Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Football Linebackers Must Dominate vs Illinois + Darryn Peterson Down to Four

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, I'm going to tell you why the Kansas linebackers, Cornell Wheeler, J.B. Brown, have to have big games for Kansas to take down Illinois on Saturday. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Thank you to the everydayers catching each and every one of our episodes.

Starting point is 00:00:39 And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about why the KU linebackers have to step up if KU wants to come out on top of Illinois on Saturday. We'll also get into some other players of note and I guess positions of note for this KU-Illinois matchup and game for KU. And then some basketball news. Darren Peterson, who's one of the top recruits in the class of 2025, has narrowed his list down to four. Kansas is a part of it. So we'll talk a little bit about that on today's episode, which is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel.com to get started today. Let's start right here. Why do the Kansas linebackers have to step up for KU to beat Illinois on Saturday? And I really want to specify this down to like Cornell Wheeler and JB Brown mostly. Do the entire linebacker group have to play well, right? Like does Jason Gilliam do for the Hawk? Does Alec Reich rotating in? does Logan Brantley or Tristan Fletcher

Starting point is 00:01:46 or Tywon Berryhill rotating in, do they have to play? Well, yes, but it's mostly about these two guys who are going to play the lion's share of the snaps. And that is your two linebackers that I think could be in store for really good seasons with Cornell Wheeler and J.B. Brown. So why is this the case? Why do the KU linebackers and those two guys specifically have to step up and have good games? Kansas is going to come out on top. Well, you look at it,

Starting point is 00:02:10 and what is Illinois' identity as a football team? You look at a Brett Bielema coached football team, they want to play power smash mouth football. You go back to Brett Bielema's days at Wisconsin, you go look at his days at Arkansas, you look at his days now at Illinois. He likes to run the football. He likes to establish the run. He likes to impose his will kind of from a physical strength level of what football can be. Illinois will be running the football a good amount. Now, they do have a quarterback that has been at a really good,

Starting point is 00:02:37 efficient game in week one and has shown some good things over the past, I guess, year plus this year in what he could possibly be, that it's not going to be throw the ball 10 times and run the ball 40 times, but they are going to try to establish the run, and that is going to be their primary focus on the offensive end of the football. In games last year where Illinois had 150 or more rushing yards, they went 3-1, but they were just 2-6 when they didn't do that. So you see the difference between the split there.

Starting point is 00:03:09 Also, in three of the four games that they were held below 20 points as an offense last season, they averaged below three yards per carry in three of those four games. They were below 20 points. So you cut the head off the snake, which is stopping the running game. It's going to make things a lot easier. Luke Altmyer can be an efficient passer, but it works a lot better if he's playing off play action and he's getting more open shots because of what you have to do to try to bring up and stop the run. But Brett Bielema always loves to run the football. He always has

Starting point is 00:03:34 big, strong offensive linemen. In fact, now that Nick Saban's retired, there is no active head coach in college football that has produced more NFL drafted offensive linemen than Brett Bielema. So you know that you're going to get these big NFL body offensive linemen. He usually has some studs and future guys at the running back position. I think most of the guys that I think about, I go back to like the Wisconsin days. But if you just go back to two years ago at Illinois, you had Chase Brown, who ended up being an NFL draft pick, I want to say, of the Cincinnati Bengals, and that wasn't really the case for this team last year, that they had, like, their starter ended up transferring somewhere else. Now, they had other guys on the roster who were young players, like the guy we're going to talk about here, Caden Fagan,

Starting point is 00:04:18 who was a freshman a season ago. He wasn't ready to go pro right away. He might be a future pro, because he has really stepped up, and after he was kind of playing more limited his freshman year, like in the Kansas game, especially early in the year, I think he had one carry in the game. Year two, he looks like he could be a breakout player. So year one as a freshman, he had nine games, 438 rushing yards. But most of those came in like three games that he became the primary back at the end of the season.

Starting point is 00:04:43 4.6 yards per carry, three total touchdowns. Again, only one carry against Kansas in his freshman season, but in the 2024 opener this year, he had 16 carries for 108 yards and a score. And get this, the dude is six foot three, 250 pounds. You do not see that very often for running backs. That's like Derrick Henry-esque. Now, I don't think he's as fast as derrick henry is i'm not saying he's going to be derrick henry but it's that type of running back and he does have more explosivity in the open field and and you know kind of straight line speed than you might think for somebody 6-3-2-50 similar to derrick henry might be like 6-4-2-60 i don't know but like point being he is a load to stop and your linebackers are gonna have to come up and make secure tackles on these players and i I think to like KU's DBs, which do a great job coming up to hit you,

Starting point is 00:05:29 even despite being a little more undersized. Well, in this matchup, right? It's, it's a little bit more on the linebackers because the DBs might have a little less, less success tackling a running back who is six, three, 250 pounds. So that becomes important here. They run the ball a lot. The running back is somebody who, okay, well, if he gets to the second level, that could be problematic with his size. So you look to the linebackers needing to make those plays. And then if their offensive line gets that initial surge, like ideally if you're Kansas, your defensive line is winning the line of scrimmage and getting surge. And it's the defensive ends and the defensive tackles who are making first contact or hitting the running back at the line of scrimmage or yard past the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage that it's a little

Starting point is 00:06:08 less prevalent there. But, you know, going back to the offensive line comment, like Illinois offensive line wasn't great a season ago. Seems like it's going to be better this year. And part of that's just trusting the track record that typically Brett Bielema has those things that puts even more pressure on the linebackers because then it becomes more of a, if the linemen have washed out the defensive line, then it becomes more of a one-on-one with it's your linebacker versus their running back and who's going to win in that one-on-one. And so that comes down to, okay, who's going to win that battle, right? And this is why these players are so important for this game for KU. I think beyond that, you also look at like Luke Altmyer, who's their quarterback.

Starting point is 00:06:47 He could run the ball. He's a really good scrambler at the quarterback position. And so I don't know what Kansas does to counter that. Do you have a spy? Do you have some players with spies, some players with not? Do you have, I don't know, one of these linebackers kind of chasing him around, ready to stop him if he is running the football? That becomes an added element of all this because he was one of the top players.

Starting point is 00:07:07 And I think he was number one last year in the Big Ten in scramble yards for a quarterback, right? So you're talking about that becomes another duty of the linebackers, so to speak. Then you also have the tight ends to worry about when you're linebackers, right? Specifically in pass coverage and what you're doing. Tight ends only caught two passes for 23 yards, albeit with a touchdown for Illinois in the first game. But Bielema typically has good tight ends too throughout the year,

Starting point is 00:07:30 like solid ones that get involved in the offense. Last season, their fourth and fifth leading receivers were both tight ends. So you look at combining for 30 catches, 364 yards, four touchdowns last year from those top two guys. They got a comparison Mason Fairchild had 27 grabs more yards for Fairchild, the three scores. So basically in the aggregate from their two tight ends, they got similar production to a Mason Fairchild was producing. Um, they, and we view Mason Fairchild as being a really good tight end from what Kansas had. Right. So the TD was important though, last week too, because I think

Starting point is 00:08:02 it also shows you they're going to get the tight ends maybe even more involved on key downs or in the red zone. And when we're talking red zone, again, the linebackers are going to be the ones covering those tight ends for the most part, sometimes safeties. But when we're talking about red zone, Kansas red zone defense was really bad last year. If you're an everydayer, you already heard the stat. Kansas scores on 98% of red zone drives a season ago. That was by far the worst. I went back as far back as I could find the Big 12 stats, which was at least 10 years, and then they stopped showing them. But that was the worst red zone defense of anyone

Starting point is 00:08:33 that I was able to go back and find. So you're looking to be better in the red zone. Okay, linebackers on tight ends. Boom, that's another area where it's important. So I think if you're adding even more to this, it's the idea that this is KU's first road game. Communication is going to be critical. And you look at the middle of the defense,

Starting point is 00:08:52 you look at the guy wearing the green dot, which is Cornell Wheeler. And so I think specifically like with J.B. Brown, he poses the best threat to come up and thump you and stop the run. Cornell Wheeler will do it too. But I think with Cornell Wheeler, you have to add an element of that too with the green dot that you're really honing in on these two guys. I think with J.B. Brown and Cornell Wheeler both do it too. But I think with Cornell Wheeler, you have to add an element of that too, with the green dot that you're really honing in on these two guys. I think if JV Brown and Cornell Wheeler both have good games, Kansas wins this football game. Now, if one of them has a bad game or both of them have average games, does it mean Kansas can't win the game? No, it doesn't

Starting point is 00:09:17 because Jalen Daniels and the offense could go out there and put up 41 points. And even if you don't have a great run defense game, you still win the game in a shootout or something, or like Kobe Bryant or Mello Dotson can have a big pick six, or the DBs can get a couple of picks. Like there are other ways to win besides this, but I think the easiest Avenue, the most explainable Avenue for Kansas to win this game is those linebackers have good games and help limit Illinois running attack to not kind of take over the game.

Starting point is 00:09:40 Let's talk about other players of note for this KU Illinois game. What it all means for KU on this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We're brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Talking superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has you covered. They have over 122 million parts for your number one ride

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Starting point is 00:10:29 Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit. Only available to U.S. customers. Thank you to every dayers tuning in to each and every show. Don't forget you can check out Locked On College Football for your second listen on today's show. Okay, so the linebackers of premium importance for KU going up against the Illinois running

Starting point is 00:10:48 game and the tight ends and all that stuff that we just discussed on the show. What about some other notable players for this Illinois team? We mentioned Luke Altmyer. He's back at Illinois for his junior season. Former transfer from Ole Miss. I think he was a four-star recruit. Goes to Illinois last year. First year as a starter.

Starting point is 00:11:02 He was the starter in the game against Kansas. Had a couple picks in the game, but also had a couple highlight plays I got sacked a bunch I think six sacks for Kansas against Illinois which that'll be interesting in this one without Austin Booker but um when you look at Luke Altmyer he's a good dual threat and he got benched I think at one point last season but then came back and played well after he came back had a good game in the opener you look at year two in the system he's a good quarterback for them. They did lose their top receiver, but Patrick Bryant, he's kind of an all-league candidate for them. They have some solid depth there. I think they have a transfer from like UTSA. So that means that the KU corner is clearly going to get more

Starting point is 00:11:37 of a test this game than the Lindenwood game, but I still do like the KU corners over the Illinois receivers in this game. Then on the defensive side of the football, Illinois, you look at them having this all-league linebacker. And I mean, we talk about Fagan, they're running back at 6'3", 250. That's kind of their equivalent with the linebacker. This kid, Seth Coleman, he's 6'5", 255 pounds. You don't see those measurables on a linebacker very often.

Starting point is 00:12:04 Normally, that's like a defensive ender. Think about that. He's basically Austin measurables on a linebacker very often normally that's like a defensive ender like think about that he's he's basically austin booker size playing linebacker um now the flip side to that and this is me just maybe i don't know reading into the idea that you are a 65 255 pound linebacker i just automatically like think okay you're probably a really good run defender but maybe you have some questions in like short area quickness and pass defense. And I wonder if that's something you can take advantage of. Keep in mind, Devin Neal caught four passes last season against Illinois, which is on the higher end for what he's done in a game like receiving wise in his career. Like that's certainly toward the top.

Starting point is 00:12:37 And so that'll be interesting because be a good run stopper. They also have another good linebacker in Dylan Rosiak, who was last year's leading tackler. That's going to make them solid against the run. Kansas did a good job running the football against them last year. I think if you can do it again this year, you're going to feel great about where this is going, especially on the road as well. But those two linebackers are going to try to be a nuisance to preventing

Starting point is 00:12:58 that. But yeah, I Sean Neal combined for over 200 yards. And on one thing, you could kind of say that the defensive line of Illinois has more questions this year than it did a season ago. I mean, they lost Jerzon Newton, who, for my money, should have been a first-round draft pick in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:13:13 And you would think that's going to be a good thing for – like, if you already ran the ball against them before, and now they're without two of their stud defensive linemen, shouldn't you be able to do kind of the same thing but those linebackers are the guys that can kind of be x factors for illinois in the same way that the linebackers for ku can and helping to shut down the run and really twist this game because if one team runs the football well and the other team doesn't run the football well especially since that is like a strength for both teams and that is something

Starting point is 00:13:41 both teams want to emphasize and as as part of their, I guess, process or whatever you want to call it, that that's just a gigantic advantage one way or another. And then you look at the secondary for Illinois. It's interesting because the secondary in 2022, so the year before Kansas played them and that helped Illinois win eight games in 2022. They were, I was reading a good stuff from Pick 6 previews.

Starting point is 00:14:08 We mentioned some of that stuff in some of our game previews throughout the season or the offseason. And he mentioned that by like one metric, by one pass efficiency metric, Illinois' pass defense in 2022 was the best like non-Nick Saban pass defense of the like college football playoff era like it was it was so good it was so good they had they had four DBs who got drafted in the NFL and I think all of them were drafted within the first three rounds uh I think Witherspoon was was like a top 10 pick I mean it was unbelievable how good they were but then you look at last year

Starting point is 00:14:40 they fell off a map which you would expect them to get worse by losing all those DBs who were really good, but they didn't just fall from like being elite to average. Like they fell to being like bad at it a season ago, but you lose more players from the secondary. And so they go from nine touchdowns allowed compared to 24 interceptions in 2022. That's remarkable. To then last season, they give up 22 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. So 13 more touchdowns allowed 17 less interceptions, but now they do lose a couple more players. So 24 starts lost between basically three players on the backend. But they do bring back a fair amount. They added some transfers, a player from Texas who was a former top 100 recruit. They added a starter from Ohio. So maybe this is a unit that ends up being much better.

Starting point is 00:15:26 If it's not, this is one that KU should torch. And maybe this ends up being a good battle. I do on paper think right now, you look at it and you say, KU should have receivers on the outside, on both ends. I like KU's corners over Illinois receivers. Even though Illinois has some good receivers, I like KU's corners over them. I like KU's receivers over Illinois DBs right now. The question for me becomes in the

Starting point is 00:15:47 trenches and last year KU won the trenches. And, you know, on paper, I can make the argument KU should win the trenches as well again this year, but it's more of a, okay, I'm expecting this from, you know, some new offensive line starters for KU. And I'm expecting this from some new defensive line starters for KU. And I don't totally know what to expect from Illinois because they lost some of their good defensive linemen from a season ago. And the offensive line was kind of a mess last year, but could it be better? Right? That's where the question mark is for me in this game. And it relates back to the linebackers. When you look at all this stuff, really on both ends of the field, because again, as I said, like the offensive lines washing out the defensive line. It's kind of on the linebacker to make a one-on-one play with the running backs,

Starting point is 00:16:28 and we know both teams have good running backs and just a very different skill set for both ways. All right, Darren Peterson, who is one of the top commits or recruits available in the class of 2025, narrowed his list down to four. Kansas is part of it. We're going to talk about that next on Locked on Jayhawks. Our episode today is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. You've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel.

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Starting point is 00:17:18 Maybe you put a big parlay together, and you'll win so big that then you pay for the rest of Sunday T take it after the first three free weeks after that, right? Could be, or you can just have fun with $5, do whatever you want with it, right? You can bet on Kansas or one of the other college football games this week. So check that out. FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the Locked On Podcast Network. Welcome back to Locked On Jayhawks. And later this week, we're going to have a overreaction to what happened in week one and how that applies to the schedule the remaining opponents the 2024 KU football

Starting point is 00:17:51 opponents based on those week one results we'll have that later in the week we also will get to a KU Illinois preview later in the week and don't forget after the game on Saturday whether it's late Saturday night or very early Sunday morning we'll have a postcast of whatever happens from the KU game in Illinois. I know a decent amount of KU fans are traveling up to go out there and attend the game. So good on you if you're doing that. Hope you have a good time and hope you find some good places to eat and everything like that and enjoy. It'll obviously be fun to be a Saturday night game. So you can leave Saturday and maybe get up there before the game. I don't know. Maybe leave Friday night and stay night, whatever it is, and stay Saturday night game. So you can leave Saturday and maybe get up there before the game. I don't

Starting point is 00:18:25 know. Maybe you leave Friday night and stay in it, whatever it is and stay Saturday too, but hope you enjoy and make some noise obviously for, for KU on the road. All right. So Darren Peterson, he is a six foot five, 195 pound combo guard in the class of 2025. He is listed on both 24 seven sports and the 24 seven sports composite as the number three overall recruit in the country, the number one combo guard in the country, the number one combo guard in the country, and the number one player from the state of California. He just narrowed his list, and I forget if it was like eight or nine before. Now it's down to four, and those four schools are Kansas State, Ohio State,

Starting point is 00:18:59 USC, and Kansas. So a couple of interesting things here. Again, he is going to prolific prep was kind of the announcement for what he's going to do for his final high school season in this upcoming year. So that typically leads with like Adidas, I believe, which would be a good thing for for KU. List him as the city he's from as being Napa, California. So that would be where kind of USC comes into play here. And I think there's something with like his agency that kind of links him to USC. So that becomes interesting,

Starting point is 00:19:29 but I do think he's originally from Ohio and that is where Ohio state comes in where they're kind of the hometown play here. And obviously Ohio state has like, there was talk. I know this football, but they have like a $20 million roster for football. Well, I'm sure some of those donors would be like, you know what, I care most about football, but here, I'll throw some money to get Darren Peterson here. And whether that's a, and you look at Kansas State too, right?

Starting point is 00:19:55 I think sometimes when players cut their list down or attend certain visits, and I'm not saying I know this for sure, but this does happen. I'm just kind of bringing this up because I think it could relate to this. Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes players will, if they're intent on going to a school

Starting point is 00:20:11 or it seems like they're between maybe a couple schools, maybe they want to now in the NIL game cause a bidding war a little bit, right? Like get that number up as much as they possibly can. What's a better way to try to bid that number up than having like, if you're thinking about going to Kansas being like, well, I don't know, I could just want to stay home. I'll go to Ohio state. And then it's like, okay, here's another a hundred thousand dollars. I could just stay in state for your state and go to your rival Kansas state. And they seem to have a lot of NIL money. And didn't you see what, what they just did and, you know, paying some of these

Starting point is 00:20:40 players and Coleman Hawkins and stuff. And you're like, okay, here's another $200,000 we're adding on to the check. You know what I mean? That can be a bit of a power play. I don't know. That could be part of it. That might be not. Maybe he is seriously considering all four schools on the list. Maybe it's two of the schools.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Maybe it's three schools. Whatever it ends up being. But regardless of whatever it ends up being there, the fact that it's down to four means this thing is obviously progressing in a real way. And for Kansas, after Darius Acuff Jr. picked Arkansas, it becomes more prevalent, more important for Kansas to land this kid. Listed as a combo guard, but I think Kansas would give him the reins to run the point guard spot

Starting point is 00:21:13 next season. When you look at it, DeJuan Harris, gone, graduates at the end of the year. Zeke Mayo, gone, graduates at the end of the year. Shaquille Moore, gone, graduates at the end of the year. David Coyne, gone, graduates at the end of the year. There's all your point guards. You have Marco Jackson. He'll be coming back off that injury, which you don't know how it's going to translate right away, right? Is he rusty right away? Is he just ready to hit the ground running right away? So you have some questions about the point guard spot next year,

Starting point is 00:21:35 and obviously there's other freshmen out there. There's going to be the transfer portal next year, which you'll be able to bring in whoever. But there's no better get than you're probably going to get than this kid because he's not just seen as one of those players who, okay, he could be a one and done this and that. Like, it's like, oh, he could come into your school and have a killer year and be the first, second, or third pick in the NBA draft. And we haven't seen those guys at Kansas for a little bit of time. I think partially because of the NCAA stuff, they've still gotten, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:00 five stars in McDonald's all Americans. We just haven't seen the like top three level recruit that Darren Peterson would be. So a big recruiting to keep an eye on. And maybe that means we're getting closer. Maybe we'll have a decision in the next month or so for Darren Peterson. 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. We'll be back tomorrow to overreact to KU football's week one results of their opponents on this episode of LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Football Linebackers Must Dominate vs Illinois + Darryn Peterson Down to Four

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