There are few teams in the country who have two quarterbacks with proven game experience like Kansas.
It is a luxury to go into the season with a quarterback who threw for 2014 yards and 18 TD and a backup who threw for 1280 and 14 TD. That's what KU has in Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean.
As we get closer to fall camp I have said several times this could be a somewhat boring fall camp. And that's actually good news. One source told me "the position battles in fall are mainly to get on the two-deep. There won't be a lot of drama for starting jobs." That's because most of the starters for 2023 are penciled in. And for quarterback the starter and back-up are already solidified.
The position battle to watch will be for third string where Ben Easters has been in the program but will get challenged by newcomers Mikey Pauley and Cole Ballard. They both have some skills that fits what Kotelnicki wants to do with the offense. Some things I have hard from the summer both have looked good. Pauley was offered by Kotelnicki out of high school at BV Northwest. Ballard is the son of Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard. He's a smart player and was class 6A all-state in Indiana. He rushed for over 600 yards last season.
The real question for me as I broke down all the numbers game-by-game will be what new wrinkles does Kotelnicki install and does he incorporate a system where Bean is on the field with Daniels more?
The next question is how does Kotelnicki approach the play-calling and scheme.
Go back and watch the early games compared to the others Daniels played in and you see a shift in how Kotelnicki called the plays. I don't remember the exact sequence during the Duke game but I remember Devin Neal going to the tent to be looked at by trainers. When he came out Daniels went in and stayed there for a while. Then Daniels went back in shortly after the next series. In the Duke game Daniels had 62 yards rushing the first half and 21 yards the second half.
The next game was Iowa State where Daniels had nine yards rushing and played the entire game. Now, some of that is credited to Iowa State's DC who had a great plan and shut down the KU offense. The offense only gained 210 yards.
Somewhere in that Duke game they got more conservative with Daniels. His first four regular season games he averaged 80.75 yards a game rushing and his last four regular season games he played in he ran for 19.50 yards a game. That's a major difference.
Daniels QB rating the first four regular season games was 190.30 and his last four his rating was 124.78. That's another major difference.
The offense is better when Daniels can open it up and use the whole playbook. Some of that was opposing defenses adjusting to film and some was being more conservative to protect Daniels coming off the injury. And they started playing better defenses.
The bottom line is Daniels running Kotelnicki's full scheme is as good as it comes. When they are getting the option game going, designed QB run plays, and all the pre-snap motion Kotelnicki uses the offense is hard to defend. The Jayhawks have two quarterbacks who can run the full offense very well. Daniels gives them more of a physical style run game.
The QB position is in great shape going into the season. We know who #1 and #2 are. Last fall camp there were whispers that Daniels struggled early on and Bean may be challenging him. If you hear those same things this year just ignore it. We know who the starter will be.
I talked to Jalon at one of the summer camps last month. He looks good physically. He looks like he's added some muscle.
What I am looking forward to is watching what Kotelnicki has added to their plate. With most of the production back on offense I expect to see some new things although I don't what else he can add. He was extremely creative last year but I will never underestimate him.
I don't expect them to show a lot against Missouri State. But they will have something ready for Illinois. Much like last year when they played Tennessee Tech and then saved their new playbook for West Virginia. I think Kotelnicki will be aggressive and use Daniels much like we saw the first part of the season in 2022. I have covered the program since 1999 and I don't know if I ever felt this good about the QB position with two proven starters on the roster. The Reesing-Meier era may challenge, but Meier had moved full-time to WR in 2007 and 2008.
If both players stay healthy this is one of the best quarterback rooms in the country.
It is a luxury to go into the season with a quarterback who threw for 2014 yards and 18 TD and a backup who threw for 1280 and 14 TD. That's what KU has in Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean.
As we get closer to fall camp I have said several times this could be a somewhat boring fall camp. And that's actually good news. One source told me "the position battles in fall are mainly to get on the two-deep. There won't be a lot of drama for starting jobs." That's because most of the starters for 2023 are penciled in. And for quarterback the starter and back-up are already solidified.
The position battle to watch will be for third string where Ben Easters has been in the program but will get challenged by newcomers Mikey Pauley and Cole Ballard. They both have some skills that fits what Kotelnicki wants to do with the offense. Some things I have hard from the summer both have looked good. Pauley was offered by Kotelnicki out of high school at BV Northwest. Ballard is the son of Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard. He's a smart player and was class 6A all-state in Indiana. He rushed for over 600 yards last season.
The real question for me as I broke down all the numbers game-by-game will be what new wrinkles does Kotelnicki install and does he incorporate a system where Bean is on the field with Daniels more?
The next question is how does Kotelnicki approach the play-calling and scheme.
Go back and watch the early games compared to the others Daniels played in and you see a shift in how Kotelnicki called the plays. I don't remember the exact sequence during the Duke game but I remember Devin Neal going to the tent to be looked at by trainers. When he came out Daniels went in and stayed there for a while. Then Daniels went back in shortly after the next series. In the Duke game Daniels had 62 yards rushing the first half and 21 yards the second half.
The next game was Iowa State where Daniels had nine yards rushing and played the entire game. Now, some of that is credited to Iowa State's DC who had a great plan and shut down the KU offense. The offense only gained 210 yards.
Somewhere in that Duke game they got more conservative with Daniels. His first four regular season games he averaged 80.75 yards a game rushing and his last four regular season games he played in he ran for 19.50 yards a game. That's a major difference.
Daniels QB rating the first four regular season games was 190.30 and his last four his rating was 124.78. That's another major difference.
The offense is better when Daniels can open it up and use the whole playbook. Some of that was opposing defenses adjusting to film and some was being more conservative to protect Daniels coming off the injury. And they started playing better defenses.
The bottom line is Daniels running Kotelnicki's full scheme is as good as it comes. When they are getting the option game going, designed QB run plays, and all the pre-snap motion Kotelnicki uses the offense is hard to defend. The Jayhawks have two quarterbacks who can run the full offense very well. Daniels gives them more of a physical style run game.
The QB position is in great shape going into the season. We know who #1 and #2 are. Last fall camp there were whispers that Daniels struggled early on and Bean may be challenging him. If you hear those same things this year just ignore it. We know who the starter will be.
I talked to Jalon at one of the summer camps last month. He looks good physically. He looks like he's added some muscle.
What I am looking forward to is watching what Kotelnicki has added to their plate. With most of the production back on offense I expect to see some new things although I don't what else he can add. He was extremely creative last year but I will never underestimate him.
I don't expect them to show a lot against Missouri State. But they will have something ready for Illinois. Much like last year when they played Tennessee Tech and then saved their new playbook for West Virginia. I think Kotelnicki will be aggressive and use Daniels much like we saw the first part of the season in 2022. I have covered the program since 1999 and I don't know if I ever felt this good about the QB position with two proven starters on the roster. The Reesing-Meier era may challenge, but Meier had moved full-time to WR in 2007 and 2008.
If both players stay healthy this is one of the best quarterback rooms in the country.
