Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - TOP 10 Kansas Jayhawks Football Players of the Last 10 Years - from Devin Neal to Joe Dineen
Episode Date: June 16, 2026Kansas Jayhawks football’s top talents of the last decade are ranked and debated—who claims the title of best KU quarterback: Jalon Daniels or Jason Bean? Derek Johnson covers the Jayhawks’ QB c...arousel since 2016, highlighting career stats, memorable games, and what set Bean and Daniels apart during their Big 12 runs. Rising under Lance Leipold’s leadership, KU’s evolving offense gets a close look with standouts like Carter Stanley and Isaiah Marshall also in the spotlight. On defense, Dorrance Armstrong, Austin Booker, and Cobee Bryant headline a list stacked with Pro Football Focus grades and all-conference nods, while Joe Dineen’s tackling legacy takes center stage. Offensive leaders Devin Neal, Pooka Williams, Dominick Puni, and Kwamie Lassiter II are compared side by side for impact and consistency. Who truly defined the Jayhawks’ resurgence? Tune in for the definitive ranking and insider analysis of Kansas football’s most impactful players and unforgettable moments. Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! OdooGreat organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now. 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) Stay up-to-date on the Kansas Jayhawks every day, as Derek Johnson brings you analysis and the latest on KU with the Locked On Jayhawks Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOJayhawks?sid=YouTube Locked On College Conferences, HBCU, Basketball & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnCollege #KansasJayhawks #CollegeFootball #CollegeBasketball Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Who have been the best players and who's been the best quarterback for KU football over the last decade?
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. Happy 10 year anniversary to Locked on, and we're going to be ranking top 10 KU football quarterbacks over the last decade, best defenders and offensive players for the Jail.
Jayhawks during that span.
So we're only going to go back to the 2016 season and beyond because that has been
the 10 years of Locked on here.
And don't forget, we did a basketball episode with some rankings as well here on this
special anniversary.
Let's start right here with the top 10 quarterbacks for Kansas since locked on started back
in 2016.
Honorable mention because you did it.
You played the position.
Thomas McViddy and Ethan Vasco.
McViddy, unfortunately, is one pass.
That one season was interception.
He had a couple other passes.
another season. But number 10 on the list, how about the son of less Miles? Many Miles for his career
nine of 17, 114 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions. Don't have much to say about this other than
it's ridiculous that scholarships were used on the Miles kids over bringing other players in,
like I think of like Jacks Daneen who ends up going to K-State and having a solid career as like
a fullback and stuff over there. Anyway, we're past that. All right, number nine on the list is Ryan Willis.
this is a sad list, man.
Ryan Willis, I've heard, is a really nice dude and everything,
but just didn't have the success at KU.
And, you know, obviously a lot of these quarterbacks didn't have a ton of success
that are going to be on this list.
A lot of that is going to be the surrounding pieces or maybe more so the coaching,
kind of holding them back because we saw Willis have success at Virginia Tech.
But if we're just talking about a Kansas, 31 QBR was his best season,
he had more interceptions than touchdowns 17 to 12, 5.9 yards per attempt.
number eight on the list is Miles Kendrick kind of in that same vein did have more
touchdowns and interceptions that gets them head to your nine touchdowns of six interceptions not as
many yards per attempt little more rushing ability for Kendrick didn't have a very strong arm
Willis did but Kendrick was maybe a little more depth at hitting the underneath passes
and then you have another guy on this list number seven montel cosart who also did a lot better at
his next school Boston or Boise State excuse me but first KU career 54% 2750550
45 yards, more interceptions than touchdowns, 14 to 19, kind of in between Willis and Kendrick and yards per attempt.
Had the best rushing stats of those three, though, and in general, all of them in the low 30s in terms of QBR.
I feel bad because the memory I always think of with Montel Cozart is the dropped spike attempt or the fumbled spike attempt that leads to a kneel down against South Dakota State that leads to you losing by three.
Who knows?
I mean, the way KU football is going that decade, you probably.
probably missed the field goal anyway, but you didn't at least get a shot on it.
All right, into the top six.
Number six is one, Isaiah Marshall.
Hey, how about that?
We're talking about who's going to win this quarterback battle for KU?
We already have the sixth best quarterback on your roster for KU over the last decade.
He hasn't played a lot, three of three, 28 yards, but he hasn't messed anything up like
some of the other guys.
15 carries for 160 yards.
He has at least contributed to KU trying to win some game.
I mean, they should have won the Utah game, and he would have been a big part of that.
at the end of this last season.
Really good runner.
We'll see if he can get on the field a little bit more as a starter this upcoming season.
Into the top five.
Number five is Peyton Bender.
56% completion rate.
He did have more touchdowns than interceptions, 23 to 13.
A lot of that was he was, he didn't want to make a mistake, I guess, right?
Like he was a lot more game manager, which was fine because you had guys throwing a lot of
interceptions, but yards per attempt, not good, 5.9.
He had negative 243 rushing yards.
The memory I'll always have is the K-State game where, yeah, KU should have won in Manhattan,
but things happened there, right?
But I guess 23 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, a lot better than some of the others on this list.
Okay, number four, another current KU guy.
That would be Cole Ballard.
55% completion rate for Ballard so far.
More interceptions than touchdowns, but not a huge number, three to four.
Seven yards per attempt, which is getting to at least, you know, respectable, you know,
at least you're kind of bottom line, what you're hoping for, over 200 rushing yards.
This is something I go back to, though.
So just a little sneak peek.
Number three on the list is going to be Carter Stanley.
Carter Stanley in the 2019 season had a really good year for KU.
He had a 60.4 QBR that year with the good stats that he put up in some of the games that
he helped Kansas win or nearly win.
Cole Ballard in 2023, when he was filling in as a true freshman,
against real big 12 competition in Kansas State and Texas Tech,
you're a 64.9 QBR.
So by that one metric, which again,
it's a small sample size,
and you have the beauty of having Andy Kohnlake
and Devin Neal and some of these guys around you,
but point being,
actually performed at a pretty admirable level
more than you might think back in 2023.
So Colbillard comes into number four,
and if he's the starter this year and plays well,
maybe he could move to number three.
But right now, number three is Carter Stanley,
60% for his career, over 5,000 passing yards, 37 touchdowns of 25 interceptions, 6.6 yards per
attempt, over 300 rushing yards, and QBR over 60 in 2019.
This is a guy who, you know, would have benefited from the current coaching, obviously,
not just in terms of, you know, Andy Codilicki and stuff can scheme things up,
but also that the coaching he was under didn't instill a lot of confidence into that position.
like I said, things were just kind of a mess, whether it was schematically or players around you.
But also, like, Carter Stanley got a raw deal, man.
Like, I remember there was an Oklahoma State game in there where, you know, Kansas lost the game.
It was a good Oklahoma State team.
But Stanley actually played pretty well.
I want to say he had like 250, maybe 300 yards, a couple touchdowns in there.
And KU had not been in the 2010s, like having a ton of successful quarterback games, right?
And I remember in the post game, like one of the reporters asked David Beatty about like,
So what do you think about the quarterback or whatever?
And David Beatty, who was always super paranoid about things, took it as like somebody
who was trying to get him a gotcha question when instead it was more like an opportunity for him
to be like, yeah, we were excited to see what Carter Stanley did.
And he was like, oh, I'm not going to fall for that one.
Basically under the idea of like, even as well as Carter Stanley played, he wasn't willing to just be like,
yeah, he's our starting quarterback or something.
And it was just, it was so stupid.
What kind of happened there?
And yeah, Carter Stanley, good quarterback for KU.
All right, number two on the list is Jalen.
Daniels. Here's where the controversy comes in. Do you have Jalen number one? Do you have Jason Bean number one?
And you could make arguments for both guys based on who won competitions too, because who wins the
initial competition? Jason Bean beat out Jalen Daniels initially, but that first year Jalen Daniels ends up
getting the job later in the season because Jason Bean's injured and doesn't ever give it back.
Then Daniels wins the competition that, you know, next I guess spring and fall to beat out Jason Bean, right?
And they're doing so many incredible things with Daniels.
And then in 2022, it's weird.
So 2021, I would say Daniels was better than Jason Bean.
2022, I would say Daniels was better than Jason Bean, but it was close.
2023, I think Bean was probably better than Daniels.
And then when you look at what Daniels did in 24 and 25, there were some warts in his game.
If you were ranking all the seasons, I think you're,
you would say, 23, Jason Bean would be number one.
You would say probably the limited of what we saw, 22, Jalen Daniels would be number two.
2022 Jason Bean or 23 Jalen Daniels would be the next one.
And then you'd have after that.
But at the end of the day, I went with this, Jason Bean was your starting quarterback when you won your bowl game, when you went nine and four, when you upset Oklahoma.
And those are the key moments of the Lance Lydolera.
And so, you know, if you want to compare stats, like both were in the low 60%,
for completion rate. Bean actually had more yards per attempt, 8.5 compared to Daniel's 7.8.
The touchdown to interception ratio, very similar. Both are slightly over two to one. Both had good rushing
numbers, right? If you're looking at QBR, Daniels had the high point. He had an 88 QBR in 2022.
He also had like an incredibly high QBR in 2023, but it's only three games, right? When you look at Jason Bean,
he had an 82.8 QBR in 2022 and 2023.
And when you look at Jaylen in these last two years, high 60s in QBR,
it's hard to get like the Utah game out of your mouth totally, right?
So Jaylen still had a very respectable and very good career for KU.
And from where we were with some of these other quarterbacks, right,
you hear the stats and what Jayland did, very respectable.
But I think looking back on it now that the dust is finally settled,
I do have Jason Bean as the number one quarterback for KU over the last decade and
probably all the way to Todd Riesing.
before that. All right, let's get on to the top 10 players for KU football this last decade
on defense. And we'll get to offense. This is locked on Jayhawks.
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Who are the top 10 Jayhawks on the defensive side of the football over the last decade?
Again, 10-year anniversary of locked on, so we're just going back to 2016 from when it all started,
right?
Honorable Mention for Trey Lathen, good season last year, all big 12 honorable mention, 74.5
PFF grade.
And he is somebody who, you know, after this season, ideally is on this.
list. J.B. Brown also honorable mention. He was also a big 12 honorable mention. 78.4 pro football
focus grade was his high. But number 10 on the list, I have Mike Lee. He was an all big 12 honorable
mention pick one time. He had a high point of a 75 grade on pro football focus, but three years of
being kind of solid or better as a starter for you, give you a lot of snaps, really solid player
overall for a lot of years for KU. Number nine on the list is Lonnie Phelps. And this is where
it's difficult when you're comparing careers because if Lonnie Phelps would have had two or three years at Kansas,
who knows where he is on this list? You only have one year here, but there's a really good year.
He was second team all big 12. He was 75 pro football focus grade. He had a lot of pressures.
He had a good amount of sacks. Seems like he was getting held every time, but was impacting the
defensive end of the field for KU Phelps in at number nine.
Number eight on the list over the last decade is Fish Smithson. He was a second team all
big 12 performer. And then he was a first team all big 12 performer.
Those two, you know, alone, you would think would get you even higher on the list.
He also was just solid on pro football focus, like 68 to 76, all three seasons.
I do think some of the awards came down to he had a lot of tackles.
And while, yes, that's great.
He was making the tackles.
Some of that is funneled by the front seven of the defense, just not being very good and allowed him to put up stats that you're going to see the counting stats and he gets voted a little bit higher on those than maybe the impact truly was.
but still really good player for Fish Smithson and had a really good career.
KU, he comes into number eight.
Number seven on the list is Kenny Logan, Jr.
Now, again, when you look at the career of stats, you would say, same position.
Fish Smithson, you're getting two all big 12 performances here.
Well, Kenny Logan gave you all big 12 second team.
He gave you an honorable mention pick.
And then he also gave you an honorable mention pick as a kick returner.
He had a better pro football focus grade when you look at their high point, their peak.
And I'm also giving credit here to the idea that, yeah, like I said,
Kenny had to play on some
some better defenses that
you know like you get credit for that
and he was such a
integral piece in terms of being the heartbeat
for I think a lot of KU fans
of the transition to the light pulled era
when you do make it back to bull eligibility
and I think that was important
for having Kenny Logan to number seven
number six on the list again a guy who only gave you one year
at KU where if you would have given you multiple years
there's a real chance he winds up
again who knows maybe in the
top three or something like that.
But he was a first team all big 12 performer.
82 pro football focus grade.
That was Austin Booker.
He had 12 tackles for loss.
He had eight sacks.
He was unblockable for Kansas as a pass rusher.
38 pressures on the season.
And again,
had he played another year and repeated that,
who knows where he is on this list.
But he is number one for one year guys on the defensive side of the football
because the talent was just immense for Austin Booker.
Okay, number five.
on the list is Melo Dotson, who was a Big 12 honorable mention pick.
Then he became a Big 12 first team selection in which he was also a,
depending on publication, second or third team All-American.
He had two years of a 77 or more pro football focus grade and really just continue to
improve and made some key plays, had some key interceptions.
And obviously you think of the Oklahoma one comes to mind, certainly.
Mello was a really good coverage corner for KU.
he comes in at number five and give you a lot of years of reps and snaps.
Number four on the list is Dorrance Armstrong.
He was an all big 12 second team and third team performer.
He was an all big 12 first team performer.
He was a 72 or higher grade on pro football focused twice with a high of 75.
He had 95 pressures over three seasons.
Like, again, Austin Booker had one season of 38.
He was averaging over 30 for three seasons.
Like that's really tough to do if you're Doran's Armstrong.
wound up with the one year we had like 20 tackles for loss.
Unfortunately, his last year, he was getting double teamed a lot and the stats didn't show up as much,
which has him, I think, now at number four.
And part of the other reason why is the guy in at number three was a three-time first-team all-big 12 performer.
That was Kobe Bryant.
He was the first Jayhawk to ever do that.
He was also a second team All-American.
He's talking to 70 or higher pro football focus grade three times with a high of 81.
He was a playmaker.
He has that huge hit against BYU, was always willing to, that was the beauty of Kobe and Mello.
Both of them, you know, not the biggest guys in the world, but they were willing to get dirty and make a big hit or make a big tackle.
So Kobe comes in at number three.
Number two on the list over the last decade for KU defenders is Daniel Wise.
I think Daniel Y is one of the more underrated players for KU football over the last decade or even beyond that.
This was a dude who was all big 12 first team twice.
And he would have been a three-time all-big 12 first team performer just like Kobe.
if you counted what ESPN did in 2016, which was vote him to the first team list, right?
He had three state seasons between 77 and 80 on pro football focus.
That's really good.
We mentioned the really good pressure numbers for Doran's Armstrong.
Three seasons, 95 pressures.
Austin Booker had one season of 38.
Daniel Wise gave you 117 pressures over four seasons.
So that's basically 30 per season.
And you might say, oh, that's still slightly lower than Armstrong or Booker.
Okay, but those guys are edges.
Daniel Wise is an interior defensive lineman.
Like Lonnie Phelps had 34 as an edge.
That is unbelievable production for Wise.
If Wise would have been on one of these Lance Leipold teams, I don't know.
He might have been like an All-American, like legitimately because the attention
would have been there a little bit more, right?
If you put him on that 23 team, that team probably with Daniel Wise on the team, too,
wins 10 games anyway, and he's probably an All-American.
Like, this dude was a stud.
And speaking of a guy who was an All-American, Joe Deneen is in at number one.
Now back coaching at KU, he was a Big 12 second team performer.
and then he became a third team performer.
And then he became a Big 12 first team performer where he was a second team
All-American.
He was an 83 grade or higher on Pro Football Focus twice, sure tackler.
This one's crazy to me.
So he had over 400 tackles in his time at Kansas.
According to Pro Football Focus, he only missed 36 tackles.
That is a lot of tackles against Big 12 competition to only miss that many.
he was a tackling machine again you put him in with better defensive pieces around him
there were some good defensive pieces around him i don't want to say like it was nobody right there
there's some other good ones around him including moments playing with with some of these other guys
on this list right but again if you put him like like on last year's defense if you sub joe
dene dene for bengali kamara dene would have been incredible and the defense would have taken a big
step for for k u too right so denine comes in at number one but honestly like i could argue
any of those top four and kind of move them around in a number one.
Okay, let's move to the offensive side of the football.
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Again, 10-year anniversary locked on.
Check out our basketball episode or finishing things up with the 10 best players for KU on the off
offensive side of the football over this last decade.
A lot of honorable mentions Zia 2 here.
Bryce Cable do.
He was an all big 12 honorable mention.
80 PFF grade in 2024 gave KU a lot of years of starting.
L.J. Arnold, had he had a bigger season, his final year at KU with Jeff Grimes,
probably ends up on this list.
Quentin Skinner, who was just, you know, a solid number two, number three receiver for three years.
Mason Fairchild was an all big 12 second team pick.
Logan Brown, if he had more than the one year production, but it was a really good year,
second team all big 12, 82 and a half BFF grade.
And then the last honorable mention guy,
Mike Novitsky, who was a really important integral piece
of helping lay the foundation for the Lance Leipoldera,
second team all big 12, honorable mention all big 12.
But number 10 on the list is another center.
And that's Bryce Foster, who like Novitsky,
was a second team all big 12 pick one year,
was an honorable mention all big 12 pick another year.
So you have the awards matched.
Foster actually had the better PFF grades at Kansas.
and I think in general was a higher potential player.
Now, I do know Novitsky was playing through an injury of Kansas,
and that had he not done that, maybe he ends up higher on this list.
So it is a little bit unfortunate there.
But Foster was a really good player for Kansas.
So he comes in at number 10.
Number nine on the offense for Kansas is Michael Ford.
He was a second team all big 12 pick for his final season at KU.
He was one of the highest rated guards in the conference.
I think he was the number one rated guard on Pro Football Focus is last year.
I want to say he was in the top five, his second to last year as well, really consistent, just sturdy, solid interior offense alignment for KU.
I always thought he was an underrated player and he comes in at number nine.
Number eight on the list, tough to choose between Arnold and Skinner.
Well, I was with Luke Grimm as the representative there because Grimm wound up with the most receptions over the career.
He had 177, which was more than Arnold and second.
He had 2472 yards, which was also more than Arnold.
and he had 23 touchdowns more than Skinner and Arnold.
And I think he was the most consistent, regardless of the coach or the quarterback,
among the different schemes.
Now, Arnold had the best connection with Jason Bean.
Grimm had the better connection with Jalen Daniels.
But I think going through the different coaching changes,
Grim was able to survive in different ways and still be kind of a number one or number two target,
no matter who was calling the plays and was always reliable for KU.
Number seven on the list is a different receiver, though.
Kwame Laster to the second.
Now, if you're comparing the career numbers, Grimm had like 30 more catches.
He had like 900 more yards.
He had 16 more touchdowns.
So why is Lasseter ranked higher here than Luke Grimm?
Well, for one, Lasseter was back-to-back honorable mention all big 12th.
Actually, none of those receivers with Arnold Skinner and Grim wound up getting any sort of
Big 12 awards.
Part of that was because they were sharing the load with each other and stuff.
But I think for Lassiter, the stats are down because he was in some of those dark years of
KU quarterback play.
If you put Lassiter on some of these, you know, last three or four year teams, I think you would have been the best receiver of that bunch. So that's why I have him in and number seven.
Number six on the list is Stephen Sims. He even through the quarterback plague for Kansas was able to put up real stats. I mean, real stat three time all big 12 honorable mention pick.
If you put him in some of these receiving, you know, cores where he has more help around him, more scheme around him, who knows what he does.
but you're talking 2,582 yards, over 200 catches, 19 touchdowns, still found a way to be productive,
even without the best situation around him.
Number five on the list, Jalen Daniels, 90 total touchdowns.
He was an all-big 12-second team pick.
The height of Jalen Daniels might be number one on this pick.
Unfortunately, we didn't see the height enough, and then injuries and some other things
kind of played into it there, but still a really good career in some of the peaks were really high for Jalen.
Number four, we already did our quarterback rankings.
Jason Bean was ahead of Jalen.
we just go back to that with Jason Bean here.
Into the top three, don't have any quarterbacks.
Number three is Puka Williams.
And I don't know, from pure talent standpoint, like you could make the argument that Puka could be number one.
2382 rushing yards, 5.7 yards per carry, over 500 receiving yards, 16 total touchdowns.
He was a two-time all-big 12 first-team selection.
I mean, I still think fondly of that game in Norman.
Kansas loses the game by like 10 points, but what a performance that was by Puka Williams.
The thing is, his career started off his first year was unbelievable.
That it was a good second year and then it tailed off a little bit in the final year.
Another guy where you wish to see it with better, I don't know, insulation around it from the rest of the staff and the players and stuff like you have now.
He was an unbelievable talent, though, and Puka comes in at number three.
Number two on the list is Dominic Poonie.
Pony was an all big 12 honorable mention pick, one that I thought he should have been on one of the first.
two teams, his first year, playing guard for KU. Then he was the tackle and he was up all
Big 12 first team selection and an all-American second team pick for KU. You don't see that a lot
on the offensive line for Kansas. He was so good on the offensive line. Enough so they was the
highest drafted offense alignment for KU since 1979 and became a starter for the 49ers right
away. Pune was unbelievable no matter what position you put him at, just an absolute freak on the
offensive line. So sturdy for KU and just a reliable piece. Number one though is
Devon Neal. Now, it's interesting because comparing Neil to like Puka Williams, for instance,
is night and day. Like Williams was, was the flash, like he was, he was the flash in terms of,
he had the flashy place, right? But there was also a lot of like one or two yard losses in there for
Puka. With Devon Neal, it wasn't as many like gigantic highlight runs that Puka had, but it was just
always keeping you on schedule. And that is my favorite thing from running backs. When they can
keep you on schedule and find the hidden yards more often.
And Neil ends up the all-time leading rusher doing that at KU,
over 4,000 career yards.
Interestingly enough, Neil and Williams ended up with the same yards per carry for their career.
53 total touchdowns for Neil, too.
You have the ability to get the end zone there.
He was two-time, all-big 12 second team.
And you could say, okay, Puka was first team, but it's different.
The players are going against.
There were some really good running backs.
Devin was going against, and he probably should have been first team,
in my opinion, over Todge Brooks, one of those years, but, you know, whatever.
Case is rested. Devin Neal, number one offensive player for KU over the last decade.
Okay, I'm sure you agreed with everything, didn't disagree with anything at all, and you thought
that this was a perfect list, and everybody was perfectly numbered. I'm sure you have no comments
or nothing that you would do different. So thank you for tuning in to this episode of Lockdown,
Jayhawks, and we'll catch you again on tomorrow's episode right here with L.O.J.
