Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Marcus Calvin Among Jayhawks' EMERGING Defensive Line + Could Justice Finkley Return to Kansas?

Starting point is 00:00:00 We got some stock risers on the defensive line for KU and could Justice Finkley return to bolster that defensive line rotation for KU. 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 up, Derek Johnson here. Today's episodes brought to you by Kalshi. For limited time, download the Kalshi app. Use code locked on to get $10 when you trade at $10. And on today's episode, we're breaking down the latest in KU Fall Camp, including going over some of the defensive line, defensive end defensive tackle updates. There are certainly some very interesting ones, including Justice Finclay return to KU. Also get into the tight end two debate, which I think becomes, you know,

Starting point is 00:00:52 normally if you're talking about, hey, who's going to win the second string tight end? But for Kansas, it's a bigger deal because they play two tight ends a lot. That second tight end, you know, is basically that Jared Casey role at times, too, where you can be motioning and you play a lot and you have a big impact on the field. And then we'll get some of the latest news as well. Let's start right here where we heard from the latest from the defensive line, Joe Deneen, the defensive end coach, and Jim Pantagos, the defensive tackle coach, spoke at the most recent KU football media availability.

Starting point is 00:01:21 And, you know, as you hear about some of the players that are making noise and are moving up in the right way, well, what could happen with Justice Finkeley? because Finkely, if you remember, was the starting strong side defensive end for KU a season ago. He had 27 tackles. He had three and a half tackles for loss a season ago. And he graduated. He exhausted his eligibility. Well, now with this five and five stuff and players getting eligible,

Starting point is 00:01:56 Finkely has all of a sudden gained eligibility. But I don't believe he entered. the transfer portal back when it was open. So he would have to return to the school that he played for, which would be the University of Kansas. And actually, there was a tweet sent out from College Football Nation that Justice Finkely has interest in returning to Kansas for fifth season following the latest ruling. That was retweeted by Justice Finclay on Twitter. So clearly, that kind of backs up the idea that he wants it to happen. Now, we'll see if that actually happens, right? Because it does feel like to me, and the scale of you know coaches are going to have to decide do you take a player back or do you like like michigan state for instance with tom iso they were basically like hey listen like we can't take jackson kolar back i promise these other guys you know playing time and this this and that and i see lans light pulled more on that scale of being like he doesn't want to upset the current balance um personally i would love to have just as fincly back right like i mean even if it means he's your even if it means

Starting point is 00:02:59 he's behind Alex Bray and David Santiago at the strong side and it just gives you one extra guy deeper, you know, you can never have enough depth on the defensive line. But I could see a world where, you know, maybe, maybe the staff isn't at, like, we're going to go with what we have. We don't want to mess with it. But this is a guy who'd be returning player. He'd be joining later in the game. I think it would be understandable if he would be coming back into maybe a lesser role than he had last season, but maybe, you know, if he does ramp back up into things, he can get back to that role, depending on what kind of happens. So we'll wait and see what happens there.

Starting point is 00:03:34 Like I said, I would like to have him back, but who knows what will actually happen. Meanwhile, as far as the guys that are in camp right now, Joe Deneene really talked up David Santiago. He said, Santiago keeps showing up. He's really smart. He's relentless as a pass rusher. And Santiago is interesting because he's a little bit smaller than Alex Bray. So I think maybe in more run-first situations, you'll see Alex Bray a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:03:59 more for KU as a defensive line. And I also think if KU goes to more of their, I don't know, three defensive line front where the third, where I guess it depends if you're going to three D tackle front compared to if you're going with, you know, a nose tackle and two defensive ends is different. But if you're going to one of the looks where they were having basically the, the defensive end be like an outside linebacker that occasionally dropped in coverage,

Starting point is 00:04:25 that makes more sense to be Santiago. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. Danine really mentioned that he liked the top four, which kind of is the top four. We've talked about a lot with Leroy Harris, Dak Brinkley, David Santiago, and Alex Bray there. He also really liked mentioned, and I thought this was an astute point by him, having versatility and different kind of looks that all of those guys are different in their play styles, that it won't be consistent. It's not like they just have four bull rushers or four speed rushers that opposing teams are going to be able to scout

Starting point is 00:04:57 or tackles are going to be able to get used to over the course of the game. KU can throw kind of different looks at you. Now, somebody who, it seems like the stock is rising here is Garrett Martin. He mentioned that Martin has done an unbelievable job was, I think, the term that he used. He said he's even taken a big jump from spring to fall, and then he's learned both defensive end spots. And that's obviously really important because, I mean, for a couple of reasons. One, as much as you might like KU's top four, if any of them get injured, which over the

Starting point is 00:05:27 course of a 12-game season, odds are at least one of those four is going to get hurt at some point in time. Even if it's a, you know, cause you to be questionable or missed just one week, odds are that's going to happen. So how do you feel about, and KU has done a good job recruiting to that defensive end spot, but they're all young players and it's like who's ready to kind of take on that step. And so when you look at Garrett Martin, he was an 87 rated three star. That's a good rating. another former kid from Arizona. He picked KU over like TCU and some others. I want to say he had like an injury.

Starting point is 00:06:00 I forget of his last year of high school or third year. I don't know at some point during his career. But he seems to be one of these guys who again was a solidly ranked recruit that now they are developing and seems like he could be the first guy to crack into that should a spot open up at either of the defense event spots. Right. then we also learned from the defensive tackle room sounds like the stocks up on both Eamon Smalls and Marcus Calvin to me. And that's super important because with the Trayvon McAlpine injury where he tore his ACL and now he's out for the season,

Starting point is 00:06:37 you're asking other guys to step up. I mean, Blake Harold, we know, is a stud. In fact, I'm going to have a film review coming out for Blake Harold sometime next week, where I went back and watched one of his games. and he's just the potential to be a game wrecker from the defensive tackle spot. I was actually more impressed than I came into expecting to see on the place where he was lining up basically as a defensive end as well. He's super versatile. So you know you have that, but who else is going to join him?

Starting point is 00:07:06 And, you know, I don't think KU is as deep at the defensive tackle spot as maybe the last two years where they've been able to at different times go four or five. I mean, heck, even at some point six deep in terms of guys. I think that's kind of the big question here. Like in talking with Jibril Kande, who would kind of lengthen out that rotation, Jim Pantagos mentioned that he's trying to narrow down his focus. He kept mentioning the term, see a little, see a lot, and what that means. He did say he's very coachable and he wants to work, which are good signs. But based on the conversation there, it did make me think that Kande is not game ready yet, for sure.

Starting point is 00:07:45 When you look at Kevin Oatis, didn't really get to hear about him, But you're talking about a raw player who was a former highly recruited kid, redshirted with Arkansas, now in year two of Kansas. They need at least one of those two guys, Debril Condi or Kevin Oatis, to be at least playable, even if it's only, you know, 10 snaps per game. They need at least one of those two to be able to hit that mark. It'd be great if both of them could do it, but the very least one of the two needs to. And if there's an injury to one of the guys in front of them, it's going to have to be a higher number than that, right? But like I said, stocks up on Marcus Calvin and even smalls with Calvin, Jim Pantagos was asked, like, what have you seen Marcus improve in? And the exact quote here, he said, everything, right?

Starting point is 00:08:26 He is to list off some of the things he mentioned after that. He said using his hands better, pass rush, confidence, leadership. And he said that every year he's just gotten better and better and better. And I'm really excited for Marcus Calvin. I think I don't know. The point I'm kind of coming to is that I almost wonder if Marcus Calvin's going to be the biggest best kept secret coming into the year for KU, right? Like there are certain players where it's like, okay, I'm expecting, you know, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:08:55 big things from if you want to say like Carson Bruin or I think Calvin Clements is going to take a big step up. These are guys that we saw a lot of. Well, with Calvin, we only saw him in it for brief snaps. I think his season high of snaps last year was 30. I think he crossed the 20 snap mark like three or four times. So it wasn't like a ton there. but we saw some really good flashes. I'm excited to see what he can do this year.

Starting point is 00:09:17 I think he's going to take off. I think he's going to be a really good player for KU. But it's a tight competition. Who's going to win it out between him and Eam and Smalls? Now, they're different players. Like Smalls will be more of the, ironically, with the last name Smalls. He's like 330, 340. He'll be more of the guy that you want to, if you want to use like a nose tackle,

Starting point is 00:09:36 then you use Smalls in that situation. You want to use more beef on the line. Whereas with Calvin, if you're more shooting a gap or, you know, I guess in a four down front, like maybe Calvin makes more sense, and a three or five down front, like maybe Smalls makes more sense. So you're going to be able to do some mixing and matching. Both guys are going to play in a real way. But with Eman, I thought this was really cool, too, that Pantagos mentioned that he meets with him every day.

Starting point is 00:09:58 He said he has an incredible work ethic for someone who has played a lot of football. Like usually if you've played as much football as he has, you don't necessarily set up those meetings every day. You're just like, okay, I got it now. But he continues to do it and works hard. So Jim Pantagos, I think, is excellent. excellent coach. I think he's one of the best assistant coaches that KU has. You add to it, some of the talent, some of the hardworking traits that sounds like these guys have, that's going to lead to good results at the end of the day. All right. Let's continue on with the

Starting point is 00:10:26 battle for that other tight end spot. Jalen Butler, Carter, Moses, Layton Cure will get to that on the other side. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show today is brought to you by Indeed, and when workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire, Indeed, sponsor jobs helps connect employers with candidates who match specific needs like skills, certifications, and location. So less time gets spent searching and more time gets spent finding the right fit. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide.

Starting point is 00:11:05 I mean, think about how important everybody coming together in the right way for like KU baseball is, right? Like all the right moves they've made from the Juco ranks, the assistant coaches coming together, whether it's from pitching, whether it's from recruiting, whether it's from Dan Fitzgerald, whether it's from the athletic department and raising funds or support. Like it's everybody coming together in the right way, right? But you've got to, you got to start it with the right hires, right? It's Travis Goff hiring Dan Fitzgerald. And Dan Fitzgerald hires, you know, all these assistant coaches and John Coyne and all these assistants

Starting point is 00:11:37 help basically hire the right players. It's making a bunch of right hires. And that's important something you can get done with Indeed. Listeners of the show get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job to premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Support our show by saying you heard about it on Lockdown Jhawks. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

Starting point is 00:12:02 Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Thanks for joining us on Locked on Jayhawks. So if you aren't already, I have a substack. It's set up. You can subscribe to it for free. I do the occasional, like, film review over there. And I'm planning to hopefully do a little bit more in season from that perspective this year for KU.

Starting point is 00:12:26 But I did one for Carter Moses that released back on August 5th. I did one for Jalen Butler that released a little bit earlier this week. And, you know, for Moses, didn't have a huge sample size. The only game I had available in all 22 was the game against Iowa in 2025. But good news is that's probably the best defense that he played against. For Butler, I got to see him in two power four games, Indiana, the national champs, and Virginia Tech. And I think when you look over like Carter Moses, for instance, he's a player who, I think actually both of them, I would put this way, both of them motioned a lot, both of them were offline tight ends a lot. I think that Butler was in more of an hback, fullback role a little bit more often, but like I said, both of them did it a good amount, that it's not just the battle for tight end two behind Carlin.

Starting point is 00:13:16 Carson Bruin for KU, which we know two tight ends are going to play a lot on the field together. We've seen that through Jim Zabrowski, through Andy Codlnicki, through Jeff Grimes, like, no matter who it's been, we've seen that be the case for KU and the Lance Lyple Dera. And, you know, it's the Jared Casey role, the guy who springs, or has the opportunity to spring the big block, right, and make some key plays for KU. Who's going to play that role on the team? And, you know, when I look at Carter Moses, I just see kind of a solid player in general. I think that Moses typically to me, from what I saw, was a little bit more consistent.

Starting point is 00:13:56 Again, I don't have a ton of tape to go on here where I wasn't able to watch a full season for either guy. But I would say it was a little more consistent with the blocking. With Jalen Butler, there were a few more wow blocks for me of like, that was a really good play. but it was a little more inconsistent with the blocking in terms of okay this time you ran to the wrong way or this time you got kind of caught in the moment and couldn't figure out which guy to block between the two that were down there and that guy ended up making a tackle or something like that um interestingly enough both of them have some like in the game i saw for carter moses he um had like a really bad drop in there um when i go to jalen butler in i don't know i guess guess, like there is kind of a drop in there. There's some questions with the hands. I think in general, in some of the, some of the intel that I have kind of gathered from KU is that Jaylen Butler doesn't, like the hands are the biggest question. And that makes it very interesting here, right? Because the thing about Jared Casey is, again, if we're talking that as the role,

Starting point is 00:15:08 Casey was a really important run blocker, but he also had really sure hands. It wasn't the greatest athlete or the shiftyest player in the world. He had unbelievable hands and was a good blocker. I think both Moses and Butler can be that from a blocking perspective if they can tighten up the consistency. But I don't think either has the hands of Jared Casey. Now something that Moses and Butler have over Jared Casey, maybe. more so in the case of Butler is the athleticism, right? Being able to run free, being able to get behind the defense,

Starting point is 00:15:45 and those are potentially exciting things that you could do with it. But yeah, I think that's kind of the big question here. And I do think after the spring, Moses was maybe in a better spot than Butler. I do think from what I've heard so far, right, we still got plenty of time in fall camp for things to move around. But so far in fall camp, I think Butler would be ahead of, Moses at this point in time. Now, as far as Layton Cure, who is a returning player, got a good amount of snaps last year, especially with some of the tight end injuries KU had, you know, he is actually a really good athlete. From what I've heard with him, it's just been more kind of, I guess, like, in the, in the moments where it's like maybe no pads on or something, he looks better than with the pads or like in the key moments, there have been some miscues here there. So, I think it'll be an interesting matchup,

Starting point is 00:16:40 but I think any of them can realistically still win that job, even late in cure. But yeah, based on what I'm kind of seeing right now, like Butler would be the guy that I would probably assume to be that position, but that can obviously change. I will say this, I was probably,

Starting point is 00:16:56 I don't know, it's interesting because when I saw, like, it goes twofold. Like when I saw Jaylon Butler's pro football focus grades, I was like, they were like appallingly bad. I was very worried. After watching the tape, I definitely felt better about it. So I would put it that way. At the same point in time, I don't know that this is going to be like some huge strength for KU, the tight end room in general.

Starting point is 00:17:17 But how much does Andy Kodlnicki being the offense coordinator opening things up? Matt Lubick is the coach. How much does that help these players develop, grow another level and basically mask it with a level of production that, you know, it just I guess doesn't matter to a certain standpoint, right? But I do think this, like all of these guys for KU can at least be decent enough blockers where it's going to be helpful playing multiple of them on the field at once. And for a KU team that wants to steer into, I think, running the football and doing that, and especially if you're running these wide zone plays or you're running the speed option plays to the outside, that requires blockers who can be mobile, who can be versatile, who can block on the run. and that's exactly what in theory tight end should be able to give you. All right, let's finish up with some of the latest news. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:18:16 Our episode today is brought to you by Cali. Before every season kicks off, everyone is making predictions. Who's going to win the division? Who's going to make the playoffs? Who's going to lift the trophy at season's end? Well, on Calci, America's number one prediction market platform, you can trade those predictions in a live market. You can get Kansas at winning six plus games.

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Starting point is 00:19:07 on anything. 18 plus only, restrictions and eligibility requirements apply, event contract, training involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CalChi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calshy.com slash regulatory. Our episode today is also brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. It's one app for accounting, it's another for inventory, it's another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. Well, that's where Odo comes in. It's an all-in-one business management software that brings

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Starting point is 00:20:44 Thanks you for joining us here on locked on jhawks and football Friday. We did a little deep dive episode talking another potential portal target, Van Allen Lubin. So check that one out from the other night. We did the Javan Bardwell news as well. Some of the latest news here, this was tweeted out by Henry Greenstein, who mentioned for the KU football schedule for next year, Kansas and Louisiana Tech are seeking NCAA,

Starting point is 00:21:07 AA approval to move next year's game in Lawrence, which originally is scheduled for September 18th. So that would be what, like week three of the season to week zero, which would be between August 26 and August 28th. Currently, the 2027 schedule includes week one at home against southeastern Missouri week two at Washington State. And so I don't know what the, like, because you have to have a reason to be able to play a week zero game. I don't know if they have something like or do they have another international game maybe scheduled or could it just be because they want that kind of standalone spot early in the season. I love playing the week zero. One, like we get the game earlier. That's great. Two, it gives you an extra buy week over the course of the season. Three, you do

Starting point is 00:21:56 get kind of more eyes on you early in the season. I think all of those are good things. So hopefully this goes through for KU. And then we also got this other. bit of news is kind of the latest update, so to speak, on the Melvin Council situation. So apparently, the court approved the motion from Melvin Council, which means that the NCAA has until the end of Friday to respond. I guess if they don't, then he just wins the case. So, you know, if it gets lost in the mail from the NCAA, oh, no. But no. So that means that Basically, if you're listening to this on, you know, football Friday, right, on the 14th, there's a good chance that by the time you're listening to this or at some point later today, we're going to have some sort of appeal, some sort of news with the court process proceeding, not that we're going to get a finality, but that it'll probably be the next step in however many steps are needed to kind of get this done. I believe Friday is also the day that there's something needed for the big case in Colorado, and that would pertain to.

Starting point is 00:23:02 potentially Trey White and some others to get eligible as well. All right, that'll do for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere at your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. See you next time on LJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Marcus Calvin Among Jayhawks' EMERGING Defensive Line + Could Justice Finkley Return to Kansas?

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