Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Underrated MVPs for KU Football + Rising Expectations

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Some underrated MVPs for the Kansas Football season so far, featuring Jayhawks like Jared Casey, RaMello Dotson, Caleb Sampson and more. Plus, rising expectations for KU and the worst coaching decisions of the week with Scott Chasen around the sport of football.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!NugenixNow get a complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T when you text COLLEGEto 231-231. Text now and get a bottle of Nugenix Thermo, their most powerful fat incinerator ever, with key ingredients to help you get back into shape fast.LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

on today's locked on Jayhawks. We're joined by Scott Jason to talk underrated MVPs for KU football. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday, three to six on KLWN. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be talking with Scott Chasen

about some of the underrated MVPs so far for the KU football season. We'll get into a little bit of conversation with what does KU have to do in the Duke game? What do they have to do moving forward for some different scenarios to arise in our head and the worst coaching decisions of the week to finish things off. Today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. We've got Scott Chasen of Booth Review joining us here in Kansas City Sports Network now on the show.

I want to talk underrated MVPs for the Kansas football season so far so not just the Houston game but over the totality of the season and we'll start with the offense I guess the first one that pops out to me it's I mean really the entire offensive line and if you wanted to add on like the tight end group you can but just for the sake of trying to narrow it down to a specific player like Mike Nowitzki has probably been the best offensive lineman but if we're doing underrated MVPs I feel like Mike Nowitzki it's either him or Earl Bostic who are maybe the most known offensive lineman Nowitzki was all big 12 honorable mention a season ago there was all the talk of what he was when he transferred in,

of this great center that KU was getting. So if we're going underrated, my pick here for the offense, I'm going to go Dominic Poonie. He has been really strong at guard. He's logged 180 snaps. That's one off of Michael Ford, who has the most on the team for most snaps played. He is second among KU offensive linemen in pro football focus grade, which at this point, huge grain of salt with those grades,

but still a positive to have. Didn't even know if he was going to be a starter. Ended up starting over Armage Reed-Adams, and he's kind of held that spot throughout because he's been great. You didn't know how he was going to translate playing up from D2 football up to D1 so far, and he's been great. Well, Derek, I think the whole offensive line has been great. And yeah, I think there was actually some weirdness with the grades

because some guys graded out with grades that were more like clerical errors than they were like actual evaluation grades. So we'll see if that gets fixed. But yeah, I've been really impressed with the interior offensive line. You know, I would expend that, you know, say both guards in the center spot. They generally haven't been destroyed. Like they haven't done always done great. Like Michael Ford had a couple of times where he allowed pressure and passing downs against

Jalen Daniels in the West Virginia game. But even then it was, it wasn't anything that Kansas couldn't overcome. I mean, Jalen Daniels hasn't been sacked on the season. And a lot of the times, even when they are getting beat, they're getting beat on plays where there are these quick options. You know, one of the examples early in the Houston game, I think it was Earl Bostic who let his guy kind of buy him, but the blitz was coming from that direction.

Daniel Hyshaw had a route right out of the backfield to where if that guy was coming, Jalen Daniels had a guy he could throw it to. It was Hyshaw. He got a first down. Yeah, I think the offensive line has been good. Derek, my under the radar MVP, and I've got two of them, and maybe you would say Jared Casey isn't under the radar, but Jared Casey and Mason Fairchild have done such a transformational job in terms of blocking, in terms of understanding that they may have to move all sorts of different directions. You know, go back to Houston, Mason Fairchild had one

on a Jalen Daniels third down. It was the third down play. He got the first down. It was early in the game. He's still down 14, nothing. Mason Fairchild's coming all the way across the offensive line. It's an option play. And then he just has to clear out for one guy or, you know, set the edge for one guy. And he does. And Jalen Daniels to clear out for one guy or, you know, set the edge for one guy. And he does. And Jalen Daniels was able to get around him. Um, Jared Casey's this team's best blocker, um, of the non-offensive lineman. He's absolutely fabulous at it. And in most long runs, he's on the field and he's the guy on the end. So those would be my two, but I think the interior offensive line as a whole has been really, really solid. And that's why you've seen Kansas

have success both with passing and running it. Okay. What about on the defensive side of the ball? Obviously all the talk you have Kenny Logan coming into the year. Lonnie Phelps has just been an absolute dude on the defensive line. I'll start with mine. Caleb Sampson to me has been really good on the interior. And because I think partially of what Lonnie Phelps is on the end, maybe Caleb Sampson

doesn't get as much of the the shine that he should on the interior of that offense or defensive line he has five hurries so far this season Lonnie Phelps has seven he's the only one with more on the team and also like you get brownie points you get bonus points for doing it on the interior because a lot of times you have to take on maybe two blockers where sometimes the guy on the edge does not. I think at this point Lonnie Phelps pretty much is, though, because they're chipping him and putting extra help over there. But he's also the only other player on the defensive line besides Lonnie Phelps to have multiple sacks on the season. He's been really good.

I know a lot of people like David Lawrence was one of them who was kind of harping on the idea that Caleb Sampson could be this breakout player on the defensive line. And I think so far we've kind of seen that. I do want to add one other name here, though. It's Romello Dotson. He's been targeted seven times in the passing game this season. He's given up just 35 yards. So if you're being targeted, I mean, seven times is not a ton anyway. So it kind of shows that you've done good in coverage. But also the fact that when they are targeting you, they're not averaging a huge chunk of plays.

If you were to say, we're going to only give up five yards per pass attempt, you're going to be the nation's premier passing defense in the country. He also has ten tackles this year and just one missed tackle. So he's done a much better job of securing the tackling side of things that, than maybe in seasons past from the secondary for KU. So those would be my two underrated MVPs on the defensive side. What about you? Yeah. Romello is going to be a name I brought up. I would even bring up Rich Miller because I think Rich Miller has, you know, while Taiwan Berryhill has gotten a lot of the credit for his improvement, I think Rich Miller has played pretty well.

Two biggest names to me. One is Craig Young, who had kind of a rough game against West Virginia in terms of what he's asked to do in this defense, right? He's asked to be essentially a linebacker who also covers. I think you pointed out after one game, Derek, that pro football focus had him listed as a cornerback because he spent so much time over receiver that that's where they evaluated his position to be. So I thought he had a much better game against Houston and he allows Kansas to keep heavier personnel in the field to defend against the run and to make it harder for teams to move

the ball on the ground while still providing a little bit of a pass coverage angle. And he almost had an interception. So I think he's really important to what they do, even if he hasn't played great, he hasn't been like an MVP by any means, but just having him on the field, I think really helps them out. I'd say another one is OJ Burroughs. I think he's, you know, he obviously had the play where he fell down, gave up a touchdown against West Virginia, but he's really impressed me tackling. He's gotten a lot stronger. He's gotten a lot more physical and he's gotten physical to the point where when Marvin Grant isn't in and OJ Burroughs is, and I know it's kind of a timeshare with the two of them. But I don't feel like, oh, okay. You can't

defend against the run as well. Or, okay. You can't make plays at the line of scrimmage because he's coming up, he's hitting dudes. He's making tackles one-on-one. He's shedding blockers and getting to a guy. I think that's probably the biggest reason why Marvin Grant hasn't played as much as most of us thought, because Marvin Grant is definitely a box safety. You want him around the line of scrimmage, kind of making plays as that extra tackler. Well, if OJ Burrows is going to do that, Kenny Logan is capable of doing that. Then you also get the added ball skills of OJ Burrows when he doesn't trip and fall down. So, um, I think both of those guys have shown me potential that they could, you know, continue to develop and grow and, and, um,

you know, make this Kansas defense a lot better by the end of the year. Derek, I think this Kansas defense, I continue to think it's been better than it gets credit for. Um, and I know the numbers are bad and the numbers are going to be bad anytime you fall into a 14, nothing hole. But again, I left the Houston game a little bit promise thinking, yeah, that there was a stretch of football. This defense played for like 30, 40 minutes. It's pretty damn good that, you know, that was absolutely good enough for Kansas's offense to overwhelm Houston and take control of the game. And, you know, if Kansas shows progress against Duke, then I'll feel a lot better about the defense than you probably did after that

West Virginia game. Well, let's get into some long-term questions, including some stuff about Duke that in just a moment, feeling like you just can't get in shape. It's not your fault. As men age, our body naturally loses free testosterone known as the man hormone. It happens every man and can make it more difficult to stay in shape and be energetic and active new genix total t contains man boosting key ingredients like testofen which has been validated in five different clinical studies shown to boost free testosterone levels in men because new genix total t boosts free testosterone that the aging process robs you, you'll feel

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ever. With key ingredients to help you get back into shape fast absolutely free text college to 231-231 text college to 231-231 message and data rates may apply terms apply available at newgenix.com slash terms Kansas takes on Duke on Saturday their favorites in this game trying to get to 4-0 for for KU I don't know where you've kind of reset with them beating West Virginia and Houston. If you think this is a bowl team now, if you think this is a five win team or what you think. But does Kansas have to beat Duke on Saturday for you to think they are going to be a bowl team? If Kansas beats Duke and starts 4-0, I will. Expectations are fluid and I don't like saying I expect the team to win X amount of games. I would

just say like, um, if Kansas starts four and oh, they absolutely need to win five or it would be a massive disappointment, not in the grand scheme of things, because going four and oh, or winning four games would be great. And it's the most anyone's won in a decade. But if I told you Kansas was going to start four and oh, and then said, oh, but they're going to lose every game the rest of the year, you'd be like, well, that's kind of a buzzkill. Like I'm sort of disappointed by that. So just in terms of like resetting their own expectations. But yeah, if Kansas starts four and O, understanding they've got two more home games in a row coming

up against Iowa State and TCU, understanding they closed the year with three winnable games. They won't be favored in any of them, but they will all be winnable in terms of at Texas Tech, at K-State and at home versus Texas. be favored in any of them but they will all be winnable in terms of at texas tech at k state and at home versus texas um you just got to get two out of those five and you've already won four yeah i think at that point you know right now i'm in a five six kind of win range for kansas i expect kansas to finish five and seven or six and six um if they win that game i i would feel pretty good about kansas finishing exactly six and six just because the big 12 is still a gauntlet, still very hard to win a lot of games, but, um, you know, it kind of to redirect this a little bit, I made this point in the drive, um, which I host out in Topeka on WIBW. Um,

this is kind of like year three of Lance Leipold. And I understand like the, the 10 or the, I guess that it would make sense maybe to go the other direction and say, Hey, he got here. Wait, this is really his first full season. But Kansas did when Kansas brought in Les Miles, Kansas committed to a full tear down rebuild, only recruiting high school players, understanding that that was going to cause a disaster when you lose 60 seniors and you bring in 50 freshmen, right? Like your team is not going to be as good. It's going to be the youngest team in the country. It's not going to be ready to play. And that's what you saw in 2020. 2020 was year one of that teardown rebuild, the year where it all came to a head. 2021 was the first year where those guys grew a year. And now you're kind of in year three. I know they're different coaches, Les Miles, Lance Leipold, and Lance took over exactly kind of at the midway point of that. But if you look at this thing in the big picture, this is kind of like year three of a rebuild. And that's usually the year, at least a lot of times where you start to see these big jumps. That was when Buffalo started to show

big progress under Lance Leipold. I don't think it's by accident that the team is a lot better this year. And so I think that's why this six win mark is now attainable, whereas maybe people wouldn't have thought it was attainable coming into the season, myself included, that was on the high end. I think it makes more sense when you consider this like a year three of a total program rebuild and less like year one and a half under Lance Leipold only. Let's say hypothetically Kansas beats Duke and then wins the next two so they're sitting there at six and oh beat Iowa State and TCU like at that point would we be changing the conversation

to what's the path to the big 12 title game uh I still think no just because they're lucky to have their easy games first and I you know Derek I've said this on your show. I've said it all along. It's great for Kansas that they play all these winnable games early. They return so much talent. They have a new scheme. You want these games early and you want to win a lot of them. And they've already won three of them. If Kansas started six and now I would think eight becomes like a realistic number.

But even then, if they started six and now and ended six and six would not be shocking because a lot of these hard games come up at the end of the year. And, you know, teams like Oklahoma teams, like Texas, Oklahoma state Baylor. I mean, every team has given Kansas trouble because Kansas has been, you know, kind of the cellar dweller of the big 12 for a while, but those are some really, really high quality football teams. So I would say take nothing away from Kansas. If they do start six and oh, or five and one or four and two. Um, I think all of that would be massive signs of progress, signs of growth, signs of the Lance Leipold experience working, signs of his coaching being excellent, him and his staff. me to actually start talking big 12 title game, they'd have to start seven and one. I'd give them a, you know, go one and one in the next two after starting six and oh, because I just think the top of the conference still has some really, really good teams that, you know, Kansas has done

everything it has been asked to do so far credit to Kansas, take nothing away, but Kansas hasn't had to play one of those really, really tough teams yet. So I think you'd have to reset expectations when you see that. Yeah, I would, for me, it'd have to be your 6-0 and then you like play to Oklahoma close in the seventh game or you, because it's Oklahoma and Baylor and then it's a bye week and then at Oklahoma State. If you use that bye week and you beat Oklahoma State, you upset them at home and at that point you're 7-2,

like yes, then we can talk about it. yeah it's it's not going to be a real conversation probably you know but I don't know just kind of fun to think about because it's it's it's tough for me when you try to look at this from what is like the proper scope that we should be looking at this team you know what I mean? Because if you look at it from the scope of where Kansas football has been over the last decade, where they haven't won four games since Mark Mangino, then this is the greatest Kansas football team, whatever. And everything is great. And even if they lose the eight of the next nine games,

it's still a great season. But with the start being how it's been, where it's 3-0, and also just based on how you've looked, do we adjust the expectations to this should be a bowl team? Or do we just base it on the eye test and say, man, they look really good. Like maybe they could even be a 7 or 8 win team. I don't know how to properly talk about this team. I don't know what we should do like versus preseason expectations versus where we are now. It's just, it's impossible to try to figure out. And like you said, nothing would be surprising at this point, losing eight of your next nine, that would

not be ultimately surprising. I mean, it'd be surprising based on how they've looked, but it would not be surprising based on where we were in the preseason. Yeah. Well, and I'll say this, Kansas has kind of a two-year window here before things reset. And when I say things reset, I mean, a lot of the guys that, you know, the Les Miles staff brought into the program, including most likely Jalen Daniels will be gone. You've got two years here. And I think the goal was that like maybe next year would be the bowl year. This would be like the four win year. And I think the goal was that like maybe next year would be the bull year. This would be like the four win year. And I think as long as Kansas stays on that path, it's still all positive.

It's still all good. It's still all signs of growth. I mean, but at this point, right, you're three and oh, and you're a 10 point favorite over Duke approximately, you know, give or take a point or two. If you have to go out and win that game at home, like it will be not like crushingly devastating to this program forever if they don't, but it will be seen as a missed opportunity on par with the David Beatty-Nichols State game that set the tone for his last season with the Les Miles-Coastal Carolina game in week two, where looking back, you know, they're a couple of ball bounces away from being a five or six win team themselves.

I'm not saying it puts the nail in anyone's coffin at all. So, like, I hope nobody I hope people understand what I'm actually saying is. No, I talked about this with Nick on on the earlier show that he it would just be a disappointment because of the missed opportunity. Exactly right. Like you've you've set this opportunity now where bowling this year is possible. And if you bring everyone back and I'm including coaches and quarterback, and if you bring them all back next year should be a heck of a lot of fun where you'll go into the season saying, Hey, this team won four, five, six, seven games the year before now give everybody

a year of growth. Let's see what Kansas can do in the second kind of year of this window. And then of course, it opens up a really interesting conversation about what is life like when it's the Lance light bulb staffs team, you know, top to bottom. And that, again, that takes nothing away from them. They have been excellent teachers, coaches, developers of this current team, really interested to see what, two-year stanza goes.

Because if Kansas does lose to Duke, that puts a lot more pressure on the rest of this season and a lot of pressure on next year too, just to get the most out of these guys. Not for anyone's job security, but just to get the most out of this group. If Kansas beats Duke, the next two years could be a heck of a lot of fun.

Yeah, but also it's like you don't know what the future is anymore like what if Lance Leipold does go to Nebraska what if Lance Leipold goes to Nebraska and Jalen Daniels transfers with it like yeah and I don't even want to put that out because that that you know who knows there's nothing actually there but like we've seen it before we see kids transfer all the time we see coaches leave all the time but you just don't know the future. So enjoy it for what it is right now. And certainly the Duke game, I think, has a lot of pressure on it for KU to perform to avoid that kind of big disappointment.

Okay, we're going to take a quick break in the action here, and then we're going to get to Scott's worst coaching decisions of the week. BetOnline.net is your number one source for all your pro and college football betting needs and sports info this season. Find all of the latest football league developments, game matchups, news and podcasts, and this week's slate of games at BetOnline, your continued source for all your sporting wagering information, including live betting, esports, and scores. The fastest and easiest way to check in on all of your favorite sports and events, including MLB, MMA, boxing, golf, and college football. Head over to the website today. You

can see some of the lines on the KU-Duke game. Maybe if you're feeling a little frisky, get KU at over plus 100 odds to win the Big 12. Use your mobile device to learn more about the trends in action. Bet online where the game starts. We have Scott's worst coaching decisions of the week here. I mean, Nathaniel Hackett is just, if we were given an award, running away with everything here. Who are the nominees for this week? All right, I got three. So the first one is Herm Edwards.

I'm going to take all of his coaching decisions, including the decision to whatever NFL model they decided to revolutionize the sport of college football at Arizona state. Um, I'm going to give that to number one, also talking to his like AD and president when he was like, you have to pretend like you don't see those guys. If you're walking off the field after that loss, like you, you put in headphones, you put on your beats, you get out of there. You don't listen. You turn on noise cancellation on your AirPods. Um, and you don't, you don't answer your phone for a week and a half. Um, yeah, that was unfortunate for him. So he's one, um, for the totality of Herm Edwards's

college career. Number two is Mario Cristobal. Um, first of all, there were four minutes left. They were down eight and they had to punt. It was like fourth and way long. I mean, they could have gone for it. They were at midfield, but it was like fourth and 18 or something like that. Uh, they didn't send everyone out on the field quick enough. So they burned 40 seconds of a running clock with three minutes left down eight. And then they punted from an illegal formation. So they had to punt again. So in the, the amount of time that went off the clock for them to punt down a touchdown with three minutes left, they went from four Oh five to three Oh nine. They lost a minute

of the clock punting Derek on fourth down. Um, Shane Beamer at South Carolina was the other one of 48, seven lost to Georgia. They punted on fourth and three at the 44 to start the game. They punted on fourth and seven at the 48 down 21, nothing punted at fourth and three at the 44 to start the game. They punted on fourth and seven at the 48 down 21, nothing punted at fourth and seven at the 48 again, down 21, then punted fourth and six at the 42 down 31. Um, that's a coach who doesn't care about winning a football game, especially once you're down 21 and 31 points. Um, if you just keep punting on fourth and mediums at midfield, you are telling your fan base. I don't care. I just don't want to be embarrassed. You're telling your players. I don't believe in you.

You're telling your program that you're a bad coach and you can't make decisions under pressure. Oh, and I'm actually hearing, we have a fourth one that apparently Daniel Hackett called a tight end run on a third and one then couldn't figure out what to do while the play clock was running down, sent the field goal unit in late, got a delay of game, didn't kick a 57 yard field goal. And then fans in Denver started counting down the play clock was running down, sent the field goal unit in late, got a delay of game, didn't kick a 57 yard field goal. And then fans in Denver started counting down the play clock because he doesn't understand how to manage a game. So, uh, those are the four candidates this week. Um, and you could tell me who you think won this one. I, like I said, I think Nathaniel

Hackett, he's just, you pencil him in every week. I'm not going to go against it. Who is it? Yeah. Nathaniel Hackett is the winner. He's the first two-time winner of this award. And I have, I'm issuing a challenge to Mr. Hackett. Please don't win this award next week. Don't do whatever you're planning on doing. If the clock is getting low, just call a timeout. If it's a fourth and short, just go for it. If it's a fourth and medium and, you know, plus 30 yards or more to the end zone, kick a field goal. Like, you can do this. It's really not that hard, and you have a really good quarterback,

and I actually thought you had a really decent team. Please don't end up on this list again next week, and I will be so happy. I love it. This was basically like a lifetime achievement, except for Shane Beamer because he's kind of a new coach. With Herm Edwards, it basically was a lifetime achievement. Mario Cristobal was notorious for a great recruiter, great with all this stuff, a program builder,

but would do this at Oregon. And that was, I think, a reason why we partially mis-evaluated Justin Herbert because he wasn't in a good system to see that. And obviously, Nathaniel Hackett is racking things up here. And I think we need to look back. Remember the Packers-Buccaneers NFC Championship championship game I think 2021 when they kicked the field goal instead of going for the touchdown on fourth and goal and getting the two-point conversion Nathaniel Hackett was the

offensive coordinator I believe what if this is all his fault we're retroactively letting Matt LaFleur off the off the hook for one of the worst coaching decisions in the history of football and just giving it to Nathaniel Hackett. And you know what, Derek? I agree with you entirely. He is Scott Chasen. You can check him out on The Drive and on Booth Review with Kansas City Sports Network. Scott, appreciate the time as always, man. Thanks for having me.

I love to take a time out of my day. Nathaniel, did you hear that? A time out of my day to be on the show. That was Scott Chasen. You can also catch him on Booth Review. Coming up on tomorrow's show here with Locked on Jayhawks, we are going to preview the KU Duke game. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along on the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks.

That'll do it for today's episode. Have a good rest of your day. See somebody on RCST later day. Adios.