Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Second Quarter / Midway Point Report for Kansas Jayhawks Football: Stocks Down on Defense & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're at the midway point of the season for KU football. Wear stocks up, wear stocks down throughout the team. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. And thank you to the everydayers catching each and every show. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:00:34 You can also find us on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe. On today's episode of Locked On Jayhawks, six games through the season, halfway through the year for KU, we did our first quarter reports after the first three games. This will be our second the season, halfway through the year for KU. We did our first quarter reports after the first three games. This will be our second quarter points or our midway reports for KU football where things are stocks up, stocks down on the offense, on the defense, on the special teams, on miscellaneous. So we get to all that on today's edition of the show,

Starting point is 00:00:59 starting with the offense. First, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Just visit FanDuel.com to get started today. So let's start right here with the offense. Where is stocks up? Where is stocks down on the offense? So far, if we're comparing it from, you know, where we were after three weeks to where we are now

Starting point is 00:01:24 and or maybe some stuff of where you're comparing it before the season to where we are now. Now, if you're comparing before where we were before the season started or in the offseason to where we are now, it still is stocks down on Jalen Daniels and the offense and Jeff Grimes and those sorts of things. But since our last episode, since the first quarter, so over the last three games compared to the first three games, I guess you could say maybe slight stocks up for Jalen Daniels and Jeff Grimes. I mean, last week was probably the best performance for both guys, and certainly there were less poor performances than the Illinois and UNLV games.

Starting point is 00:02:03 So I guess you could say that if you really wanted to. But overall, you know, it still is from where the season begun. It is stocks down. And as much as you do have a lot of other problems that you got to deal with, you're still trying to figure that problem out. Stock is up on the offensive line for KU. So I think coming into the season, I thought this was going to be a solid offensive

Starting point is 00:02:26 line. I wasn't totally sure. I go back and forth on whether it was going to be better than a year before or worse than a year before. And obviously no Dominic Poonie. The fact that it's even in the same vicinity, I think is pretty impressive. And you lose your offensive line coach too. And Scott Fuchs, who was an outstanding offensive line coach, but this has not been a problem for KU at all. I think stock is up and also stock is up. I think, from the three-game point because it's maybe been more consistent, or you had a bad run-blocking game last week. You had a bad pass-blocking game one of the weeks previous, but outside of that, it's been pretty stellar. Right now, KU on Pro Football Focus, they rank 28th in pass blocking grade. And they're also top 35 nationally in the least amount of sacks allowed.

Starting point is 00:03:09 And that is even with the Jeff Grimes offense that, you know, is having a lot of deep balls thrown in there that you need the quarterback to hold the football for a little bit longer there. They are also in run blocking grade on pro football focus. Even after the bad week last week, they're still sixth nationally in run blocking grade on pro football focus. after the bad week last week they're still sixth nationally in run blocking grade on pro football focus um they're doing a good job there's some numbers you can look at where it's like line yards gained and how much uh rushing yards is gained by the running backs um versus how much is gained by the line and ku ranks well in both

Starting point is 00:03:41 because they have good running backs so they're're breaking tackles, but also because the line ranks well because they're getting a good push to allow those guys before they have to make that first broken tackle. So the line has been good, and specifically on individuals Bryce Foster and Logan Brown, both grade above 80s so far this season. We thought they could be the ceiling raisers for this offensive line because of the talent and the pedigree that they had coming in, that if they lived up to the hype, it would really raise the ceiling of this offensive line. I think that's what you're seeing, right? Again, you're top 30 in both pass blocking and run blocking grade on PFF. There's not a lot of offensive lines that you're going to end up with that are in that range, right?

Starting point is 00:04:17 Like some might be top 10 in run blocking, but you're 50th in pass blocking or something. So I feel very good saying that KU has like a top 20 offensive line right now in college football at least through the first half of the season and you know it's been a good balance of having a lot of those players Foster and Brown who I mentioned being above 80s Bryce Cable do and Michael Ford are both the 70 above 78s in terms of their PFF grade which all those are really. You have a decent amount of depth, right? Even though it's been a little bit of inconsistencies here and there from guys like Kobe Baines and Shane Bumgarner, like they're at least reasonable power five players that you have rotating in there as kind of your fifth guy. So yes, the offensive line, I think stock is up and stock is up on what that's been for KU this season. Stock is down on the wide receivers.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Now, this doesn't maybe apply for everybody, but I think as a whole, it kind of does apply. So you look at Luke Grimm, he's leading the team in receptions and receiving yards, and he's still finding himself having a pretty good season. Numbers close in line with what he's done the past couple of years for KU, maybe a little bit more. But the production for the other guys is down. close in line with what he's done the past couple of years for KU, maybe a little bit more. But the production for the other guys is down.

Starting point is 00:05:33 And I am conscious of the fact that that's not all on the receivers. Some of it is on Jeff Grimes. Some of it is on maybe not giving play calls that are as beneficial to getting them in the best spots they can be as what Andy Kotelnicki did. Some of that is on the quarterback, right? The quarterback has struggled a lot more this year than in the past couple seasons for KU, which obviously that is going to halt what you're doing from a receiving core. And you think about some missed passes or underthrown passes

Starting point is 00:05:55 or overthrown passes, whatever it is. There still have been some drops in there, seemingly more this year than there were over the past couple of seasons. And you look at pro football focus, and Kansas ranks, let's see, 59th in receiving grade right now. Previous two seasons, they were top 10 nationally both seasons, right? And so, again, is it dinging them for not having the quarterback play? It's entirely possible.

Starting point is 00:06:18 And we just saw the Quentin Skinner big game. Maybe that's a start for a breakout for him. Maybe we see that with LJ Arnold coming soon too, but it's not just about those guys. It's that I thought you saw a good amount of flash plays from like Doug Amelia, a season before, whether it was run blocking,

Starting point is 00:06:33 whether it was making a big catch here, there. I thought the Trevor Wilson giving, given the ability that he has with the ball in his hands. And we've seen Jeff Grimes like to run those reverses and receiver screens I figured he would have a bigger role on the team right now like Keaton Kubeka seemed to be well liked by the staff his true freshman season last year got him on the two deep at one point is the true freshman which I think he was the only one at that point on the two deep who

Starting point is 00:06:58 was a true freshman and we just really haven't seen him play any snaps on offense right so it's a combination of everything. And again, I don't know how much blame to put there, but stock is certainly down on what you're getting from that group from where you thought you might be coming into the season. Stock is also down on the Trevor Cardell breakout. It's felt like every offseason for the past like three offseasons, we've been talking about, hey, could Trevor Cardell have like a breakout this year?

Starting point is 00:07:22 He's being talked up. He's, you know, this athletic tight end, yada, yada, yada. And this would be the year, right? I mean, Mason Fairchild graduates, goes off to the NFL. Deshaun Hanukkah, the transfer you bring in from Iowa State, has the season-ending injury in spring football. So it's like, okay, it's Jerry Casey and Trevor Cardell. Well, it turns out Casey ends up winning the starting job,

Starting point is 00:07:41 and it just hasn't come together for Cardell. It hasn't really come together for the tight ends. Right now, Cardell is just a 54 grade on pro football focus, and that's certainly been something that KU has been missing a lot of, that reliable tight end with Mason Fairchild. It'll be interesting to see if they can find that next season, right, because you look at it, well, Jared Casey's gone after this season. Trevor Cardell is gone after this season.

Starting point is 00:08:02 Deshaun Hanneke might be that guy, but you don't know how he's going to come back from a season-long injury, right? Is he going to be the same guy? Is he not going to be the same guy? How is all that going to work? You've brought in some interesting recruits into the tight end room, guys like Jaden Hamm and Carson Bruin, that maybe they'll be ready to make that leap.

Starting point is 00:08:18 You have other interesting walk-ons that it sounds like have certainly earned the respect of the coaching staff as being good enough players to get on the field, even as former walk-ons like Quentin Conley. He bought the transfer in with Leighton Kier, but we haven't seen a ton of him this season. What is that going to look like for KU at tight end next year? I don't know. And then stock is down on Trevor Wilson usage or Douglas Emelian,

Starting point is 00:08:40 for that matter. We kind of talked about that with the receivers. So far with Wilson and Emelian, though, guys that I thought, again, you brought your three starting receivers back. I wasn't expecting them to be putting up 1,000-yard seasons or be playing 50 snaps every game. But I thought they'd be playing more than they would be right now. So far combined, Trevor Wilson and Doug Emelian, combined,

Starting point is 00:08:59 they have 103 total snaps. So combined, that's like nine snaps per game per player. That's way less than I would have thought coming into the air. All right, let's get to the defense side of the ball. Where stock's up, where stock's down, and then some miscellaneous and special teams. Our episode today is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Did you know Kansas is 11-1 to win the national title

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Starting point is 00:09:46 when you place your first $5 bet. That is at Fanduel.com, the official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. Continuing on with our midway point, and thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen. Don't forget you can make Locked On College Football or one of our plenty other shows your second listen every day. We're going to be talking some KU basketball later in the week.

Starting point is 00:10:09 We'll also get to what KU can accomplish during the bye week and so much more coming at you later this week on Locked on Jayhawks. Okay, to the defensive side of the football. I think stocks down overall on this unit. I mean, if we're looking at this from where KU was in the first three games to where they are now through game six, your second quarter of the season, you could honestly make the argument that the offense is slightly stocks up. You would have to make the argument that the defense is very much stocks down.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Like it is a big arrow pointing down from where KU was. You think about the first three games of the season. Lindenwood, whatever, throwaway game. But defense looked good, right? Better than them to look bad in an FCS game. Think of the Illinois game. You were the more physical team than them. You shut down their running game.

Starting point is 00:10:53 You gave them a couple big pass plays, but they were kind of just great throws and catches. Overall, defense played really well against Illinois. You think about the UNLV game. I mean, outside of really that final drive in the fourth quarter where Sluka broke a billion tackles and you were clearly tired and they converted a couple close fourth downs and you had a fumble that you should have recovered, but you did not, that would have cut

Starting point is 00:11:13 the head off the snake on that drive. They were good in the UNLV game. That's a good UNLV offense overall, right? But since then, it's been a, I shouldn't say disaster. It's not like you've been giving up like 40, 50 points every game. But you think of the Arizona State game, giving up 21 in the fourth quarter. You think about giving up 35 overall. You think about giving up 32 in the West Virginia game overall, including those couple touchdowns over the last handful of minutes of the game. You think about giving up 38 in the TCU game, right?

Starting point is 00:11:42 These are 30-point outings that you're allowing. And maybe if this was the KU offensive last year or the year before that, you could still win some of those games. Given where the offense has gone now and the struggles they have and the type of team they are now, it's really hard for this Kansas team to win games that are in the 30s. And so it has been down, and I think there's a lot of ways that you go about that. So specifically, though, what has been up and what has been down?

Starting point is 00:12:08 Well, the pass rush. So you look at the first three games of the season for KU. The pass rush had 54 pressures over the first three games. That was 18 per game. Even if I took out the FCS game, you're looking at closer to 16 pressures per game. That's been down over the last three games. You're at 42 pressures, which is 14 per game.

Starting point is 00:12:27 And even worse, the arrow is pointing further down because over the last two games, you've had a total of 20 pressures, so 10 per game. So the pass rush is falling off even more for KU, which is not good. So stock is down on the pass rush. Stock is down on pass coverage. You think about West Virginia late. They were able to throw in a really all game long. West Virginia did hit a couple of big pass plays. TCU, the whole game, was able to get whatever they wanted in the air. Arizona State, for much

Starting point is 00:12:53 of the game, torched you in the secondary. Obviously, the last drive was them running the football, but KU has good corners. Kobe Bryant is a good corner. I think he's going to be playing in the NFL. I think Melo Dotson is going to get a shot to play in the NFL. Now, Melo has struggled of late in tournament. He's been targeted a lot of late. He's been targeted 28 times. He has given up 19 catches for 272 yards and three touchdowns. He does have two interceptions and that forced fumble. So he's at least getting some back and then a penalty that's over the last three games. But that basically means over the last three games that when teams are targeting Mello Dotson, they are averaging a little less than 10 yards per

Starting point is 00:13:34 target at him. Right. So basically a first down every time they target, like he's better than that. Right. How much of that is the scheme? How much of that is the coverages they're being asked to do? How much of it is I don't know, he just had a bad stretch or what? I don't know. But the safety and the linebacker coverage, as well as that lack of pass rush, that certainly that doesn't help in all this. Right. You have longer to throw the football and probably some of that questionable play calling or inability to adjust or some of the off coverage has led to KU giving up big totals here in the air, whether it's been over the course of the game like the TCU game or in key moments of the game like the West Virginia game. So stock is down on pass rush.

Starting point is 00:14:15 Stock is down on coverage. I think stock is up on Cornell Wheeler's value because certainly with him being injured, you think about the West Virginia game, he gets injured toward the end of that one uh I can't remember if it was the drive that they made at 28 25 or if it was the drive they got the game winning touchdown he got hurt on I thought it was the 28 25 but you see the the I don't know loss of him not being out there because it's not just that you're like obviously you don't want any injuries to happen, but just point being, if let's say Tommy Dunn is cramping on the sideline and he can't go in for a drive.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Okay, well, you know, DJ Withers and Blake Harold and Keenan Caldwell, like they've been suitable replacements. They've been similar level players, right? You think about at the, like on the offense side of the ball for KU, at the receiver position, for instance. If L.J. Arnold cramps up for a drive, can't go out there, I know we talked about how they haven't been playing a lot, but if Trevor Wilson or Doug Emelian has to get a few more snaps,

Starting point is 00:15:15 is it the end of the world? No. It's not a huge interchangeable thing. The drop-off isn't so far that it's just going to screw you over. That's kind of been the case at linebacker right now. Taiwan, Barry Hill is he's struggling. So last year, he,

Starting point is 00:15:32 his PFF grade was, I want to say in like the high twenties, it was certainly a struggle for, for Barry Hill season to go, but he was definitely playing through injuries. I know that like at the beginning of the season, he was injured. And I think when he came back,

Starting point is 00:15:44 maybe he rushed back because he wanted to get on the field and he had to probably play through injuries all throughout the season. And I certainly feel bad about that, but I'm looking at it now. And among all of the qualified linebackers currently in the Big 12, this is on Pro Football Focus. I don't know how many of them there are on the updated numbers. He is last in Pro Football Focus of among big 12 linebackers at a 43. The next lowest is a 50 with Jack Dingle at Cincinnati. And so you're going from with Cornell Wheeler, who is still qualified on this.

Starting point is 00:16:15 Let's see one, two, three, four. Cornell Wheeler is the sixth best linebacker in the big 12 among all of these that are qualified. So you're going from the sixth best to the worst. It's not just that you're going from the sixth best to like a middle of the

Starting point is 00:16:26 pack. Right. So that's a problem. But it's also the, him calling plays. It's that he can be a two-way linebacker that yeah, he's not going to be as good as coverage as, as maybe a safety is or an extra DB is,

Starting point is 00:16:38 but like among the K linebackers, he's one of the better guys in coverage and he's one of the better guys to help stop in the run and making tackles. They miss Cornell Wheeler. Right. I think this more so speaks to the idea that the depth isn't there from what i certainly hoped was going to be coming into the season i think uh when you looked at some of the young players or specifically in the back seven i i actually like the depth uh still at the defense tackle spot obviously i think defensive end actually has decent enough depth even though it doesn't have the star power that's getting the pass rush,

Starting point is 00:17:05 but that back seven just doesn't have enough depth. And so what you're seeing is when, you know, there is even just one injury. And I think linebackers probably the thinnest position for KU defensively. So that's why it's the worst. You're seeing that big drop off, but it just makes his importance even more.

Starting point is 00:17:23 So hopefully you get them back from the bi-. And then stocks up on some young guys. We've talked a lot about this if you've been an everydayer. We've talked a lot about the young guys. You've heard a lot of it. DJ Warner starting to play more. Blake Harreld playing better and playing more. Bye Joe had a bad game last week, but he's been continually playing more. And you like to see the progression from some of those guys that, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:42 ideally it's going to set you up that those players can be more ready to play next season and play starring roles or play big roles on a team because at this point in the season you're just looking for in what ways can we improve next year and that's certainly one of those ways for KU all right let's finish up stocks up stocks down on our second quarter report first half report whatever you want to call it for special teams and miscellaneous this episode of the show is brought to you by game time which has a new feature called game whatever you want to call it for special teams and miscellaneous. This episode of the show is brought to you by GameTime, which has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier.

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Starting point is 00:19:01 What time is it? Game time. Hi, thanks for joining us on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Let's finish up. Where are the stocks on our second quarter report through the season? I think stocks down on the team depth and staying healthy. We just talked about some of that depth at the defensive side of the football. I think KU not as deep of a team as you might have hoped, but also they've certainly had some key injuries, and everybody has injuries you have to deal with throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:19:30 It kind of just becomes like how impactful are the injuries for you? And certainly the Cornell Wheeler one is big for KU. Kobe Bryant just getting hurt last week. We'll see what happens there. I'm expecting him to play in the Houston game, but I guess you never know. Guys just getting banged up. For all we know, there are guys playing through injuries that we don't really even know about, and that's all kind of part of this

Starting point is 00:19:53 at this point in time. Obviously, the injuries KU suffered in the preseason, too, with guys like Dylan Brooks. Maybe he would have had a breakout season as a pass rusher and Sean Hanneke and stuff like that. Stocks down on Lance Leipold in the job market because the past couple off seasons, there has been a bit of panic, a bit of worry, a bit of, is he going to take this job? Is he going to get offered this other job?

Starting point is 00:20:15 Is this just a ploy to get more money and, or more NIL money or donation money for KU, whatever it is. I don't think KU fans or donors have to worry about that this year. I can't imagine that there's going to be all these big schools that are coming calling that KU is going to have to fend off to keep Lance Leipold as the head coach for this upcoming season. So we're stuck together. Now, I still believe in Lance Leipold as head coach and everything, but yeah, anyway, stocks neutral on KU not having great special teams. The kicking has actually been good. The punting has actually been good, but the, the punt coverage has not been good for KU.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Uh, it feels like with the kickoff return game, they're constantly taking it out as opposed to taking the, you know, touchback and having it at the 25. And then they're starting at the 19, the 20, the 21 times where they're getting holding calls and starting at the 11 yard line. And for an offense that has not been, you know been great, that extra 10, 15, 5 yards even could be the difference in scoring a field goal that drive or maybe punching it in to get a touchdown. It really could.

Starting point is 00:21:13 You've got to take advantage of it over the course of the game. So I would say stocks neutral. That just continues to be the case. And then stocks down on close games. Stocks up on things repeating themselves. And stocks down on luck. KU has not been lucky, and they've been bad in close games and that's been a repeated theme so no need to get more into that one uh final one here stocks tbd on how this affects recruiting and donor impact right is

Starting point is 00:21:38 this going to have a negative impact on recruit i mean clearly it doesn't have a positive impact on recruiting um but like how negative is this going to happen? Is this going to break up the class at all? Is this going to be something where it's going to be harder to add more to the class? Is it going to be something where it gives you the opportunity to go get somebody that maybe you actually weren't going to get and be like, Hey, look, we're not very good. You could come in and play right away. Right. I don't know. There are certain kids where that becomes more important. Other kids that's not as important. So that can have an effect. Well, what about the donor stuff with the stadium, with NIL money, right? How is this going to affect that? Is it going to have, you

Starting point is 00:22:12 know, for some donors, maybe the effect of, hey, this was not good enough. I need to give even more money so that we can go out there and be big NIL spenders and get this great transfer portal class. Or is it going to have the inverse effect on some donors where it's like, listen, I just gave a bunch of money last year, and this is the results of everything that I gave? I don't know if I want to give again, right? So that's going to be very interesting, and obviously it's going to be very important for Lance Leipold

Starting point is 00:22:37 and Travis Goff and everybody to continue to find that green coming into the program to keep everything moving forward. But that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll be back later this week talking a little KU basketball, a little more KU football during the bye week. This is Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Second Quarter / Midway Point Report for Kansas Jayhawks Football: Stocks Down on Defense & More

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