Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Tyran Stokes Decision Soon? Could Tre White & Melvin Council Return? Kansas Jayhawks Offseason News

Starting point is 00:00:00 Could this be the week for Tyrant Stokes decision? What it all mean would mean for KU? Plus, is there going to be any more clarity on could KU potentially get some extra players back like a Melvin Council? And a Trey White will get to all of it on today's episode of the show. You are locked on Jayhawks. Your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. How's it going?

Starting point is 00:00:30 Derek Johnson here with another episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. We're going to be breaking down the KU baseball team. doing something they haven't done in like 60 years. We get to KU football in the NFL draft. We'll get to a little bit on Melvin Council and Trey White. Could they potentially be back for KU next season? And we'll start right here with some of the latest offseason news on today's episode of the show. I think the first big thing at this point is now we are awaiting the Tyrant Stokes news.

Starting point is 00:00:54 And we've been awaiting the Tyrant Stokes news for quite some time now. But especially now for KU as they have gone into the transfer portal, they've added Leroyd-Blyden, who you expect to be a strong. starter next to Taylin Kinney. They've added Keanu Dawes, who you expect to be your starting four, and they added Christian Reeves most recently from College of Charleston that you expect one of Reeves or returning Paul Mbia to be your starting five. And now you look at it and say, okay, that's four of your five starting spots. You're looking for that, you know, starter level, game impact level wing. And Tyrant Stokes would fit into that just perfectly, right?

Starting point is 00:01:30 So from a standpoint of filling out your starting five, you're waiting on Tyron Stokes. from a standpoint of filling out your, you know, what do you need a lot of it from a budget perspective? You're waiting on Tyron Stokes. And sure, we're waiting on, you know, could Kansas land a bench guard to be like their sixth man? Could, okay, you land some developmental pieces to fill out the back end of the roster? Could Kansas land somebody who, you know, you would look at as being, okay, they'd potentially

Starting point is 00:01:59 be your, you know, in the top nine of your rotation and push somebody who is viewed it being part of the rotation, right? Like those are all things that they need to figure out and get to. But really the one big question remaining is who's going to be starting for them on the wing? Can you get Tyron Stokes to be that guy? Or are they going to have to pivot and scramble and find somebody else to replace that guy, right? Like if you don't land Tyron Stokes, do you have a mad dash to try to get contact with Duke Harris and some of these guys that are available in the transfer portal that are, you know, higher end players there that are there that you would prefer not to.

Starting point is 00:02:34 be forced into going to because that would mean that you missed out on tyrant stokes you just want to potentially land him now could he be deciding soon i i don't know like that's been a question that like a lot of people have been posing wondering for for weeks and weeks and months and months at this point in time there was a tweet report whatever you want to call it from jeff goodman of the field of 68 mentioning that a close or some source that told him that he is kind of expecting news like monday basically So maybe it comes Monday. But it feels like every time we have heard that, oh, this could be the day that something comes out, nothing does. So like, I'm just going to believe it when I see it, you know.

Starting point is 00:03:15 And I think there was also a situation where Tyrant Stokes like tweeted out Friday at some time or something like that, like Friday, May 1st or something like that and then deleted it. Could that be because he wanted to send out the hint that I could be committing Friday, May 1st and then deleted it just to see people. go crazy, right? It does seem like Tyron Stokes is enjoying kind of the the trolling of this. And I don't blame him for it. Like we've gotten to a point where like we are, okay, I will say a lot of this is the Kentucky fans because there are some crazies out there that, you know, you basically end up like getting these, some of these fans were just like stocking this 18 year old on, on social media, like every move that he makes. And so I honestly credit him for having fun with it and, you know, being like I'm going to mess with some of these people.

Starting point is 00:04:06 So like it would not surprise me at all if that was just a complete joke and he just wanted to mess with more people, you know. He's tweeted a couple other times like soon or stuff like that. Like I think he enjoys Riling up, you know, and trolling a little bit here. So who knows what is going to happen there? Again, if we point to all the recent messages or the different reports that have come out, it does lean to the idea that it is coming soon. And you look at where he's at the calendar.

Starting point is 00:04:34 done with his circuit season, I guess, with, you know, the Donald's All-American game, the Jordan Brand Classic. All of these would lead you to believe that it is going to come sooner than later, right? KU needs a decision. All these schools need a decision as they're finishing out their transfer portal, you know, additions and trying to figure out what they're going to do with the roster. Like, we're getting no point where a decision has to be made. But at the same point in time, because it has been delayed this far, just because this report

Starting point is 00:05:01 came out about it coming out Monday or this Tuesday, like, I'm just kind of in belief it when I see it mode, right? Like, you could tell me it's not going to happen for another two weeks. You could tell me it's going to come today. And I would just kind of shrug my shoulders and go, okay. Like, I'm just excited to know what the decision is so we can move forward from it. And again, it's his decision. Like he can do whatever the heck he wants.

Starting point is 00:05:20 And like I said, there's a part of me that kind of applauds him for trolling the, you know, some people who are taking this probably a little too seriously. But, yeah, that just kind of where I'm out. And obviously, KU is going to have to pivot if they don't get him. But it is a situation where if you do land him, he becomes, kind of a game changer in a big way on the roster. Now, we won't have the opportunities to Tyron Stokes play next to Darren Peterson because Darren Peterson is declared for the NBA draft.

Starting point is 00:05:43 I don't think that anybody in their right mind was, okay, I don't say anybody. There was a very small, very, very small, I think subsect of fans that were like, why hasn't he declared yet? Could they get him to come back? You know, I think realistically, most people were like, yeah, he's not coming back, right? Never got to that point. So it's not like it's a surprise or anything like that. It was weird that he and DeBonza waited so long to declare for the draft.

Starting point is 00:06:07 I don't know what was up with that. Like, he was, Peterson was like the day after the NCAA tournament ended. He was just like off away from KU campus, you know, doing his thing, getting ready for the NBA draft. So no, no surprise at all there. But yeah,

Starting point is 00:06:23 I guess that officially put in the books that KU will not have Darren Peterson. So you try to replace him with another, you know, potential generational talent with Tyron Stokes. that is an interesting conversation as we talk about both these guys what is the difference between the two i think peterson is definitely the better three-point shooter the better shot maker in general between the two i think the idea of darren peterson is actually a better driver in what he was in high school but the version of of darren peterson that k you got because it was not just the injury but the mental repercussions of the injury to peterson's game i would have

Starting point is 00:07:01 expect Stokes to be the better driver in terms of the product they get at Kansas. It would not surprise me if Peterson's the better driver, you know, in the NBA, theoretically. And again, like Peterson, his playmaking and passing was supposed to be a skill that he had in high school. KU didn't get that version of him. I do think that'll be something KU gets more of with Stokes is the playmaking and passing to others. I do think Stokes will be the better rebounder. I don't know, the defensive end of the floor, like technically Stokes is bigger, so you can

Starting point is 00:07:26 probably do more with him. But Peterson was actually a pretty good defender. So there's differences there, right, in terms of like, you could make the argument that Stokes will have a bigger fingerprint on the game with his ability to get, I don't know, just because I view his like passing ability is almost like his best ability, that it will, it will get others involved more so than at moments this season when we were looking at it with Darren Peterson and you would see games like the UCF game where they're like down at halftime, but he is like 22 points at halftime. you're like how are they losing this guy's playing so well because they're just never really felt like the jelling of Peterson with the other guys I don't like I think the playing style that I view of Tyrant Stokes I don't worry about that as much so like even if Peterson is the better talent overall and would go higher if they were in the same draft than Stokes and has more from the shopmaking perspective I do wonder if stokes will be more flexible to building the team around if that kind of makes sense but you got to land them first obviously the other. offseason news that we found out was Mustafa Chom is going to Michigan. So they stay loaded. They got J.P. Estrella. They got Mustafa Chom, both guys that KU would have loved to have. And they just look like they're going to have a lot of size and be really good. Once again, certainly the Big Ten money, I think is helping Michigan. I mean, Michigan's got money regardless, whether in the Big Ten or not.

Starting point is 00:08:47 But shortly after that, we find out Reeves goes to KU. And it didn't seem like KU ever made, you know, progress with getting Chom to come for a visit for Kansas. it pretty much just wraps up the idea of the ability to get like a unless the five for five is passed and you have another pool of players to get one of those higher tier centers to work can you furthermore to our weekend episode where we talked about kind of playing money ball at the center that's what you're kind of looking to do there with reeves and now have more money to potentially go out and get a time and soaks level player go out and get a better bench or your bench player and i think that's what you're kind of going for now if you are k u so it'll be very interesting to track some of these centers how they do at some of these other schools how KU gets along at the center position with both Mbia and Reeves, do they make any more additions if they can get that late stroke of a check from a big donor later in the game, who knows, maybe an international player or something like that. But a couple potential returnees could change the roster.

Starting point is 00:09:45 That would be what if Melvin Council and Trey White could come back to school for another year? We're going to break that down, the likelihood, possibility, what it would mean for Kansas, all that and more. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode today is brought to you by Indeed workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for,

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Starting point is 00:10:45 That's indeed.com slash podcast. say you heard about it on Locked on Jayhawks indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire this a job for indeed sponsor jobs don't forget you join the everydayer club we can get the ad free version of the show which you can be able to not just get the ad free version join our discord locked on podcasts com slash every dayer okay so what if k you could get melvin council and tray white back now these are independent things um so first of all here was the news this was sent out by john Rothstein on, I think it was Friday, Thursday, Friday. He said, the D1 Board of Directors will meet Monday

Starting point is 00:11:25 and receive a report from the D1 cabinet on the age-based eligibility proposal, which is the 5-and-5, which I'll explain that in a second year. Multiple options are being reviewed regarding parameters for this potential rule and when it will be implemented if passed by a future vote. Now, what is the 5-and-5? The 5-5 is basically, instead of being, hey, you have four years of play, but you can kind of doctor it in different ways. Like you can have a medical redshirt, you can have a regular red shirt to where you can be a 60 or senior. It's just you just have five years, right?

Starting point is 00:11:57 There are no more red shirts. Whether you don't play or not, it's one of the five years. You know, whether you missed the whole season with an injury, it's one of the five years, you know? And so it would increase it to five years, right? So it would change things up in a big way. And how they would start the clock, too. This would also change things up is they would start the clock from,

Starting point is 00:12:14 it's basically like when you graduate high school or when you're 19 years old, like whichever happens first. So for like some of these international players who are coming over as 22, 23 year olds, you know, you would only have one year, right? Or maybe you wouldn't have any years. Like some of the kids who are coming over trying to come over at 23, 24, they wouldn't be able to, right? Because their clock would have passed in the situation.

Starting point is 00:12:38 You wouldn't have a situation where you'd have like a six year player. So that is why it's different for Melvin Council and Trey White. Counsel played two years of Jucco, and then he played three years of D1 basketball, right? Two years of Juko, you're a Wagner, you're a St. Bonaventure, now you're at Kansas. That means Melvin Council has already played five years. So if they pass the five for five, even if they give it retroactively, which that's another discussion, right? Do they just give it moving forward? Do they just give it to the incoming freshman class?

Starting point is 00:13:06 Do they give it retroactively? In hearing from some different people who are kind of in the know on this, it sounds like, the retroactive thing would probably be their best way of going about it. Think about it. The NCAA has had all these lawsuits, right? Most of them they lose, you know? Do they really want to be in a situation where they don't make it retroactive? And then all those guys who it would be retroactive for sue the NCAA and now they have to fight them all in court.

Starting point is 00:13:34 So I think it would probably make the most sense for them to be retroactive, right? Because regardless, like it's going to limit, even if you make it retroactive, it's going to limit the amount of people that could come back because basically preventing it, you know, when you have the, the clock starts at this. So it's not going to open up the pool outside of some guys. Like, even players who would have been, you know, if they make the five for five retroactive, there's still certain players that aren't going to be eligible to come back because they were fifth or six year seniors like Melvin Council, which means counsel's whole deal is separate from the five for five. counsel's whole deal is based on can he win this, you know, basically lawsuit of my juco years don't count at all. If the juco years don't count at all, then the NCAA is going to have to make an amendment to that five and five rule, which hasn't even passed, but just have something else that's like, I don't know what they would do, right? Just when you start NCAA, your five-year

Starting point is 00:14:28 clock would start. Who knows? And that would make things different for the Euro guys too. But that one will be different. And then if they do pass the five for five, Trey White would be eligible for that because he played four years at four different schools. Now, because he played four years at four different schools, would he want to come back to Kansas or would he want to make it five years at five schools? I would say this. I would love to have Trey White back in Kansas. Now, it would certainly make things a little different in terms of like, let's say Kansas does land Tyrant Stokes. And then this comes out and Trey White is sitting there going, do I really want to? to come back like I've got Tyron Sokes playing on the wing. Now, what would Kansas do if

Starting point is 00:15:08 Trey White and like this would be a good problem in my eyes because if you were ranking KU players right now and you said Trey White was coming back another year, I don't know where Trey White would wind up in those rankings. He's certainly being in the top three, right? Depends how confident you are in Leroyden depends how confident you are in Keanu does. It would be those two guys and Trey White for the discussion for the best player on the team right now if Trey White were to come back, in my opinion. And I think white by having the familiarity, you'd have a good case for maybe even being number one. So you don't say no to that, but it would make things a little more complicated because if you did land Tyron Stokes and Trey White, is one of the wings coming off the

Starting point is 00:15:45 bench? No, Trey White or Tyrone Stokes ain't coming off the bench. So then you're in a situation of, are you playing Stokes at the four, White at the three? Or I guess it doesn't really matter who's the four and who's the three. And now you're playing small and you're starting Daws at the five just to get everybody happy. Or is one of Tainlin Kinney or Leroyd-Blyden coming off the bench and you're going to play Trey White or Tyrone Soakes at the two? Is that going to be enough shooting? You know? So it would get a little more complicated starting lineup wise and roster wise. But then again, like I would just at a point, you just take the best talent you can and you try to figure it out from there. So it would make things a little bit complicated. But I would not say no to it at all because, you know, even though

Starting point is 00:16:22 Trey White, that was a really rough performance to go out on, overall, he was a good addition for KU. And if you gave him another year in the program with familiarity and Bilsuff does better with familiarity, I would gladly take it. So we'll see. if that ends up happening if it's retroactive because I don't think Trey White is going to be in a position to get drafted. I think the end of the season, like, I think he was in a position probably late January where he was being looked at as a he would get a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent, and maybe even sneak into late second round. I think because at the end of the season, probably more looking at, you know, he's not going to get drafted, but will he get that two-way

Starting point is 00:16:54 contract? And that would be a decision for him, or, you know, maybe he would come back and decide to transfer. But if the five-for-five does pass, it's not just about those guys. It's about guys. it's about guys in the transfer portal. And it becomes interesting because if this passes and goes retroactive, would they open up a new portal for those players where they have a new deadline to enter? I guess most of them would be graduates. They can enter whenever anyway. There are some other players who would classify for this that are in the portal,

Starting point is 00:17:20 names that I've kind of started to do some research on just in case it passes that would become interesting. And it certainly had to the depth of a team like Kansas. And that certainly would be helpful for KU because, I mean, if you don't land Tyron Stokes, you're going to be all in on the five in five if you're Kansas, right? If you do land Tyron Stokes, you'd still love to have it because you still want to fill out your roster with some potential other good players. But yeah, I guess in my eyes, I don't know how the Melvin Council like court case is going to go. And I think his is kind of dependent. Like there was a, was it Joey Aguilar, the quarterback of Tennessee?

Starting point is 00:17:54 There were some similarities there with what he was asking to do. He got denied. So that would not be good for counsel's court case. I think Diego Pavia's is still going on. And then you have counsels. So that is one where like I feel like it's a higher chance that he's not going to be eligible than he is. With the Trey White one, I think this five and five thing has some momentum. And like I said earlier, if you're the NCAA, you don't want to get sued.

Starting point is 00:18:22 Right. So you make it retroactive. And to that notion, it would not surprise me if Trey White has a decision to come back to college or not. All right, let's get to some of the latest news. Some KU football players will not be coming back to college. They'll be off in the NFL, although I guess with the five and five, who knows, you could have a decision to make for that as well if they pass it. And then we'll get to a little KU basketball or KU women's basketball,

Starting point is 00:18:43 KU baseball, KU baseball, and there's all that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks you for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. You can find a show anywhere you get your podcast, including on YouTube. Hit us up on Twitter at L.O. underscore Jayhawks or at D. Johnson Radio. And the NFL draft was this past weekend. Jayhawks had a couple draftees. They continue to, you know, get guys drafted and back to back to back, you know, NFL drafts.

Starting point is 00:19:07 And Enrique Cruz goes fifth round to the 49ers. He was such an underrated edition this past year for KU and the portal. They continue to have really good. I mean, the amount of drafted players they're getting are guys on undrafted free agent contracts who are transfers in. Like that has to do wonders for you when you're recruiting the transfer portal. It's probably the opposite of what KU basketball has to go under, which is, you know, there probably is a little bit of a putting out the fire if you're built self sometimes with agents. of, hey, you promised me this and it didn't happen.

Starting point is 00:19:35 It's probably easier for KU football to go to some of these agents, be like, yeah, look, we got this dude drafted, you know. But Emmanuel Henderson, there's another transfer. He goes in the sixth round to Seattle. So Seattle's had a lot of KU football. I think what Logan Brown and was Bryce Kibble, who also like on the practice squad this past season for him? They also signed Levi Wenz to an undrafted for agent contracted Seattle. So I guess the Seahawks are becoming the Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:20:01 I don't know, maybe there's some sort of bird. relation there. Leif Marjohn, the kicker, got picked up as an undrafted free agent by the Steelers. Then you have a couple players going. I mean, Cowboys have had a little bit of KU interest, too. You think of Doran's Armstrong initially going there. I want to say Daniel Wise originally, I could be wrong with that one, though. Maybe he eventually went there. Anyway, but they picked up DJ Wethers and Tommy Dunn to undrafted free agent deals. So cool to see there. Then we saw Jalen Daniels. He got scooped up on an undrafted free agent deal by the Tandell. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Starting point is 00:20:34 So he'll go compete to try to make the roster over there. And then rookie minicamp invites to different teams for Kobe Baines and for DJ Graham. Surprise Baines didn't get an undrafted free agent deal because he was so good for Kansas past season, rated out so well on some of these different places. So pretty successful weekend, honestly, all things considered for KU football with the NFL draft and some of those players getting new opportunities. As I was saying with the five and five, if you get drafted, like you're probably staying in the NFL, right? In fact, I don't even know how that would work. Like, if they do the five and five and

Starting point is 00:21:08 they do it retroactively, that's easier for call it basketball as long as they have it before the NBA draft starts. How would they do this now with college football? Would they be like, hey, if you already signed a deal, like you can't, that would kind of stink for some of those guys. But theoretically, if you're KU, I think Levi Wentz maybe have a chance to come back. I don't know if Withers and Dunn. I can't remember if they redshirted or not. Baines, I don't believe. I don't believe. I don't know how many guys that would affect for KU football, but maybe there would be somebody I'm not thinking of. KU Women's Basketball added a transfer over this past weekend. It was Ariana Gooden, who was a four-time all-state selection.

Starting point is 00:21:45 She was the 2025 Arkansas State player the year in high school. Goes to Colorado in her first season and played all 34 games as a freshman, not gaudy stats, like two points, two rebounds and assists per game. But as a younger player, seems to have a bright future based on her high school career. KU lost Lea Konesa to the transfer portal. This feels like a replacement for that. Plus it gives KU a younger future point guard for when Smaia Nichols graduates. She'll be a senior this upcoming season. So a second transfer edition for KU of the off season.

Starting point is 00:22:15 I still think they, I don't know, maybe they view good in as starter level. But I've kind of looked at it and thought that, you know, KU needs to add like a wing starter, potentially. But maybe they're just going to play, I guess you could play good in as the starting point card. Nichols offensively is really your point guard, but defensively is guarding twos or threes. The Xavier transfer kind of same thing, guarding twos or threes on defense. And then you have your four and five with Julia Davis and whoever you end up deciding

Starting point is 00:22:43 to start the five position there. So that would be kind of interesting as well. Meanwhile, for KU baseball, they got their first sweep of Kansas State. I don't know if it was first sweep at Kansas State or first sweep just of K State at all, but since like 1967 or something like that. And, you know, K State's a decent team. 26 and 18 now after all of the losses. So that's actually like pretty impressive for KU to be able to do that.

Starting point is 00:23:05 And they won the first game 18 to 6. Second game they win 10 to 8 with some late home run action. Third game interrupted by all sorts of rain and everything, but they win nine to seven. And so now KU baseball has, it's like 17 of 18 or something that they've won here at this point in time. They're now 17 and 4 in the Big 12. If they can just take care of business down the stretch, they can be Big 12 champions. They're 33 and 11 overall. And they've screwed it up.

Starting point is 00:23:29 I think now into like the top 12 on the RPI. So again, you take care of business here. Here's your remaining stretch of the season. At Wichita State, three game set, Arizona, at Creighton, three game stretch, West Virginia, which they're the top 15 team right now. And that'll be in Lawrence, I guess senior day that weekend too. And then at BYU for a three game stretch. I would imagine as long as you have, I don't know, if you win the big 12 and you have a decent record

Starting point is 00:23:54 down the stretch in that, like you're in a good position to potentially host in the NTCHA. That would be a huge deal, especially with the home field environment that the KU fans bring to that. Beyond KU baseball, KU softball, is also on the diamond this past weekend. And they're now sitting at 32 and 16 on the season, which I would think is good enough record that puts you in the right position to get in the NCAA tournament here. But they beat Iowa State 12 to 2 and then lost 4 to 1 as part of a double header. then they won four to two in extra innings on a Saturday. So a three-game series win two to one over Iowa State there. They'll be back at home on Tuesday against Wichita State,

Starting point is 00:24:37 then on the road against Oklahoma State next weekend, and then it'll be off to the Big 12th tournament from there. 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 where you can like and subscribe to the show. Check out our bonus deep dive as well on Dwayne Aristode, and we'll be back. See you then.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Tyran Stokes Decision Soon? Could Tre White & Melvin Council Return? Kansas Jayhawks Offseason News

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