Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - RISERS: Kansas Jayhawks Fall Camp Surprises Through 2 Weeks – DeAndre Harper, Nahzae Cox & More!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Who are some of the biggest risers so far for KU football through two weeks of fall camp? 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? This is brought to you by Fandual. Join all the action at fanduel.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer this MLB season. We're going to break down some of the stock. Rock risers for KU Football So Thor through two weeks of fall camp. We'll also get into some of the latest of what Lance Leipold had to say over the weekend. And we'll finish up with ranking the top five assistant coaches for KU football this year.

Starting point is 00:00:50 Let's start right here with the risers for the team. And we did another episode kind of talking about some risers about a week ago. And in that one, we kind of mentioned Cole Ballard because it felt like he was starting to, I don't know, based on some of the press conferences, get in a preferred position for the competition there. Well, since we last had that one, it feels like Isaiah Marshall has kind of closed in on the job and that it is,

Starting point is 00:01:19 I don't know, maybe even you would lean Marshall in certain aspects, right? I don't know that it has as much to say about the games of both players for the stocks as much as it is just where they are in the competition. I think those are kind of two separate conversations. that, right? Let's really go to this one, though, besides the quarterback, DeAndre Harper. So DeAndre Harper was a player who played a lot of freshman football at Northwest Missouri State. And obviously, Kansas, you know, in that same conference, had a lot of success bringing over

Starting point is 00:01:51 Dom Poonie. Obviously, you would hope for even the 60th percentile outcome of what Poonie became for KU. But we heard a little bit from Lance Leipold over the weekend about Harper's game. and here's some quotes about what he had to say about it. He said, quote, hard to keep him off the field. When he gets on people, they have troubles getting off of him. That's a pretty darn good skill to have as an offensive lineman, right? He also said, quote, going to have to find ways to get him some snaps. So, I mean, there it is directly.

Starting point is 00:02:21 Like, you got to get this guy on the field. He also mentioned he can play inside or outside. He was playing tackle at Northwest Missouri State. He's got size enough to play tackle, but it sounds like mostly play. at the guard position, but having that versatility is going to be super helpful for him getting those snaps and getting those reps because it is just one extra opportunity or position you can get on in the field because of if somebody's tired or an injury or whatever it is. But I think he goes from being somebody who we looked at as, okay, maybe he could be a long-term

Starting point is 00:02:54 piece to, okay, when you look at Kansas, you have your five starters, and then you have your three main backups that you go to and you want your three main backups to cover those five starting positions, whether it's, you know, I can play left or right tackle, or maybe I can just play the left side, left guard or left tackle, or maybe I'm a, you know, backup interior linemen, center and guard. You want your three backup main offensive linemen to be able to cover all the main five starting positions. And so if he can play inside and outside, like maybe he is one of those guys who, you know, he could start he could give you playing time at left guard or left tackle or at again like I said you know either of the guard spots and a tackle spot or something like that but good news to

Starting point is 00:03:38 hear about him some other players um that hearing some good things about Kevin Sullivan is one of them for the tight end you know I think the main tight end focus is who's going to be the the tight end too obviously Carson Bruin is the starter and then who's going to win among this this you know senior class of players, the other playing spot. I heard some good things about Kevin Sullivan that, you know, he's trending in the right direction and could even get on the field a little bit as a true freshman for KU. And that becomes important because you look at the tight end recruiting class that KU has coming in for next year where it's really, really good.

Starting point is 00:04:15 You're going to want to make some good impressions right now if you're a young player for KU. I've also heard very good things about the receivers so far. Now, sounds like I know there's some talk that Cam Pickett. was not at one of the recent practices. So we'll wait and see what the status or what the deal is there. Pickett if it was just like a short thing or if it's something more long term. But that would potentially be very bad news for KU.

Starting point is 00:04:40 But I had heard really good things about Pickett at this point, taking another step. I had heard some good stuff, as you would imagine, about Nick McMillan. And I heard a lot of good things about Nante Cox in that he has made some really, really impressive plays so far during camp for KU. So I've heard the receivers are kind of balling right now for KU. So that would be another one that is seeing their stock rise coming in to the start of the season. Moving over to the defensive side of the football, some defense alignment, some young guys or locally, I guess, I don't know, KU groomed recruits seem to be kind of the theme here. Marcus Calvin, somebody who is competing with Eamon, small.

Starting point is 00:05:24 for starting spot and sounds like Marcus Calvin, according to Jim Panagos, the defensive tackle coach has really stepped up, not just from his play perspective, but to a leadership perspective, enough so that, like, I'm, I don't know, right now, like he'd be my projected starter there next to Blake Harold. You look at the defensive end spot. Garrett Martin was somebody that both Joe Deneen, the defensive end coach and Lance Leibold brought up separately. So that's a young player who,

Starting point is 00:05:54 you know, second year guy seems to be going in the right direction there. And then as far from the defensive back perspective, like we heard a lot from Lance Leipold about Lenny Brown, aka he goes by Trey Brown. One of the quotes that he mentioned about him is about as big of a compliment as you can get from Lance Lightpool and his coaching staff. He said, quote, consistent. Because typically the guys who win jobs and get on the field

Starting point is 00:06:21 are the guys who are the most consistent for KU, right? He said, quote, for a guy who's just enrolled in January, the moment's not too big for him. He takes coaching, and later he said he's in asking questions, right? These are all good skills of a young freshman. Sounds like he's talented. Sound like he's hit the bar, the ground running here and was a early enroller. So it sounds like he might be able to hit the field a little bit. And that is a position where KU was thrown young guys into the fire before and had some long-term success.

Starting point is 00:06:50 But we also heard good things about E.J. Cannon, Elijah Cannon. Sounds like he's even playing some nickel. Could he earn that kind of main spot, right? He said he's a really versatile football player, did Likehold, quote, EJ's been a real pleasant addition to this program with attitude and work ethic. Again, like those are things that you talk about consistency. You talk about having the right attitude and work ethic. Those are all very, very big compliments to get from the coaching staff.

Starting point is 00:07:16 And so those are all guys that I think young guys taking a step up, you know, will it be necessarily to being a starter in the case of Garrett Martin? or E.J. Cannon or Trey Brown? No, not necessarily, but does it put you in the right spot to at least get some playing time as youngster and be a starter very early in your career? Yes, you bet it does. So let's get to some of the latest from camp, some other interesting comments and quotes from Lance Leopold. We'll get to that next. Our episode today is brought to you by five hour energy. If you've got a sweet tooth like I do, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat without all the sugar. That's why cotton candy, five hour energy. shop brings that nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way. This is the classic cotton candy taste that you remember, but with a tasty caffeine boost and zero sugar. It's a quick, easy way to satisfy that sweet craving while keeping things simple and on the go, right? The flavor, it's that classic throwback. You get that fruity vanilla vibe, surprisingly smooth. It's super convenient too, right? Small, portable shot that you can grab whenever that you need that little

Starting point is 00:08:26 pick me up. You hit that little low period around two or three o'clock, the after lunch period. Well, you just get one ready to go in your pocket and then boom, you're good to go. It's kind of become a go-to for me and a lot of other people, especially if you want something sweet without going overboard. Bring on the sweetness without cotton candies five-hour or bring on the sweetness with cotton candy, five-hour energy shots available online now at five-hourenergy.com or over on Amazon. on. Thanks you for joining us here on Lockdown Jayhawks. What is some of the other latest news from camp from Lance Leipold? Well, it sounds like there's a lot of injuries in the DB room. And what we kind of talked about there was some stock risers, Lenny Brown, E.J. Cannon, that becomes important because if some of these injuries creep into the season to guys like Austin Alexander who is fighting stuff, to, you know, guys like Saeed Gibbs fighting stuff, like, you know, Jaden Harris. These are things where youngstall. are going to have more opportunity to get reps and get playing time. And it's important for them to take those down.

Starting point is 00:09:33 So that's good to hear about some of those guys like Cannon and therefore. It also is going to be interesting because you look at the starting corner spot opposite of Jalen Todd. Who's going to win that spot, you know? And maybe just by virtue of battle of attrition, could that be a spot for Roman Pearson, the six foot three corner who would give you a different look from Ball State, who has experience, you know, is he able to just kind of win that job from availability standpoint? Then we also heard from Lance Leipold talking about some of the offensive line stuff that he said,

Starting point is 00:10:06 you know, they're bigger when Amir Herring is in at center because it allows them to add another big guard in there, whether it's Connor Stroh or I guess going back to the conversation that we had about DeAndre Harper, right? But it sounds to me like, I don't know, it sounds to me like Tavaki, Tuogolavatu is a starter. Like we look at the tackles, Calvin Clements, Nick Morrow, sounds like they've been penciled in for a bit here as your starters. And you're hearing a starter. It's just more of a question of will he be the center or not?

Starting point is 00:10:37 We did hear from Lance Leibold kind of mentioning there's been a little bit of inconsistencies snapping the football. So I don't know if that's in reference to herring or that position in general or dealing with injuries or what. But that could be one thing there. And so you look at the other two spots. To me, it feels like, hey, it's either going to be a center with herring at guard and Tuolivatu, or it'll be herring at center, Tuolivatu, and then the other guard, one of Connor Stro or DeAndre Harper, right?

Starting point is 00:11:07 It does sound like, you know, whether it's Stroh or Harper, they'll be one of those three main backups that we discussed earlier. Jack Tanner, based on some of the comments from Lance Leopold over the weekend, the former Tulsa Transfer, who didn't play last year for Kansas, sounds like he's kind of going to win that. swing tackle role where he'd be able to play left tackle or right tackle again harper could maybe fill in it either if you need them um so it feels like between again like when you're looking at clements morrow herring uh tuico lovatu um stro harper tanner and then you know i guess your your other center with case and carpenter at this point that feels like you're pretty clear top eight that we've kind of been discussing. So there's still a little bit of time

Starting point is 00:12:00 in camp for maybe some things to shuffle around, but it feels like to me, that's what's kind of developing here, right? Also mentioned from Lance Leipold, he was talking a little bit of Kevin Oatis and Debril Conday. And again, like, this is one where I'm doing a little bit of guessing myself. But when I go back and rewatch the press conference from Jim Panagos, the defensive tackle coach. And I go and watch the question that Lance Leipold gets asked in his answer about where those guys are at. It just feels like the answer and the discussions about both players is maybe a little bit different. I don't think Jim Pantigos was active about Kevin Oatis. He was asked about Jibril Condé. Based on the answers that both kind of gave about

Starting point is 00:12:49 Condé as well as the answer that Leipold kind of gave about Oatis, to me, If I'm reading between the lines, I'm going to take it as OATIS is maybe ahead of him right now. And that becomes important because, I mean, there's a chance to KU need both of those guys to play some snaps or KU. But certainly whoever's in front between those two players probably needs to play double-digit snaps or KU, 10, 15 snaps a game. So who is ready for that job? I found that very interesting as well. All right, let's finish up here ranking the top five assistant coaches on KU's staff. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

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Starting point is 00:14:45 Now, to be clear, some of the rules here, I will not be ranking any of the analysts on the team or something like that. Like you can make it honestly a case that like Dwayna Kina, the, you know, long time like corner DB's coach that they brought in as an analyst. Like you could legitimately based on his past and experience and stuff make a case that he is top five on KU. But just for the sake of this, I'm only going to be ranking. It will be coordinators and position coaches. Okay.

Starting point is 00:15:13 Number five on the list. Let's start with Joe Deneen. It feels like somebody who is your kind of up and comer on the defensive side of the football. And obviously he has the KU ties and had a lot of success playing in Lawrence. at least from, you know, an individual perspective. But just seeing, and also being a free state guy, like he is Lawrence through and through, but just seems like he has a bright future in the profession, from where he's kind of been in the past to now getting an opportunity at Kansas.

Starting point is 00:15:42 And we saw, I don't know, we've seen some flashes from some of the players he's working with. I'm excited to see if Deneen can kind of continue to rise his assistant coach game here. So I have him in at number five. Number four in the list, I have Jim Zabrowski. Interesting because you're talking about a guy who just technically got demoted from offensive coordinator to quarterbacks coach, but I still think he's a really good quarterbacks coach. And so that's why I have him in at number four.

Starting point is 00:16:08 You look at how he helped progress Jason Bean and Jalen Daniels. You look at how he helped get Cole Ballard ready back in 2023 for some important games. I think Jim Zabowski is a good quarterbacks coach. You know, maybe the offensive coordinator stuff keeps him on. off the top three here, but I do have him in at number four there. Number three on the list is Matt Lubick. Lubick is the tight ends coach right now. And Lubick going back to when he was an analyst at KU, his first stint around for a couple

Starting point is 00:16:36 years was huge in KU developing the offense, Andy Kolecki developing the offense that KU needed for those first three years at Kansas. He ended up going somewhere else because the timing just didn't work out when the opening happened for KU. But I think in a world where, because he was dealing with some cancer stuff, and eventually got cleared and eventually took an offensive coordinator job at Nevada. I think in a world where, you know, he doesn't have the medical questions going into that offseason.

Starting point is 00:17:04 When Andy Kodolniki left for Penn State, I think there's a real chance that I know Jim Zabrowski called the plays in the bull game. I think there's a real chance Lubick could have ended up being the offense coordinator then anyway. But you look at Lubick's past stops, like everywhere he's gone, whether he's been a receiver coach or, you know, he's been like Oregon and Nebraska and a bunch of these different schools. he's really helped maintain a big option game, and I think of him very highly on the offensive staff for KU.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Number two on the list, I have Jim Panagos as the highest ranked position coach for KU. I think very highly of what Panigos does at a defensive tackle spot. I've heard some good things from other, I guess, assistant coaches around the Big 12 as well about what they think of Panagos as a defensive tackle coach. It feels like he's just always getting guys ready to play. he does a good job recruiting, he does a good job developing, he does a good job rotating and knowing what you need. And it feels like that's a position for KU that, you know, year in and year out, in years where they've had less talent, it hasn't been the worst position on the team.

Starting point is 00:18:08 And in years where they've had, you know, better talent, it's been a good position on the team. So I'm excited to see what you can do with this year's crop, to say the least, but it does have to, obviously, groom together some depth there. And then number one on the list is Andy Codolniki, the offensive coordinator in it number one here because of the design, because of the creativity. I just think very highly of his offenses. And I'm excited to see how it can raise the floor and the ceiling of this KU's team with KOLNiki back at the helm. All right, that'll do for this episode of Lockdown, Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page.

Starting point is 00:18:42 We can like and subscribe to the show. Don't forget check out our episode talking a little KU hoops as well, quieting the haters. So make sure to check that one out too. See you next time on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - RISERS: Kansas Jayhawks Fall Camp Surprises Through 2 Weeks – DeAndre Harper, Nahzae Cox & More!

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