours and tossed it behind them, and they went ahead. And they put together a great game plan, and we'd like to have started faster, but frankly, we were ready to play. I'd like to start it faster, but they came with the idea that they were going to take home victory. And victory they got despite that big first half deficit, 17-0.

KU cuts it to 17-14, so it shows that they're not going to back down, but maybe even more impressive is that Jet Duffy leads Texas Tech down the field on just four plays, 70 yards, and it was a drive that took only one minute exactly off the game clock on the first drive of the third quarter. So Texas Tech got the ball first in the second half, and they scored immediately. So that essentially could have extinguished any momentum KU had. Tech would then extend the lead to 27-14,

and then KU did it all over again. Came all the way back, and they had to get through another missed extra point, but they tied it at 27. They tied it again at 34, and then of course, forcing the punt, the defense gets that stop and forces the punt with just over five minutes to go. Stanley and company get down the field and set up that wacky ending where Liam Jones had another kick blocked, but KU recovered it. It was Chris Hughes popping the ball out of Douglas Coleman's hand and Logan Klussman falling on it, and Liam Jones connecting from 32 to give KU the three-point lead.

One of the stars of that game was Stephon Robinson. We're going to hear what his coach and his quarterback thought about his performance after this break. The Locked On Podcast Network, the local experts on the biggest stories. Finishing up here this Wednesday edition of Locked On Jayhawks. Thank you. on KU football, KU basketball, anything in between. And I'd love to get your thoughts on air as well. All right, so I talked a little bit earlier in the week. Obviously, everybody's really high on this Brent Dierman guy.

He's been phenomenal his first two games as KU's offensive coordinator. But I wanted to highlight the KU wide receiver coach, Emmitt Jones, who spent the previous three years at Texas Tech. And we talked about him a little bit but let's dive a little deeper to how much progress these wide receivers have made obviously a lot of this is system and it you know is all dependent on how guys are used you know or at least the majority of it is dependent on how guys are used but a a lot of it, too, is seeing the talent and seeing how these guys can help you and which of your guys you want on the field getting playmaking opportunities.

Let's just go through some of these guys. And I understand that, for the most part, as guys get deeper and deeper into their careers, they're going to be more productive as seasons go on. But still, we're two-thirds of the way through this season, and the numbers are pretty... They jump off the page at you. Let's start with Kwame Lasseter. This guy had eight catches. That was a career high in the game against Texas Tech.

Last year, he had 12 catches for 87 yards the entire season. Lasseter, the junior, being used a lot more this year, and he has made some big-time catches. He has 22 receptions for 248 yards this season. And then let's go Daylon Charlotte. Charlotte, a guy who's highly recruited. He chose Alabama over LSU. That was when Coach Les Miles was actually recruiting him to LSU.

They had a fun interaction as soon as they met back up here at Kansas and said it was meant to be. But Charlotte, of course, was a little bit of a disappointment. Didn't play much at Alabama. Last year, he had just 12 receptions for two touchdowns all year, and he's already at 20 receptions, including two massive receptions each of the last two weeks that kept drives alive for Kansas and gave KU an opportunity to win it. And of course, Andrew Parchment. This is his first year as a Jayhawk, and he has become a baller. He's 42 receptions for 614 yards for Parchment and 6 touchdowns. 42, 614, and 6 for Andrew Parchment.

The reception and receiving yards for Parchment lead the team. And how about Stephon Robinson? The last three weeks, Stephon Robinson is averaging 128 yards receiving per game and 2 touchdowns. And last week alone, as a returner and even got one rush, she had 294 all-purpose yards, did Stephon. But this season, Robinson, he also has already topped his 2018 numbers. Last year, Robinson, 28 receptions, 330, and a touchdown. This year, 30 receptions, 522, and six touchdowns.

So seriously, mad props to wide receivers coach Emmitt Jones for getting these guys to display their talents to the best of their abilities and of course Brent Dierman these last couple games specifically these guys have been putting on a show and you've got to look at it if you're a KU fan wide receiver is a big

positive and perhaps even a mismatch for this team that's how good these guys have become. Robinson, Parchment, and Charlotte most notably. But Stephon Robinson, let's spend a little time talking about him and hearing what his coach and quarterback think about him. Here's Carter Stanley talking about Stephon. He's one of my favorite receivers of all time to throw to,

and he just doesn't say a word. He just grinds his tail off every day of practice, and his work has come to show. What makes him one of your favorite receivers to throw to? Just his work ethic and his football IQ. I mean, obviously he's very talented. I know he just seems to have it all. He's a really hardworking kid,

and he deserves everything he's getting right now. So those are pretty strong words toward the junior, Stephon Robinson, from his quarterback. Wait till you hear what his head coach had to say about him. He's a lights-out personality, a great person. He has great ball skills. He's very fast. Yeah, he's a wonderful person.

I already got enough sons, but I'd take him in a heartbeat. Big-time words from Carter Stanley and Les Miles regarding Stephon Robinson. And he has been one of the best receivers, honestly, that this Kansas team has had, not only just this season, but dating back. I mean, you had Stephen Sims, and he was a cog for this KU offense. No matter how many different quarterbacks, no matter how many different offensive coordinators he had, Stephen Sims always delivered.

And Stephen Sims, pretty talented guy as well. He's currently playing with the Washington Redskins. So he's a guy that leads KU in terms of the last decade ever since the Meyer and Briscoe years. I mean, Sims is at the top of the list since then. But Stephon Robinson, Andrew Parchment, these guys are really getting it done. And they're a big spark for this KU offense, who all of a sudden is pretty high powered. They're putting up points left and right. Here's Stanley talking about the group of receivers. They're unreal.

When teams want to play us in man coverage, that's their decision. I think if they're on film, our guys can roll. But also zone coverage, they do a great job of just kind of finding the holes. They're a great group, and they've got a great coach. It's been really fun to watch, that's for sure, particularly the last couple weeks. And, man, if these guys can get loose against K-State, that's going to be a lot of fun.

Love to see KU get off to a hot start in that game, which has not really been the forte of the team. They got down big not only this past weekend against Texas Tech, but remember last week against Austin, that game was 14-0 in favor of the Horns early, and even the Boston College game, that was 14-0 and on the road, but that was kind of where you saw the life and the fight of the 2019 brand of the Jayhawks start coming to fruition. This team's 3-5, four games left, let's see if we can make it happen, get them three more

wins at least in these next four. It all starts on Saturday in the Sunflower Showdown. All right, coming up a little bit later in the week, of course, we're going to hear more from Bill Self. We're going to preview the final exhibition game, which is tomorrow against Pitt State at Allen Fieldhouse. And, man, whew, lick your lips. After that, it's all about Madison Square Garden. It's all about the Champions Classic and the Duke Blue Devils. A week, not even a week now, it's going to be six days from now. The Champions Classic, KU Duke, and then Michigan State Kentucky.

Signifying the beginning, real beginning, of college basketball season. Can't wait for that. We'll also hear more from Coach Miles and Carter Stanley as the week goes on as we hope to tame the cats on Saturday. Alright, been a packed show. Thank you for tuning in and certainly tweet at me at LO underscore Jayhawks. Let me know what you think of the show.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on our Jayhawks and we look forward to it. Lockdown Jayhawks, a part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. The local experts on the biggest stories and Rock Chalk Jayhawk.