Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Stocks Up & Down on Kansas Jayhawks Football Players During 2024 Camp + LB Room Will be Stronger
Episode Date: August 16, 2024Stocks up and stocks down on Kansas Jayhawks football players in fall camp ahead of the 2024 season from Harry Stewart at running back to the offensive line, Trevor Wilson, DJ Warner, DJ Withers, Cale...b Taylor and more. Plus, linebacker room preview and why it could be better than the 2023 version with Cornell Wheeler and JB Brown leading Brian Borland's defense under Lance Leipold.For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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On today's Locked on Jayhawks, stocks up and stocks down for KU football players during preseason camp.
You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks.
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We're going to be talking stocks up stocks down for KU football players.
We're going to be talking which young freshmen are setting themselves apart
for maybe early playing time this year,
or maybe setting themselves up for early playing time next year as well.
Then we'll get into our linebacker preview.
So a KU football field show on your KU football Friday here with Locked on
Jayhawks. And it's brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.
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All right, we're going to start with our KU football preseason camp,
Stocks Up and Stocks Down.
Let's start with where the stocks are up.
Demarius McGee, he is the corner who
transferred in last year, was his first year with the program, and kind of battled in some injuries,
but he was a former top 300 recruit out of high school, went to LSU. I believe he was a four-star
recruit and obviously had a lot of talent, more of an undersized corner, but there's a lot you
can do with that. You can play up in size, you can play on the slot lot you can do with that, right? You can play up in size.
You can play on the slot.
You can do all sorts of things.
And he was, again, limited by some of those injuries,
but obviously a very talented guy.
Well, it sounds like things are coming together for him.
Obviously, there's more opportunity to be had.
Kalen Girvin graduates.
Quinton Lassiter graduates.
That's going to leave more openings for somebody to nail down that third corner spot.
And it sounds like Demarius McGee is that guy.
But it's not just about Demarius McGee becoming that guy as the third corner this year.
But he's somebody who has another year after this of eligibility.
Melo Dots and Kobe Bryant are gone.
So I think you look at it right now and the stock is up on Demarius McGee.
Not just that he'll play a pretty solid role as a third corner.
I mean, we saw a lot of snaps for Kalen Girvin.
But also, that sets him up to be your number one corner in 2025. Stock is up on Harry Stewart,
the running back, the freshman running back who came in as a high-rated three-star recruit.
And you watch some of the tape, you hear some of the scouting reports, you see some of the stuff,
and there are a lot of similarities to the running style of what Devin Neal brought to the table for KU.
And obviously getting to be behind Devin Neal this year and kind of learn from him probably isn't the worst thing in the world there, right?
So the third string running back battle kind of, I would say, wide open in that you have good options.
But who is going to take it down we haven't been
able to see Savion Morrison really nail down that job so far in his KU career and I know he's had a
battle like different injuries along the way I don't know if that's the case again here in fall
camp Johnny Thompson redshirted and he's a redshirt freshman at the running back position
Torrey Laughlin's playing some running back he's playing some wide receiver although it sounds like
he's doing more of the receiver game.
And you have Harry Stewart there as well, who's competing for the position.
And it feels like to me, Stewart has the inside edge on that position.
Now, how much is it worth stocks up if you're possibly the third string running back?
I'll say this.
So Daniel Hyshaw struggled a bit over the back half of last season. And I don't
know if it was, you know, he's coming off a season ending injury last year. And so he just got
fatigued easier because of that or what, but with Daniel Hyshaw, we've seen some fumbling issues
and we've seen some injury issues. I think if Daniel Hyshaw puts it all together, he's an all
big 12 caliber talent back. But I think there's a real chanceaw puts it all together, he's an all-big 12-caliber talent back.
But I think there's a real chance that by midway through the season, we could even be talking about
Harry Stewart as the backup to Devin Neal. That would not shock me. I'm not expecting it
necessarily. I'm still going to pick that to be Daniel Hyshaw because, like I said, I think Daniel
Hyshaw is so talented. But would it shock me if you told me that's going to end up happening? No,
it wouldn't. And I think that's a good place to be in that Harry Stewart has gotten from what he could bring
to the table for KU. Caleb Taylor. And I would add DJ Withers. Really, it's the two defensive
tackles. I think right now those would be, if I was projecting the depth chart, my favorites to
start at the D tackle spot. I think Caleb Taylor's a guy that I was calling for a breakout in like
2022 because he got in the field a lot as a young player in 2021 and showed some good flashes but then he kind of fell into more of a rotational
role and then last year there were some injuries at the defense tackle spot he started to play more
and took advantage of the opportunity and one of the big things that he's done over this year and
last year is because a lot of times these guys might put on 30 pounds they might put on 20 pounds
in the off season.
But then once you get into your practicing every day, you're doing camp,
you lose all the weight back and you have to find the right diet to not just
gain the weight, but make a good weight and keep the weight on.
And that's something that Caleb Taylor had.
I know we talked about last year during the season,
and I think that's helped him this year.
I think he's a very talented guy.
So stocks up on both of them.
I think DJ Withers is somebody who like,
it wouldn't shock me if either one of those
ended up emerging as maybe the best defensive tackle season
you've gotten since maybe Daniel Wise,
if we're talking just interior defensive tackles.
I don't know, that wouldn't shock me.
So that would be stocks up from that situation.
I feel like I'm missing a good defensive tackle in there.
So apologies if I'm forgetting somebody,
leave us a comment or hit me up on Twitter at D Johnson radio.
Okay. JB Brown stocks up on him because when you look at some of the comments that have been made
by whether it's like Brian Borland or Chris Simpson or Lance Leipold, JB Brown feels like
a constant that he is getting brought up. I have been number one guy in the JB Brown fan club since
he transferred in from Bowling Green last year. And I'm so one guy in the J.B. Brown fan club since he transferred in for
Bowling Green last year, and I'm so excited to see the role that he played for last year's team,
making big plays, rotational linebacker, he had the big forced fumble on the big hit against
Oklahoma, and then this year looking like he's going to be a starter on this team, maybe he
ends up being the best linebacker on this team. I think J.B. Brown's a stud. I think he provides,
the question's become how good of a pass coverage guy can he be? But at the very least, I think he provides a thump. I think he provides a help and
run defense that you've sorely been missing as solid as Rich Miller was for you and as good of
a leader as he was and stuff. And you look at what you have with like Rich Miller and Taiwan
Bearhill, you know, they're not the biggest linebackers. They're not like the biggest
thumpers of linebackers in the world. JB Brown brings physicality. And as much as, yes, there are other parts of the game,
football is still a physical sport.
And that does matter.
And stopping the run does matter.
And I think J.B. Brown is going to be a fulcrum to this defense this season.
Trevor Wilson stocks up there.
I think part of this is probably his performance.
I think part of this is going to be his usage this year.
KU has a very clear top three receivers.
But could we be talking at the end of
the year that it's a top four, that Trevor Wilson gets involved there? Jeff Grimes likes to run
screens. He likes to run jet sweeps. Both of those profile into Trevor Wilson being the top guy for
it. Now, some of those could go to LJ Arnold. Luke Grimm's got some good quickness. Skinner's
more of a straight line runner, but with Wilson, he's probably the best of that bunch in terms of
making guys miss
with the ball into their hands. You're also probably going to see him on special teams,
right? We saw him return the punt against UCF. So you're going to see him in the return game.
You're going to see him at receiver. It feels like maybe a bigger role for Trevor Wilson than
a season ago. So stock's up here for him. Stock is up for Mason Ellis. Again, when you're looking
at quotes and press conferences from Lance Leipold
and Brian Borland and all these different guys,
another name that consistently has been getting brought up during spring ball
is Mason Ellis.
We saw or heard whatever you want to say, like KU football, put it out there.
I think on social media, this was like during the summer that he registered,
I think what they call like speeding tickets,
which is like you clocked a certain mile per hour,
had like the fastest or whatever it was. And he was like, at one point,
it was like the fastest or something. So you're talking about a guy who has really good speed.
He's got really good height, especially for the safety position. I think he came in at like six,
two, something like that on the recruiting profile and somebody who's an in-state kid.
So you always love to see that. Obviously it doesn't matter. You take the best player you do, but regardless,
could he be earning his way into,
because I think it's almost been like a,
okay,
well it's,
it's Marvin Grant and it's OJ Burrows is the top two safeties.
And then the backup safeties are just the dive brothers.
And it's almost been like a default thing.
Could he earn his way over one of the dive brothers and be one of the
backups?
And then you're therefore also setting yourself up to possibly be a starter the following season.
But certainly seems like he's made good inroads this year.
And he was a highly rated kid
in terms of the in-state recruits that you were bringing in.
DJ Warner stocks is up.
This is a big one for KU
because you didn't know how it was all going to translate right away.
Like clearly we know that DJ Warner, Dak Brinkley
have all the potential in the world,
but how impactful are they going to be as true freshmen?
Like, are they going to turn into all conference players in year two?
Could it be year three?
Could it take four years?
I don't know.
But how impactful in year one,
especially when you're trying to gain weight and do all these different things.
And it seems like DJ Warner is picking things up really well.
And sometimes you just let a guy go.
And I'm excited to see what he does on the field,
because I could see it being a situation where he plays even better when they
get on field.
Like remember Austin Booker,
it was kind of an unknown going into the first game.
It was like,
okay,
he he's an or on the depth chart with Hayden Hatcher.
And you know,
they were excited about him,
but there was seemingly some trepidation with it too.
And there was never like,
I felt like during last fall camp that like Austin Booker is this star at
defensive end.
Well,
he ended up being a star at defensive end.
So could that end up happening?
Could DJ Warner profile?
Wouldn't shock me.
I would say some guys like Daryl Simmons Jr., Nolan Gorchika, Dean Miller.
But even though they're stocks while up, they don't necessarily seem to be stocks like going
up that completely changed their role.
I think Simmons was already competing to be a rotational guard.
And I think that's probably the same, even though if he's playing well,
Miller was already leaning on being the starter. Okay.
It feels like that's still the case.
Gorkyka like maybe he is up because he's seen as maybe a swing lineman now
who can be your backup, a tackle or guard. I don't know, but again,
it's his backup role.
And then the last I would have here would be Shane Bumgarner.
It sounds like he went from maybe taking some big steps over the course of the summer and in fall camp so far in
terms of, you know, you're making a big adjustment from D2 into spring ball, and it wasn't all the
way there. And it seems like he has made some big progressions here to make a push. And it feels
like that is, I don't know, maybe the most notable, maybe the biggest position battle
happening right now for KU football is who's going to be
the starting center between Shane Bumgarner and Bryce Foster.
We'll get the stocks down.
We'll get to which freshman we think could earn early playing time
and then our linebacker preview.
This is Locked on Jayhawks.
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Of course, we got football right around the corner.
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but week zero is right around the corner.
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So head over to FanDuel.com and start making the most out of your summer with FanDuel. Let's get to stocks down. So for stocks down, I would say the starting spot
that Bryce Foster has. And I don't even know that it's necessarily stocks down on Bryce Foster.
Although, I don't know, if we want to talk about the offensive line as a whole, maybe we'll just
do that here. For stocks down, as I guess the offensive line or the certainty of what the
offensive line is going to be. So at center, it felt like Bryce Foster was going to be the guy. And I don't even
know, maybe Bryce Foster's performed up to what you would expect. He's just still learning the
playbook, but in terms of the physicals and everything he would bring to the table, like
maybe that's just there. It just took some adjusting to get there. In terms of the tackle
positions, you know, I had been very high on what you could get from Logan Brown.
Well, now all of a sudden, he's missing some practices and he's playing some right tackle.
You're moving Bryce Cable to left tackle.
You're mixing and matching a bunch of different guys.
And Jeff Grimes, the offensive coordinator, said on Thursday that he doesn't like where the line is at.
So if you're talking about that, then maybe that would mean Sox down.
Now, I do think there is an alternate world here,
and I'm going to bring it up because I do think this is actually very plausible
and could be happening, that some of these Shane Bumgarner
and Bryce Foster conversation,
like maybe the staff expects Bryce Foster to be the starter. Maybe Bryce Foster even
has a leg up in the competition, but they're making him earn it. And they want to keep guys
motivated. They want to keep Shane Bumgarner motivated, right? To keep improving. They want
to keep Bryce Foster motivated by making him think and making it feel like Shane Bumgarner is right
on his heels. And that if Shane Bumgarner is right on his heels, because he feels confident
that the coaching staff is acknowledging that,
that it's going to make Bryce Foster a better player.
Right.
And the same with some of these offensive linemen,
you have all this competition.
And if Jeff Grimes coming out to me to say,
and yeah,
I'm not overly impressed so far.
Like we're not where we need to be.
Then all of a sudden it gets rid of that complacency a little bit.
Right.
Because these kids do see these quotes.
Like,
I don't know,
maybe they don't all see them. Maybe they don't all catch them all the time, but they're
very accessible in public on social media, right? I mean, there's journalists tweeting it out there
and the players have Twitters. They see them. They probably, some of them sometimes will send
them to each other in a group chat and be like, can you believe coach said this? He's wilding out
there, whatever. That does happen. So my point is, could this just be a motivational tactic from the
coaches? I mean, that's their job to motivate these guys and get them in place. So whatever
way you have to do that, if it's emotional warfare, then you do it that way. You understand
why it happens that way. But I guess I, even though I am putting this one up there, I am also
acknowledging that it's a possibility that
this stuff is being overblown, I guess is what I would say. Okay, next up in stocks down, I almost
want to put Jason Gilliam here. It feels like we were all assuming after the end of last season,
and maybe even in spring ball, that Gilliam was going to be like the guy who replaces Craig Young,
because we saw him kind of back him up as the hawk. And now it feels like they're going to use
Marvin Grant as a hawk. So that's losing some of your role. And now it feels like they're going to use Marvin Grant as a Hawk.
So that's losing some of your role.
And then in downs where it is more of a rundown or early downs where you have more of a traditional
linebacker out there as opposed to kind of a Hawk, maybe it's Gilliam.
But even then it's like, oh, but Alex Reich might be playing and Logan Brantley might
be playing.
It just feels like he hasn't locked down that spot to the full point that I would expect,
even though I do expect him to play a good amount. I guess, I don't know, it's hard to say like too many bad things overall,
just because, you know, you're going to get coaches in the media during this talking players
up or talking about players doing well. Very seldom are you going to have the coach come out
and be like, yeah, this guy just wasn't ready to play. Or like, you know, I've not been impressed with this guy.
Like he just, he stunk it up today. That doesn't happen out there, right? You might have a whole
position unit like Jeff Grimes did, and that might be motivational, but you're rarely going to see
the coach be like, yeah, I don't know about that guy. He just, he stunk it up today, right? That
just doesn't happen. What about freshmen who are setting themselves up for early playing time this and next year?
So we mentioned Harry Stewart, obvious one.
Don't need to go into that again.
We mentioned DJ Warner.
Obviously don't need to go into that one.
What about Jon Jon Kamara?
Sounds like his athleticism has been really fun to watch so far.
Now, I don't know that I'm expecting it this year.
It feels like to me, he's this super athlete that if you can just get him
as knowledgeable about the scheme and the playbook as possible,
so maybe redshirt in the air, maybe playing four games,
that he's going to be a really good player down the road.
I can see that being as soon as next season.
But we'll see how much it is this year.
But it wouldn't surprise me either if you don't redshirt him
and he plays a ton on special teams and kind of rotates in here here there. And by back half of the season, he's playing a
bigger role. Jalen Todd is another one. And I believe he, uh, he will be somebody who could
win that fourth corner spot. And, and yeah, it's not as much playing time as the starters, but like
we saw Quinn Lasseter play decent amount last year. He would play 10, 15 snaps in a game. He
got some interceptions early in the season.
And then if somebody gets injured, he'd move into the third-corner role,
which that does play a lot more.
So it sounds like Jalen Todd doing a lot.
Jameel Croft, if we're talking redshirt freshman, I've been high on him.
I think you have a great feeling about that corner room.
Keaton Kubeka probably going to play a lot of special teams,
rotate in at receiver.
And then Logan Brantley as a redshirt freshman could be factoring in maybe,
like we said, over a guy like Jason Gilliam.
Okay, let's get to our linebacker room preview.
That'll bring up some of these players coming up on the other side on Locked on Jayhawks.
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Okay, our linebacker room preview for KU football.
This is a position that I've been very much talking up
that I think it's going to be better than it was a season ago.
I think you went from probably year one in the light pool era in 2021,
having what was maybe the worst linebacking unit in the entire Power Five.
I mean, it was certainly worse than the big 12
to then in 2022, it went to being, you know, okay. It's, it's still not super good, but like,
it's a little better last season. I feel like you were, you still had your flaws, but it was
still getting better. You're probably still bottom half of the league, but like you weren't probably
the worst anymore this year. I feel like you maybe can get more to that middle portion of the league, but like you weren't probably the worst anymore this year.
I feel like you maybe can get more to that middle portion of the league because I think JB Brown is a dude. I think Cornell Wheeler is taking steps up. So Brown's a senior Cornell Wheeler's a red
shirt senior, uh, Taiwan Berry Hill. He was playing through injuries last year. We'll see
what a healthy version of him does. You're hoping it's a career year for him because the PFF grade
not good last year was under 30, but maybe if you can get that career year, which would be better than his year before,
if you're talking about like a 60 PFF grade, if you get to that, if that's a rotational linebacker,
like that's a good place to be in.
Jason Gilliam is somebody who we've seen get playing time.
Logan Brantley, a young, talented guy.
Tristan Fletcher got some talk up recently from coaches as a redshirt junior.
So there's another name you throw in. You've got Alex Reich, who's going to recently from coaches as a redshirt junior. So there's another name you throw in.
You've got Alex Reich, who's going to play a lot as a redshirt senior,
who I think has good mobility and speed for the linebacker spot.
And then you've got a couple of young freshmen who are good athletes
who are kind of learning on the job.
And we'll see how much Ja'Cory Stewart plays this year
and John John Kamara, who we mentioned earlier.
The walk-ons, Dylan Downey in redshirt senior,
Cole Mondy, redshirt junior, and Ezra Vidal, who's a redshirt freshman.
I think he was a former like quarterback in the local area but um the big storyline here is what do
bigger roles look like for i think jb brown and cornell wheeler specifically because
even though i think you have more athleticism in this position i think you have more potential to
stop the run in this position. You do have
the questions of, okay, but Rich Miller helped get the defense in the right spot all the time.
And Rich Miller was a really good leader for this team. So who can fill into that? Can they
kind of overcome that? And will the bigger sample size for Brent, because it's one thing to see
good PFF grades or good play from JB Brown and Cornell Wheeler in a smaller sample where they're in smaller packages or they're being asked to do
maybe more specific things.
Like it's one thing to be somebody who's good at a couple things.
It's another thing when you start having to play a bigger role
and you have to start doing a little bit of everything.
It's why you'll see guys in like college basketball who it's like,
oh, one year they shot 45% from three because they were taking three or
four a game. They were just asked to be a spot-up shooter. And then the next year, the starting
guard graduated and now they're asked to be the guy and they go down to 38% from three, but they're
taking more threes per game because you shoulder a bigger burden. And so that kind of becomes the
question here. Will it scale up for both of those guys? The other big storyline, can Tywon Berryhill
translate? Because the coaches seem to trust him. Is he healthy enough to make noise?
If he can be a dude this year too, then you feel that much better about the linebacking group.
And it's a good position to be in about who's going to play all those snaps.
I think who fills out the two deep is going to be super interesting.
Because at the end of the day, whoever's starting, like KU does rotate their linebackers.
So like Brown, Wheeler, and Berryhill, they're going to get on the field.
They're going to play.
Gilliam's going to get on the field. He's going to play. Gilliam's going to get on the field.
He's going to play.
Who's that next linebacker who's going to get out there?
Alex Reich, probably.
And then who else would it be?
Would it be Logan Brantley?
Would it be Tristan Fletcher?
I think there's a lot of competition and a lot of guys that you kind of point to there.
And then who's going to be the starters in 2025, right?
You're replacing your starters this year.
But Brown, Wheeler, Berryhill, those are all seniors.
So come 2025, could we be talking about Logan Brantley as a redshirt sophomore? right you're replacing your starters this year but Brown Wheeler Berryhill those are all seniors so
come 2025 could we be talking about Logan Brantley as a redshirt sophomore Tristan Fletcher as a
senior at that point or uh and Wright graduates too or could one of Kamara or Stewart be starting
by 2025 you know you have a chance to make inroads as soon as this year so what is this unit better
worse or the same to last year I think it's. I think this unit is going to be more athletic, is going to provide more of a punch against the run
than a season ago. I think you have a little bit more size there as well as the athleticism.
The question kind of becomes, can you have the leadership skills? Can you have the play calling
skills and knowing where everybody needs to be and all that stuff? And if they do, I think
this unit will have a big improvement from a season ago. That'll do it for this episode of
Locked on Jayhawks.
You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page where
you can like and subscribe.
We'll be back for it on Monday, barring any breaking news over the weekend to look in
early preview of the KU Houston and the Kansas State games, plus our corner room preview,
what I think might be KU's best position from top to bottom.
So we'll talk about that on Monday.
This has been Locked on Jayhawks.