Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Reaction & Analysis to Kansas Jayhawks Football Depth Chart for Week One vs. Lindenwood Lions

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, the two deep, the depth chart is officially out for KU as game week gets closer with KU versus Lindenwood. 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? I'm Derek Johnson. You can find me on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio. You can find the show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Thank you for tuning in to Locked On Jayhawks and making it your first listen every day. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every show. We're going to be going over the two deep, the offense, the defense, maybe some surprises, maybe some stuff that was expected and what it can tell us for KU football headed into their first game of the season against Lindenwood. And we're going to have a little discussion with the Lindenwood game. Early line is out. KU over a 40-point favorite and being just two days away from KU against Lindenwood.

Starting point is 00:00:59 We'll get to all that on today's episode, which is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. So just visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. We're going to start with stuff on the depth chart here. We're going to start with the offense, and then we'll move to the defense and the special teams here. And if you're on our YouTube channel, we've got, I guess, the picture version, the screenshot version of it coming at you here. So the offense for KU, the offensive line was certainly, I don't know,

Starting point is 00:01:38 maybe the biggest, I don't know, question mark, I guess you would say, just how it was going to be shuffled around. Because you start with the quarterback. We knew Jalen Daniels was going to be the starter, right? As long as he was healthy, he was going to be the starter. I guess there is a question about with the backup quarterback spot, because you look at the competition between Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall and the fact that Cole Ballard is listed as the backup

Starting point is 00:02:00 should be a little bit telling there. But I still kind of remain that maybe once we get midway through the season, it would not shock me if Isaiah Marshall eventually is the backup. And I will say the coaching staff doesn't update this depth chart as accurately as the season goes on. So you might not even see Isaiah Marshall pop up as the backup come week six or something, but it's entirely possible. It's also possible that Cole Ballard would be like the in-game backup is

Starting point is 00:02:26 more experienced guy. But like, let's say Jalen Daniels got injured and then you had a bi-week and then you had a game after that. Like maybe you go with the higher ceiling at that point with Isaiah Marshall. I don't know. But for now,

Starting point is 00:02:37 Cole Ballard is listed as the backup there. Same thing with running back. Not a lot of questions. Devin Neal, Daniel Highshaw. I guess the bigger question there with running back is who's the third string, but we don't get that information because this is a two deep, not a three deep. Not a lot of oars this year, by the way, which we had a lot of last year. So that's

Starting point is 00:02:52 kind of nice with all this. Receivers, again, nothing really crazy. When you have Luke Grimm, Lawrence Arnold, and Quentin Skinner, we knew those were going to be the starters. The one thing of note here, because you look at the backups on the two deep, Doug Emelian, figured that would be the case. Trevorelian figured that would be the case. Trevor Wilson figured that would be the case. I think if anything coming into maybe the fall, I was thinking Doug Emelian would really be your fourth receiver, but now it feels like that would more so be Trevor Wilson.

Starting point is 00:03:15 But instead of Keaton Kubeka on the two deep, which he was last year, and I don't remember, they might've made an extra spot on the two deep for him to get there. But Tori Laughlin, who's kind of your running back receiver hybrid, has officially made the two deep as a receiver, which I think is cool. He's been certainly an underrated player and has a lot of usage, a lot of roles in different ways. You know, whether it's special teams, whether it's the occasional play on offense or something like that. And he's just filled in wherever KU's needed him to. So cool that he makes it on the two deep there in his final season with KU.

Starting point is 00:03:48 But yeah, that offensive line, that's kind of the big one here for that KU offense. So Bryce Cabledew, interestingly enough, will be the starting left tackle. The senior who has been a multi-year starter for KU at the right tackle position had his best year last year. And he's kind of gotten better each and every year that he's been at KU so far. But what was interesting was last spring, they tried him a little bit at left tackle before Dominic Poonie kind of, I guess, took down that role.

Starting point is 00:04:17 And he said that he wanted to move because he was uncomfortable. Well, maybe it was just more training this offseason. And for whatever reason, he moves over to left tackle and seems like he's comfortable now. So I feel good about that. As long as he is comfortable doing it, which I don't think he would be starting there if he wasn't comfortable doing it. The backups Nolan Gorsika and I think Nolan Gorsika could be one of your first linemen off the because when you look at the two deep, the starters are important. But as far as the backups go, it doesn't tell the full story

Starting point is 00:04:45 because realistically you're going to have two or three backups that are going to play like most of the backup snaps. So like Gorsika is one of these guys where he can play guard and tackle. He's only listed as the backup left tackle, but if a guard goes down, okay, it's probably Daryl Simmons coming in for him. But then if another guard goes down instead of James Livingston, who's listed as backup left guard, it might be Nolan Gorsika. I don't know. So you have Cable to a left tackle, Gorsika backup left tackle. And again, I think he's kind of a backup tackle and guard for you. Michael Ford at left guard, one of the most underrated guards across the conference. James Livingston, who's been a tackle before now, he's in at left guard there. You'll get the right guard position. Kobe Bain, sounds like he's had a good camp,

Starting point is 00:05:27 and I think he's going to provide some power for that offense, running the ball behind his back. Daryl Simmons Jr., I think you probably look at somebody who could probably play either guard position for you. And when you look at last year's KU team, Armage Reed Adams, along with Kobe Bains and Michael Ford, you basically had three guards who were playing starter-level snaps. You basically had six offensive linemen who played starter-level snaps. Some of that was allowed because Armage Reed Adams could play guard and tackle. I don't know that you're going to do that with Daryl Simmons, but the point is there's snaps there for sixth

Starting point is 00:05:58 and maybe even seventh offensive linemen if you divvy those up. And so I think Simmons will play some snaps there. And we already talked about, if you're an everydayer, you heard it. Lance Leipold on a recent press conference talking about, you know, we could rotate in Simmons here and there and feel good about where we're at. And then Kobe Baines is more rested, ready to go for the fourth quarter. And that would apply for the rest of the season as well, if you're limiting reps and using him in important roles.

Starting point is 00:06:20 So I think that's something else that when you're looking at these backups, like I said, you're really more so looking at which backups are part of that two or three most trusted. They're going to come in and fill in whatever position is needed. I think Gorsika is one of them. I think Simmons is another one. You look at the right tackle spot, Logan Brown and Dre Dorian behind him. I think Dorian's a very versatile offensive lineman at points.

Starting point is 00:06:41 We've heard him getting snaps at center. Now, you know backing up a right tackle so i think that's a good sign um in terms of his flexibility and how he could try to make an impact but again same kind of thing with logan brown like i i kind of talked about this we did throughout the offseason that if logan brown can hit his ceiling it completely changes and adds to what this ku offense can be and what this ku offensive line be. And so the fact that he has to move over to right tackle, maybe that's a bit worrisome. But there were some comments at Lance Leipold's press conference on Monday

Starting point is 00:07:11 that was really talking up Logan Brown. And if he's more comfortable playing right tackle, you'd rather a guy be an A at right tackle than be a C at left tackle. And so if this is the more comfortable roles, I think you like the experience of Bryce Cabledew. You like the talent of Logan Brown. And then maybe Logan Brown eventually is the more comfortable roles, I think you like the experience of Bryce Cable. You like the talent of Logan Brown. And then maybe Logan Brown eventually is the left tackle next season when Cable do graduates. Or maybe it's a guy like Calvin Clements, who's not on this too deep, but was recovering from an injury.

Starting point is 00:07:34 And you figure we'll take another big stride this season in his redshirt freshman season for KU. But the most important, you might have noticed I skipped over it, that center position of the offensive line. Not necessarily most important. I don't know, maybe it is because you're calling out a little place, but most prominent because of that's where the biggest question was with position battle. And it ends up being Bryce Foster as the one, Shane Bumgarner as the two. Now, as we continue to look back at some of the comments that were made by Lance Leipold and Jeff Grimes, it's entirely possible some of them were motivation to just try to make sure that Bryce Foster was giving each and everything that he had to win this job and that they knew he was going to have it. And that they

Starting point is 00:08:13 wanted him to emerge not just as a player, but as a leader. And a lot of these other things, it's entirely possible that's the case. But I do think Pumgarner set himself up that he maybe is in that group with Nolan Gortica and Daryl Simmons, that they would be kind of the first ones that would hit the field if one of the starters went down. And so you feel good about the backup there, but I think it's good news that Bryce Foster ends up winning the job just because when you look at the body, the athleticism, the power, the SEC experience that Bryce Foster brings to the table,

Starting point is 00:08:41 the fact that he earned that starting position at center. And I guess you could say the same thing with Logan Brown for a highly touted former recruit. If you're living up to the potential and you want to talk about raising the ceiling of this offensive line, raising the ceiling of this offense, those are two guys that can do it. So that is the offensive depth chart.

Starting point is 00:09:00 Let's get to the defensive side of the football. Let's also get to the special team side of it, because certainly if you were looking there, the kicker battle ended up being a bit of a surprise for us. So we'll talk about all those coming up on locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by five hour. I've got a young baby daughter. And so I am up late at night checking on her, or I might be up at a random time during the day.

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Starting point is 00:10:44 Okay, what about the too deep for the defensive side of the ball and the special teams for KU? So on the defensive side of the ball, no surprises at one defensive end spot, which will be the strong defensive end spot with Jeremy Robinson and Dylan Woodkey. Both of them should play. Both of them should rotate. I think back two years ago, a lot of snaps to both guys. Pretty close to being even between like Malcolm Lee and Jeremy Robinson.

Starting point is 00:11:06 I think that'll be the case this time, but Robinson plays more and would keep plays left and keep both guys well rested throughout the season. And I think that'll be good for both players. The other defensive end spot, Dean Miller sounded like he was, you know, winning that battle all the way through. Also good. He's only redshirt senior or junior. So, I mean, if he has that code of a year that he gets to go pro after it,

Starting point is 00:11:26 that's a great problem to have. But otherwise, you could have another year with him. And how about this? DJ Warner is a true freshman making that backup spot. He's going to play. He's going to get playing time as a rush defensive end. And, you know, as much as you love to redshirt your freshman when they come in and get their bodies fully up to snuff and everything,

Starting point is 00:11:44 a guy like DJ Warner, if all goes well, he is such a highly recruited player that he's like, I mean, there's a good chance he's not going to be in school for long enough for you to like use the red shirt, if that makes sense. Like that's something Bill South talks about sometimes, but like, I don't know, DJ Warner could be so good over these next couple of seasons that he goes pro after his junior season, or he goes pro after his true senior season,

Starting point is 00:12:11 which if you were red shirted, he would have just gone pro after his retro junior season. So it's whatever. And I think he'll make a big impact on this team. And then defensive tackles, DJ Withers, heard a lot of great things about him in camp. Sounds like he could be ready to break out. How about Tommy Dunn winning that other defensive tackle spot?

Starting point is 00:12:25 But Caleb Taylor, he'll play a ton of snaps for this team. So will Keenan Caldwell, which interesting that Caldwell made the two deep over Javier Derrett. You brought in Javier Derrett, and at the time, it felt like a really big addition for you, the transfer from North Dakota State. He'll still play. He'll still be a rotational guy. But maybe when they first brought in Derrett, part of the thought was maybe even that he could be a starter as a veteran

Starting point is 00:12:48 player. And again, he'll still play as a fifth defensive tackle, but not nearly as much if you were the second or third guy. You'll also get some snaps to maybe one of two or maybe both of those guys with the freshmen that are kind of back there. It seems like Blake Harold, his name keeps popping up a lot. So a defensive tackle, they play a lot of guys and that'll continue to happen. At the Hawk position, Jason Gilliam earns the starting lot. So a defensive tackle, they play a lot of guys and that'll continue to happen. At the Hawk position, Jason Gilliam earns the starting spot. Feels like he got healthy at the right time and everything went together there. And Alex Reich will be his backup.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Other linebacker spots, Cornell Wheeler with Tywon Berryhill as the backup. And then you got JB Brown and Tristan Fletcher as the backup there. This one is one where even though Tywon Berryhill is listed as backup in one and not the other, I expect Tyrone Berryhill to be the backup linebacker to both guys. Like he'll play a lot of snaps still. Obviously, he's coming off a year where he's playing through injury, but he had a pro football focus grade of below 30 a season ago. So you're looking at him to be healthy.

Starting point is 00:13:40 You're looking at him to earn more playing time with his performance on there. But I feel great about the athleticism, the hitting ability, the run-stopping ability of those two guys with Cornell Wheeler and J.B. Brown. And Wheeler was actually named one of the captains for the team too, which shows, you know, as you're talking about a guy with Cornell Wheeler who brings, I think, more athleticism, and I think it's even more for J.B. Brown. But with Cornell Wheeler, if you're comparing this linebacker unit to last year's, he brings more athleticism and thump.

Starting point is 00:14:08 Part of the question that they were having during the off season was, but who can replace the leadership of a guy like Rich Miller? He got everybody in the right spot. He was such a good leader for this team. And just because he was named captain doesn't guarantee that he's as good as those things as Rich Miller was, but it kind of shows you that he's doing a good job at it, right? So I think that's a good sign there with both those guys.

Starting point is 00:14:30 And then you look at the corner position, Kobe Bryant with Melo Dotson, your two starters, obviously. We expected McGee to be the backup, the former transfer from LSU, and that ends up being the case. He'll be the third corner and probably fill in for either guy. I was going to be curious who won that fourth corner spot, though, between Jameel Croft and Jalen Todd. Croft, the redshirt freshman, one of your highest recruits in the class of 2023.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Todd, one of your highest recruits in the class of 2024. Todd ends up winning it out as a true freshman. Now I still feel good about the future of both players, but both will probably play in a rotational role at the back end of the depth chart this year but I do think that is interesting to see and I mean it's it's not often that this staff will get like I think last year the only true freshman who was on the two deep offense or defense was Keaton Kubeka and that was because they made an exemption and they had like seven receivers on there instead of six. And now you have two listed on the two deep on defense with both Todd and Warner.

Starting point is 00:15:33 The safety position, Marvin Grant, OJ Burrows, expected starters. The two backups, Devin Dye, Jalen Dye, kind of the expected backups. The one question was going to be, does Mason Ellis crack into this? I still think Ellis will play. He'll play a lot of special teams. Who knows how close he is to the Dye brothers, but certainly we knew both of them would be starting. And then you move over to special teams. Kickoff guy, Tabor Allen, that's always been the case. That's not a big change. But the place kicking, that was a big –

Starting point is 00:15:57 it felt like it was Charlie Weinrich or Owen Pieper-Gerdes. It felt like out of spring, Owen Pieper-Gerdes had the lead. And then you started hearing some scuttlebutt that maybe it was Charlie Weinreich with the lead. In the end, Tabor Allen ends up the most consistent. And I think that's something to keep in mind because that's something Lance Leipold said. He was the most consistent. They value consistency above anything when you look at this. Like if they have the option between starting the guy who's consistent every day and starting the guy who has the highest ceiling but has bigger floors, they're going to start the

Starting point is 00:16:27 consistent guy. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Cause I think from a cultural perspective, developing that inside your program of like, you have to work hard every day. You have to be consistent every day is a good thing that you want messaging around the program. Right. And so Tabor Allen wins the job and you know, it's hard to say who's the best and how this is going to go on during the season. So I do know Tabor Allen because he's been doing the kickoffs, has a very strong leg, so maybe that gives you potential to hit longer field goals.

Starting point is 00:16:55 Damon Graves, the back or the punter, so that remains there, and Luke Hosford stays as the long snapper. When you look at the return men, Trevor Wilson and Luke Grimm as the punt returners, I wonder if this is going to be a thing where it's like, if you're in a situation where you need a fair catch, you throw Luke Grimm out there. If you're in a situation where you think you're going to have a chance to return it, you throw Trevor Wilson out there. Obviously people will have bad flashbacks, PTSD to the Kansas state game. Try to have more good flashbacks. Try to

Starting point is 00:17:21 think more of the UCF game. If you could try to be on the positive side, I guess, there. And then for the kick returners, Wilson going to get playing time there. Savion Morrison, I think that's a good opportunity to use him there, get him in the open field to some of his speed. And then, obviously, Graves will be the holder. So that's the two deep for KU. Some surprises, some things that we weren't totally sure about, some things to be expected, but just makes it feel like it's even closer

Starting point is 00:17:44 because it is two days away from KU Lindenwood. Let's discuss the game a little bit and what that two days out means on Locked on Jayhawks. This episode is brought to you by Ultimate College Football Head Coach. Locked on Jayhawk fans, let's take a moment, give you a heads up on that brand new mobile game that I think you're going to love as much as I do,

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Starting point is 00:19:32 KU at, well, I think it came out as a 43 and a half point favorite. I was looking at FanDuel this morning, and it was already up to 44 and a half. So people are betting Kansas on this one, which I don't think Lindenwood's that great of a team. So, I mean, what's the number that I'd be comfortable with it going up to? That might be an interesting question. Like, I don't think Lindenwood's that great of a team. So, I mean, what's the number that I'd be comfortable with it going up to? That might be an interesting question.

Starting point is 00:19:47 Like, I don't know, 56-7. So if you get like 48-1⁄2, even then, that's low margin for error. But I think Kansas is going to be able to run the ball on them very well. And so even when you bring the backups in, when it's Daniel Hyshaw and Terry Stewart, when it's Savion Morrison, you should be able to score and stuff. But still, once you get into that 40-point line, like the game could easily run out of time

Starting point is 00:20:05 and you win 45-3 and you don't cover the spread, but you still had a dominant win, right? So it's always dangerous when you're doing those. I'm going to have more fun with the prop bets, which we will do some prop bets on our preview show on Thursday for the game, which will come on FanDuel. So anyway, two days out. I found this is interesting.

Starting point is 00:20:23 I guess one stat that I think will have a big determining factor on the season. So Kansas averaged giving up two rushing touchdowns per game last season. Two rushing touchdowns per game. UCLA last year was the best defense at preventing rushing touchdowns. They gave up five total. Now, I don't say that to be like, oh, like Kansas has to make the leap to being the best defensive preventing rushing touchdowns in the country.

Starting point is 00:20:51 That would be a little asinine to expect that or to ask for that. But you can see there's a big gulf there. And can you narrow that gulf from what the top is to what you've given up? You know, we've talked a lot about the run defense. Can it be better? And it got a lot better last year from where it was the year before. If you can make another stride this year, it's going to help your pass defense. It's going to help your pass rush.

Starting point is 00:21:12 It's going to put you in more favorable situations, and it's also going to prevent teams from just running down your throat. And for Kansas, with, I think, more athletic, bigger thumpers of linebackers, a defensive tackle unit that I feel good about, I think the pieces are there that you can take another step forward as a run defense. Obviously, they've got to do it. They've got to show it on the field.

Starting point is 00:21:35 All this stuff is hoopla and hype to where we're at. But that is one area when you're looking at where can Kansas get better because there are certain areas you go in, you're in, you're out, and you're like, well, I don't know if they're going to reach that level or like, maybe that was a little bit lucky this year. You look at the red zone defense. That should get better. You look at turnovers.

Starting point is 00:21:51 They could get better. They were closer to even look at the run defense. Those are areas that KU can get better, needs to get better. And I think we'll get better this season to have a pretty special year. I don't know for this episode of locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere. You get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll have our Kansas this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts,

Starting point is 00:22:05 including on our YouTube page. We'll have our Kansas Lindenwood preview later in the week, so you're not going to want to miss it. Make sure you're tuned in on LOJ. See you next time.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Reaction & Analysis to Kansas Jayhawks Football Depth Chart for Week One vs. Lindenwood Lions

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