KU Football 2021 off season thread

[holidaysmore]

The Big 12 recommended to keep the travel short thus the reason why the whole group wasn't there yesterday and today.

[NewtonHawk11]

Interesting. Did not know that.

[holidaysmore]

I believe in a regular year they would have been down their both days.

[NewtonHawk11]

6 1/2 weeks away from the season starting..

Excited to see what Leipold and crew can do. The talent isn't awful here, if they continue to stick to their plan, they should be a competitive and fun team to watch.

Think they are a week and a half out or so from start of camp.

Offensive outlook..

Really excited about the RB group. Gardner, Hishaw, Pisek-Hickson and Neal are going to be used a ton. Even smaller Malik Johnson could be a factor.

OL has to have some depth. Playing so many freshmen last year does help that. Novitsky being here is huge. Grunhard will start at G or be a utility piece up the middle.

Jason Bean and Jalon Daniels going to be the guys battling for the QB spot. Daniels the better arm, Bean the better athlete. I think Bean gets the nod.

WR room is crowded but unknown. Grimm and Lassiter the 2 known commodities. LJ Arnold has the talent, but was hurt after the 1st game last year and didn't get a chance to show what he can do. McBride and Golightly were really good in spring ball. Trevor Wilson from Buffalo a big speed guy. Was their option for the play-action big play.

They are going to have a run/pass ratio of about 65/35. Going to run outside zone a ton, and then they will use that to playaction for a deep shot or do some rollouts with the mobile QBs to have the defense stretched from sideline to sideline.

Expect probably about 24 ppg. Will have a game to where they'll score high 30s and get in a shootout, but mostly want to grind clock and run the ball.

[NewtonHawk11]

Defensive outlook

Borland and staff were consistent as hell at Buffalo. They play an aggressive 4-3 defense.

CB a real question right now. Prunty gone is killer. Picked up an FCS guy from Missouri State, Jeremy Webb, who started career at Va Tech. Duece Mayberry was nice last year as well. Oldest guy in that group is a junior who hasn't played. Young group of guys.

S is a decent group with Logan and others. Logan has dynamic ball skills. Fast too. OJ Burroughs might play a lot. Physical freshmen who had offers from Ga Tech, Coastal Carolina and Tennessee among others.

DE might be best group on D with Steven Parker and Kyron Johnson. D'Marion Alexander might play quite a bit as true frosh. He was a big get.

DT is the group that was poached the most, but bringing in the big guy from Buffalo might help. Still a decent group with Lee, Sampson, Burt and then Buffalo addition, Wilson.

LB is a big unknown. Will likely be a combination of Betts, Potter and Dineen or Rich Miller (Buffalo transfer) Smaller guys, but hopefully the DL up front in the 4-man front can take up blockers and let those guys play fast.

[UnholyLivingDead]

Thanks for typing all that up! That will serve as a good guide on what to watch for as camp gets underway and the season starts. I believe camp starts the first part of August so it could be a quiet two weeks leading up to getting that going.

What a strange offseason it has been. Not just because we had a coaching search, we're used to that. But the timing of it along with hiring a new AD, it's been so weird. But I'm optimistic that maybe, just maybe, KU finally got it right with the AD and HC hires. Goff and Leipold have a chance to build something together and really make a name for themselves. I'm excited and ready to get this started.

[NewtonHawk11]

Thanks for typing all that up! That will serve as a good guide on what to watch for as camp gets underway and the season starts. I believe camp starts the first part of August so it could be a quiet two weeks leading up to getting that going.

What a strange offseason it has been. Not just because we had a coaching search, we're used to that. But the timing of it along with hiring a new AD, it's been so weird. But I'm optimistic that maybe, just maybe, KU finally got it right with the AD and HC hires. Goff and Leipold have a chance to build something together and really make a name for themselves. I'm excited and ready to get this started.

My feeling too. Goff seems to get it. His hires that he has brought over confirm that.

Leipold seems like a no-nonsense guy who believes in doing the small things daily to make the team, his staff and fans proud of what they put on the field. He won't talk a ton to media, he doesn't seem to yell a ton during practices. He seems to sit back, observe and just be the CEO. Let his guys do the work.

[UnholyLivingDead]

That is exactly why I thought KU not being able to go down to media day actually benefits the team. Media day isn't Leipold's style. He isn't going to go down there and charm people for two days like David Beaty or Les Miles can. The less time spent on things like that and the more time he spends on the football team, we'll all be happier for it. Just seems to fit his style. That attention to detail is the kind of thing we haven't really had since Mangino. Although Mangino would give you a good press conference if he really wanted to.

[NewtonHawk11]

Reminds me of a video that Buffalo had a couple years ago. After a win Leipold talking with team, just kind of shrugs his shoulders and says "Best start in school history" matter of fact and the team goes crazy while he maintains a calm demeanor and quickly reminds them to enjoy it for a bit but preparation begins soon for the next week to continue that best start.

It's obvious that KU hasn't had many wins, but it seems like everytime they won, from Gill to Weis to Bowen to Beaty to Miles it was a celebration of all celebrations. I bet there won't be many wild celebration videos because that isn't how Leipold operates. It's always on to the next task.

He's mild mannered, but seems insanely focused and determined.

Fun article I read from Newell about how Kenny Logan and Leipold text or facetime nearly daily. Doesn't matter if it's at a wedding, on a boat or stopping by the office before or after a workout. Players know he cares, but they also know it's time to get to work.

[Sparko]

KInd of a Glen Mason vibe. I like it. One issue I had with Mangino was he was the center of everything. It had a "Get off the Shed!" vibe. Since then, we have had a few too many Snickers bars.

[holidaysmore]

The success of this year, if you can even call it success will be QB and o-line play. Pretty much since 2009 either both or one of them have been just awful. If KU can find something in Daniels or Bean they might sneak around and win 3 games. If not then prepare for another 1 or 0'fer type year.

Long term, yes, I believe in what is in place and success will soon follow.

I say it every year, hope springs eternal and this year is no different. See you all soon at Memorial! (The Booth is the stupidest forced nickname of all time.)

[UnholyLivingDead]

I agree. If the transfers we brought in can make our offensive line at least halfway competent, we might be able to win 3 games. I say that mainly because it looks like we have a seriously talented group of running backs. An O-line that's at least "good enough" can give them a chance to run the ball, grind the clock, and keep them in games. Still need to find a QB though. Maybe Bean is the answer with his athleticism and running ability.

[holidaysmore]

I am highly encouraged about how Leipold game plans and his ability to develop schemes that fit the strength of his team. That alone might buy 2 wins.

Last year, Dearmon and Les were absolute FAILURES when it came to that. Playing hurry up, quick tempo works when you have the athletes and QB to make those plays. All that did was produce a quick 3 and out and then the defense got gassed because they spent so much time on the field. Best player on the team and we believe the best way to utilize him was run power sets through the middle of the field over and over again. What a joke.

[Sparko]

I am highly encouraged about how Leipold game plans and his ability to develop schemes that fit the strength of his team. That alone might buy 2 wins.

Last year, Dearmon and Les were absolute FAILURES when it came to that. Playing hurry up, quick tempo works when you have the athletes and QB to make those plays. All that did was produce a quick 3 and out and then the defense got gassed because they spent so much time on the field. Best player on the team and we believe the best way to utilize him was run power sets through the middle of the field over and over again. What a joke.

Really a staple of KU in 2009 too. Mangino was slow to understand this after the great cast left.

[nu_bronco]

I am hoping for entertaining games that allow me to feel like KU has a chance going into the 4th quarter. At the least I don't want the stadium to empty out before half time.

[NewtonHawk11]

I am hoping for entertaining games that allow me to feel like KU has a chance going into the 4th quarter. At the least I don't want the stadium to empty out before half time.

There shouldn't be too much of those hopefully this year.

All the home games are winnable except for 1.

South Dakota - Should.
Baylor - Maybe? Think they lost a lot of guys, but not sure.
Tech - Beat them in 19 and lost by 3 in Lubbock last year. Not in good shape.
OU - Go do something fun on an October Saturday. It won't be worth watching that bloodbath.
kstate - Don't punt to Brooks and you have a chance. They had a turbulent offseason.
West Va - They are a big unknown. Could be pretty good, could be shit.

[hartjack8]

More than 10,000 coaches across the state of Texas were in attendance this week for the Texas High School Coaches Association’s annual convention. At least a thousand of those (likely many more) packed an auditorium Tuesday to listen to the final headline speaker of the week: Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Moderator Question: What is your current approach to roster management considering the transfer portal and the extra COVID redshirt year?

“Our best players want to be here and other people’s best players want to come. That creates an opportunity if you don’t have a lot of character and belief in your players I could say, ‘I’m going to get rid of these guys at the bottom of our roster so I can take these other guys who’d make our team better. I’m not into that. I’m not doing that. But it does create opportunity for others to do that.

The other thing is, if you’re at Kansas and a lot of players leave, how do you replace them? You have no way to replace them. So, what’s going to happen is the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. …
Tragic that Nick pointing out that we in the poor house and we bleeding


https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/N ... 68011837_1

There is some cool stuff in there about Brees and Miami and why he left Mich State.

[NewtonHawk11]

You literally have to go after the best FCS guys or guys from the G5.

Say a guy has a nice season at Tulsa, maybe 3rd team AAC. He may not get big P5 coming at him, but Kansas might be able to battle for him.

Kansas offers something that over half of programs in FBS don't. Playing a P5 conference, against NFL players on a weekly basis. If you can play, scouts will see that. Doesn't matter your team's W/L record.

[holidaysmore]

I do believe it does matter to some players though. No one wants to be part of team that is staring down the barrel of 0 win seasons year after year. That is awful. KU is able offer immediate playing time in a conference that has top tier talent and that certainly is a draw if not the only draw we have going for us right now.

I could listen to Saban talk about football all day long. His talks on defense are fascinating.

[Sparko]

That was a good take by Saban, for sure. He is a great coach. Can recruit even in Alabama.